African Women and Animation Cinema

African Women and Animation Cinema by Beti Ellerson (published 27 February 2010, updated 09 February 2022)

While animation cinema is not yet well developed in Africa, several African women have positioned themselves as important players in this domain, as animation filmmakers, creative producers and business partners. Cilia Sawadogo of German-Burkinabé descent, based in Montreal, draws from the rich oral tradition of Africa, and the everyday experiences of Quebec. Malian Kadiatou Konaté works both in documentary and animation. Her puppet animation film L’Enfant terrible (1993) traces the mischievous adventures of a little boy. Aïda Ndiaye co-directs Pictoon, the Dakar-based animation film company created in 1998. In 2000, Isabelle Rorke co-founded Anamazing Workshop, an animation production company in South Africa.

Moreover, Sade Adeniran, Marguerite Abouet, Comfort Arthur, Ng’endo Mukii, Nadia Rais, Ebele Okoye, Adjaratou Ouedraogo, Diane Sanou, Bruktawit Tigabu, are among a growing cohort of women in the field of animation cinema in Africa and its ever-growing diaspora. 

Pioneer Cilia Sawadogo who made her first film in 1992, had this to say about how she came to animation filmmaking:

At first, I wanted to work in television, but afterwards I found that it was much more interesting to work in animation because I draw quite a bit. I genuinely like drawing and I think that it is a way to express oneself and to be able to express universal ideas. There are many of my films that don't have dialogue and this allows me to touch a larger audience, such as… Le joueur de cora (The Cora Player). (1)

She elaborates on the traditional, drawn animation process that she uses to produce her films:

Animation requires a different approach to filmmaking. Initially we draw everything. It is not like conventional filmmaking where you tell an actor to cross the street, then the actor crosses and you shoot the action. In animation if I want my character to cross the street, I draw the action in twenty-four images per second to show him or her crossing the street.

It is a great deal of work, which means that the cost of filming is very expensive. It demands a lot of time and work and there are many people who work on it, and they must be paid. It is an artistic concept that is particularly thorough because one must envision the scene down to the smallest detail and create the costumes and the decor. Drawing the decor is not like composing images and then photographing them, or setting up a decor and then filming it. It must be entirely imagined and designed. It is a different approach. An animation film is visualized. The film is actually drawn. (2)

Kadiatou Konaté studied filmmaking in Senegal in the 1980s and developed her skills while working with her compatriot and renowned filmmaker Souleymane Cissé during the production of the award-winning film Yeelen. While documentary films have been a focus of her work, she is equally drawn to the storytelling nature of animation, which she finds to be an “excellent medium for children” to educate them “about the tales, customs, culture and realities of Africa.” (3)

Similarly, Adjaratou Ouedraogo draws from the riches of African storytelling: “Africa is full of resources, through its history, which has always been handed down from generation to generation by the guardian griots, the carriers of African wealth. For a first I bring out this traditional side of the African continent. And this explains the reasons why the realisation was done this way.”

Aïda Ndiaye, a businesswoman in Senegal, is equally passionate about telling African stories and thus the start of a partnership with French-Cameroonian animation filmmaker Pierre Sauvalle to create the Dakar-based animation studio Pictoon. The internationally acclaimed Kabongo (2002), a 13-part cartoon series target for youth, made entirely in Africa, is the shining star of Pictoon.

South African creative producer Isabelle Rorke was also driven by the need to tell African stories, and together with executive producer Dumisani Gumbi created the company Anamazing in 2000. Like Kadiatou Konaté, she had a desire to provide African children with positive images of Africa and its culture: “Kids are becoming increasingly detached from their various cultures; because it is both entertaining and educational, animation can help to incorporate our own local values and norms back into their live…” (4)

While there has been a burgeoning focus on animation filmmaking in Africa, it is important to recognize veteran filmmaker Mousapha Alassane of Niger, a pioneer in animation as early as 1966. As a result of the growing interest in this genre, several initiatives have been made to increase the efforts of continental-based production  and exhibition of African animation films. The very promising trend of African animation film festivals attests to the success of this genre on the continent. Festival de cinéma d'animation africain de Ouagadougou (The African Animation Film Festival of Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) was created in 2007. Senegal organized its first traveling festival of animation film, Festival Afrikabok, in 2009. Also in 2009, the African animation festival, Animafrik, was organized in Ghana.

The UNESCO project “Africa Animated” was launched to inspire local training and production with a specific focus on the creation of children’s animated cartoons in Africa. The interest in children-focused programming for African youth has been a long-standing objective, as indicated in the theme of the 15th edition of Fespaco in 1997, "Cinema, Childhood, and Youth." Florence Yameogo stresses the importance of presenting African images to African children:

I was very pleased with the choice of this year's theme, "Cinema, Childhood and Youth" because it was a theme in which I was already interested. Through this topic, I felt that we were given the opportunity to really think about the impact that images have on our children. I work for the television and we have very few national programs for children. We know that children like to imitate, and so everything that they see on television they try to imitate. We are realizing that if we make films that address their needs in particular, that treat themes and subjects that interest them, that, in fact, we will actually participate in their intellectual, cultural and physical development. (5)

These sentiments resonate directly with the objectives of the Association Burkinabé du Cinéma d’Animation, who launched a crowdfunding campaign to finance the animated series Afrogames (2013). The Indiegogo site describes the project made in Burkina Faso : …[It] recounts tales of African society through the eyes of five children and their passion for the games and amusements of Africa. (6) Diane Sanou, co-writer and editor of the first episode of Afrogames led the crowdfunding campaign to raise the requisite budget for the implementation of the second episode of the series.

Similarly, Pokou the Ashanti Princess (2013) produced by Afrikatoon, has a targeted audience of children from 7 years old. The protagonist, Abla Pokou who is a young woman, is based on a real-life history of a princess who played an important role in the history of Côte d’Ivoire and particularly the Ashanti kingdom. Hence, she serves as an empowering figure in general and as a role model for girls.

Bruktawit Tigabu of Ethiopia has a similar objective for the animation project Tibeb Girls. As an elementary teacher, she works to improve literacy among her students, and finds it is even more urgent for young girls. Hence, the three young super heroines “take the audience on a fun, imaginative and educational journey”.

Ebele Okoye grew up in southeastern Nigeria where, like many African filmmakers, oral storytelling was the collective experience of the society. She yearned to share these stories, recounted around the fire, under the moonlight, and it was through the medium of animation filmmaking that she fulfilled that dream.

Because of the dearth of film schools in Nigeria at that time, she went to Germany to study 2D Cartoon Animation at the International Film School Cologne. After graduation, she worked as studio animator and director/producer of her own short films. For The Legacy of Rubies (2015) project she partnered with the Nigerian animation production studio Shrinkfish Ltd, the producers of the film.

Marguerite Abouet, who lived in Côte d’Ivoire until the age of 12 years old, had this to say at the preview screening of the film Aya de Yopougon (2011) during the Annecy Film Festival:  When listening to the media, I do not recognise the Africa of my childhood, so I decided to show a version that is closer to the daily lives of Africans, which though indeed it does exist, does not focus on war or famine. (7)

Ingrid Agbo is the creator and director of the animation film l'Arbre à Palimpseste. After working as a camera operator and director, her passion for animation tv shows finally caught up with her. As a child, she dreamed of an animated story about African history, so she decided to create it. (8)

Kenyan filmmaker/animator Ng’endo Mukii produced Yellow Fever (2012) because of her concern about the growing practice of skin bleaching in Africa. She had this to say about her purpose for making the film:  I am interested in the concept of skin and race, and what they imply; in the ideas and theories sown into our flesh that change with the arc of time. The idea of beauty has become globalised, creating homogenous aspirations, and distorting people’s self-image across the planet. In my film, I focus on African women’s self-image, through memories and interviews; using mixed media to describe this almost schizophrenic self-visualization that I and many others have grown up with. (9)

Similarly, British-Ghanaian Comfort Arthur attempts to tackle the phenomenon of skin bleaching with her film Black Barbie (2017), where she comes to terms with her own issues regarding the colour of her skin. In addition, her 2018 film, Red is a semi-biographical short film about the childhood memories of her father.

Cilia Sawadogo hopes that animation films will reach a universal audience, as she enjoys making films for both adults and children:

Yes, we are often the victims of a certain stereotype when doing animation films. Especially when they are presented in festivals where there are no animation films at all. Moreover, people often don't really know what animation is. Yet, many animation films are made for the general public or even for adults only. Oftentimes children don't really understand what is going on or they are not comfortable with what they are seeing. I think in the West there is not a large market for animation films for adults. However, we find in Asia that adults watch animation films just as much as they do other films. Personally, I like doing films for children. It does not bother me at all. I enjoy it very much and I find that I have much more freedom. Because for children we can do things very "fly" as we call it here in Montreal, with much fantasy and fun, where the filmmaker can really let herself go. One is not obliged to be too down-to-earth, and I like that, actually. (10)

Report by Beti Ellerson updated 31 January 2021.

Notes

(1) Conversation with Cilia Sawadogo by Beti Ellerson in 1997. Sisters of the Screen: Women of Africa in Film, Video and Television, Africa World Press, 2000.

(2) Conversation with Cilia Sawadogo by Beti Ellerson in 1997. Sisters of the Screen: Women of Africa in Film, Video and Television, Africa World Press, 2000.

(3) African Animators Collaborate on Mali Tale for Children by Dana Hearne [http://ctr.concordia.ca/2002-03/Sept_12/10-Animators/index.shtml]

(4) Isabelle Rorke and Dumisania Gumbi: Character Building by Monique Verduyn

[http://www.entrepreneurmag.co.za/article/h/?a=1621&z=163&title=Isabelle+Rorke+%26+Dumisania+Gumbi%3A+Character+Building]

(5) Conversation with Florentine Yameogo by Beti Ellerson in 1997. Sisters of the Screen: Women of Africa in Film, Video and Television, Africa World Press, 2000.

(6) Afrogames

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/afrogames-burkina-animated#/

(7) Aya de Yopougon un film d'animation gai sur l'Afrique "sans misérabilisme"

http://tempsreel.nouvelobs.com/culture/20130612.AFP5917/aya-de-yopougon-un-film-d-animation-gai-sur-l-afrique-sans-miserabilisme.html

(8) l'Arbre à Palimpseste-KissKissBankBank

https://www.kisskissbankbank.com/fr/projects/l-arbre-a-palimpseste-la-serie
(9) Ng’endo Mukii, Filmmaker’s notes of intention: on Vimeo

https://vimeo.com/122574484 

(10) Conversation with Cilia Sawadogo by Beti Ellerson in 1997. Sisters of the Screen: Women of Africa in Film, Video and Television, Africa World Press, 2000. 

Relevant Links

- An animation studio grows in Senegal

http://www.spike.com/video/africa-open-for/2832553 - No Longer Active

 

- Animation History in Africa by Andy Wallace

http://www.awphoto.biz/Animation%20history%20in%20Africa.pdf - No longer active

 

- Africa Animated - UNESCO

http://www.unesco.org/archives/multimedia/?pg=34&pattern=UNESCO+Africa+Animated!+1

- Le Studio Pictoon a Dakar

http://www.planete-senegal.com/int/videos/index.php?video=86

SEE AFRICAN WOMEN IN CINEMA BLOG POSTS ON ANIMATION:

 

Nissi Ogulu: The Satchel
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2021/10/nissi-ogulu-satchel.html

Comfort Arthur: The underestimated villain
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2021/10/comfort-arthur-underestimated-villain.html

Ingrid Agbo: Akplokplobito
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2021/10/ingrid-agbo-akplokplobito.html

Adja Mariam Sanogo/Soro
http://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2021/10/adja-mariam-sanogosoro-les-contes-de.html

Super Sema. An Afro-futuristic animation series: Time to Change the World
https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2021/03/super-sema-afro-futuristic-animation.html

 

Festival Films Femmes Afrique 2020 - Eden Tinto Collins, Gystere Peskine: WOMXN

Cascade Festival of African Films 2020: "The Shadow of Cairo" by Tara Shehata (Egypt)

FESPACO 2019: My Mother's Stew (Le ragoût de ma mère) by/de Sade Adeniran (Nigeria)

FESPACO 2019: Briska by/de Nadia Rais (Tunisia | Tunisie)

Presidentes des jurys FESPACO 2019 : Cilia Sawadogo - Séries télévisuelles et de cinéma d’animation | TV serials and animation

Kitwana’s Journey, an animation film by Ng'endo Mukii commissioned by Awareness Against Human Trafficking Kenya

Ndiva Women’s Film Festival 2018: “Red”, Comfort Arthur, Ghana

Tibeb Girls, an animation project by Bruktawit Tigabu (Ethiopia)

Comfort Arthur’s animation film “Black Barbie” deals with skin bleaching in Ghana and Africa

Adjaratou Ouedraogo : Painting and animation, sharing one’s experiences through the message of art | La peinture et l’animation, de partager son vécu à travers les messages de l’art

Afrogames : Diane Sanou spearheads the crowdfunding campaign | Diane Sanou pilote la campagne de financement participatif

The Legacy of Rubies, an animation film by Ebele Okoye

Aya de Yopougon, an animation film by Marguerite Abouet

POKOU Princesse Ashanti | POKOU the Ashanti Princess

Ng'endo Mukii's animation/mixed-media film: Yellow Fever, about African women and skin bleaching

A Glance at Ethiopian Women in Cinema, Visual Media and Screen Culture

Ethiopian Women in Cinema,

Visual Media and Screen Culture

Updated in January 2021

When I asked pioneer Ethiopian filmmaker Salem Mekuria in 1997 about the presence of Ethiopian women in cinema she stated that while there were those who worked for the government, she was the only independent filmmaker—enthusiastically embracing the emerging group of women that have now come of age.

At the present, Ethiopian women in cinema are imposing themselves both in Ethiopia and the Diaspora, as the extra-Ethiopia territories, notably the United States, have been the locations from which the first group has developed. It is not surprising that the United States counts a significant number of Ethiopian women as it has the largest population of Ethiopians outside of Africa.

Salem Mekuria, based in Massachusetts was trained in documentary filmmaking in the 1980s at NOVA, WGBH-TV, a Boston-based PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) science-focused public television program. In the 1990s Lucy Gebre-Egziabher and Aida Muluneh studied film at Howard University in Washington, DC where their compatriot, internationally acclaimed Haile Gerima is film professor—both completed their studies in the early 2000s. While Aida Muluneh chose image studies early as an undergraduate student, Lucy Gebre-Egziabher returned to school to study film while working as a senior program officer in international education, realising a dream she had since childhood. During that same period, Aida Ashenafi completed film studies at Ithaca College in the state of New York in 1999. Like Salem Mekuria, U.S.-born African-American-Ethiopian Nnegest Likké got her training inside the industry, initially with a public access community television station in Los Angeles, California. 

Salem Mekuria honed her filmmaking skills while working on themes related to the African American community of Massachusetts, the region where she lives and works. She later focused her camera on Africa in the two acclaimed works for which she is most known. She dealt with social and political issues relating to women refugees in the film, Sidet: Forced Exile (1991), and the multilayered issues of revolution, lost, and betrayal in the film, Ye Wonz Maibel: Deluge (1997). From the very beginning of her film projects, Lucy Gebre-Egziabher directed her gaze towards issues relating to the Ethiopian Diaspora in the Washington DC area. Her last film, At the Second Traffic Light (2000) has a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and inter-religious focus with the intentions of highlighting the importance of tolerance. At the same time a filmmaker, Aida Muleneh is best known for her photographic work, notably in the 2003 seminal exhibition Ethiopian Passages: Dialogues in the Diaspora at the National Museum of African Art at the Smithsonian in Washington DC. Her film work in progress, Unhealing Wound, traces the experiences of Ethiopian war orphans raised and schooled in Cuba beginning in 1978, during the government of Mengistu Hailemariam. Aida Ashenafi, after studying, living, and working in the United States, returned to Ethiopia where she co-founded a communications company. Her award winning film Guzow (2009) is a documentary set in rural Ethiopia.

Nnegest Likké represents the first-generation of U.S.-born Ethiopians, her Ethiopian father met her African-American mother while they were both students at the University of California at Berkeley in the 1960s. Perhaps her comedy film, Phat Girlz (2006) with an “African twist”, is indicative of the influences of Hollywood, rather than a more “engaged” cinema evident in the works by other Ethiopian women. 

Perhaps, the emergence of a film culture among the U.S.-born first-gens of Ethiopian descent is evident in the filmmaking practices of Saaret Yoseph and Mignotae Kebede, who have focused on themes related to issues in the city where they live, Washington DC. However, this does not imply that Ethiopian-related themes are not dear to them as well. Mignotae Kebede, for instance, founded the non-profit Lasting Impact for Ethiopia (LIFE) while still an undergraduate student. Nonetheless, the social and culture fabric of a once-predominantly African-American city attracts their attention. Washingtonian Saaret Yoseph’s Red Line D.C. explores the underground world of graffiti artists who make their art clandestinely along the WMATA red line. Californian Mignotae Kebede, who studied in Washington D.C. and now lives and works there, is working on her documentary project called “What Happened 2 Chocolate City.” Like Red Line D.C. the documentary explores the social and cultural implications of a gentrifying city. Sosena Solomon, born in Kenya and raised in the United States, turned her gaze to her ancestral home, where she returned to make the film Merkato about the famous open air market of Addis Ababa.

Beyond the U.S. Ethiopian Diaspora cultural critics and film activists are dispersed in countries such as France, Lebanon, Norway and South Africa by way of Sweden. While French-based Maji-da Abdi has also directed documentary films, notably The River Between Us (2001), her most visible work has been as producer and film professional in many African film-related initiatives, including an interest in Ethiopia-based film training. Though no longer active, she created the “Images that Matter International Short Film Festival” in Addis Ababa.

Performance artist, actress, cultural activist Hannah Wozene Kvam, raised in Norway, made the film Wozene, min siste favoritt, Wozene, the last favourite (2002), co-directed with Ingvil Giske, which follows her own path. Adopted into an Ethiopian family in Norway as an infant, she returned to Ethiopia as an adult in search of her biological family. In her experiences as cultural worker and cultural activist, she is an outspoken critic of the racism and discrimination against people of colour in Norway.

Katarina Hedrén, though her lived experience is very different than Hannah Wozene Kvam, she too was adopted from her Ethiopian ancestral home and grew up in Scandinavia, and has given critical insights into transnational adoption practices in Sweden. Based in South Africa, Katarina Hedrén continues her film activism and festival organizing, which one may follow on her blog, “In the words of Katarina”.

Rahel Zegeye who has lived in Lebanon as a domestic worker for many years, used her savings to make the fiction film Beirut, about her and other Ethiopian women's experiences living in the Lebanese capital. Rahel Zegeye’s advocacy has become increasingly visible, as our interview in 2011 became her clarion call for the plight of domestic workers in Lebanon and beyond. She also wrote and directed the play “Shouting Without a Listener” which calls attention to the plight of domestic workers in Lebanese society.

On the continent, the increasing presence of women, locally and on the international scene represents a promising trend of Ethiopia-trained filmmakers. Since the 2000’s efforts to establish Ethiopian-based film training bodies have multiplied. Notably, the Blue Nile Film and TV Academy where Yewbdar Anbessie produced her student short film 40:60 (2010) as a member of the first group of students in the directing class. Hiwot Admasu Getaneh, also an alumna of Blue Nile, has gained visibility with her film New Eyes (2015).

One of the objectives of the First Ethiopian Film Initiative Meeting held in Addis Ababa in 2008 was to tackle the important issue of film training, as there is a lack of viable film schools in the country. Yetnayet Bahru Gessesse addressed this problem at the meeting in her presentation, “A Young Filmmaker’s Personal Experience”. Though she completed her studies in computer science, her passion for cinema gave her the motivation to navigate the Ethiopian cinematic terrain through trial and error, as a professional cinema infrastructure does not exist. After her successful debut film Aldewolem (2008), a romantic comedy, she participated in a filmmaking workshop in Burkina Faso in 2009, at the Imagine Film Training Institute founded by Gaston Kaboré. Similarly, Aster Bedane enrolled in the Imagine workshop, which produced the short film Phenomena. 

The active presence of women in the emerging Ethiopian cinema culture is evident in their visible participation at the Ethiopian Film Initiative Meeting and the active and supportive reception of their films, both in Ethiopia and the Ethiopian Diaspora. Their numbers are increasing as well as the resources for making films. One initiative “From Addis to Cannes” has been existence since 2010. Biennially, (IEFTA) International Emerging Talent Film and (EFI) Ethiopian Film Initiative collaborates to sponsor a trip for the selected participants to the Cannes Film Festival. During the trip to Cannes the filmmakers have an opportunity to meet various leading producers and representatives. At the 2014 edition there was a visible presence of women, featuring Adanech Admassu Fessiha, Hermon Hailay, Hiwot Admasu Getaneh, Yamrot Nigussie Zenebe.

Inevitably, the Ethiopian Diaspora will continue to play a vital part in the efforts to enhance the roles of women in leadership positions in cinema. In fact, the connecting forces of the two have strengthened both, as there is a concerted effort to build and work together, drawing from the positive energies that each has to offer. One such initiative is Lucy Gebre-Egziabher’s Women on a Mission, born out of a campaign to raise awareness on issues regarding gender based violence in Ethiopia. To tackle these issues, at the end of her stay as Fulbright scholar, at the request of the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa, she developed a weeklong screenwriting workshop entitled “Telling Herstory”, designed for Ethiopian women journalists and filmmakers. In addition to teaching the workshop she has followed its successes as it continues to thrive, for instance, the formalization of the Ethiopian Women Filmmakers Association is in the pipeline. She continues to work with the Women on a Mission project through her U.S.-based activities at NOVA, the community college where she is a professor of film, notably the Ethiopian New Wave Filmmakers.

Elementary teacher Bruktawit Tigabu envisions an early start to women’s empowerment. Through the use of animation films, she hopes to inspire young Ethiopian girls, especially through literacy and education. She is developing the “Tibeb Girls Series”, an animation project about three young super heroines. Hence an upcoming generation will be conscious of the power of realistic images that girls and women themselves can create.

Journalist/writer Bitania Tadesse describes the rapid growth of country-based Ethiopian television series and films in the last decade and women’s increasing visibility in these Amharic-language productions. Examples are  Bisrat Gemechu, Ruth Mengsteab, Kidsan Tadesse, Mekdes Tsegaye, Azeb Worku, Kidist Yilma.(1)

The emerging scholarship on Ethiopian women in cinema, television and visual media, particularly on locally-produced content, offers an important contribution to the field of African women in cinema studies. Studies by Eyerusalem Kassahun, “Women’s Participation in Ethiopian Cinema”, 2018, Bitania Tadesse, “Female Forces in Ethiopian TV and Film, 2018; Gashaw G/abe and Ayele Addis, “The Image of Women in Ethiopian Film Media Culture”, 2016, Kenaw Gebreselassie, "The Portrayal of Women in Ethiopian Television Advertisements, 2006"; Abebech Wolde, "Representation of Women in Ethiopian National News Media Decision-Making, 2007," who is also Executive Director of the Ethiopian Media Women's Association (EMWA) and Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP) Coordinator for Ethiopia, are examples of this burgeoning research.

In "The Women Blowing up Ethiopia's Film Industry", scholar Steven W. Thomas traces the contributions of Ethiopian women in cinema, adding an important discourse to African Women in Cinema studies on the works of Ethiopian women in the country as well as the Ethiopian diaspora.

Following is a growing list of Ethiopian women in cinema, visual media and screen culture including, filmmakers, producers, critics, scholars who live and work in Ethiopia and the Ethiopian diaspora:

Maji-da Abdi, Adanech Admassu, Yewbdar Anbessie, Aida Ashenafi, Yetnayet Bahru, Aster Bedane, Jessica Beshir, Lucy Gebre-Egziabher, Hiwot Admasu Getaneh, Bisrat Gemechu, Eskedar Girmay, Hermon Hailey, Hawi Hailu, Katarina Hedrén, Eyerusalem Kassahun, Mignotae Kebede, Hannah Wozene Kvam, Nnegest Likké, Mehret Mandefro, Salem Mekuria, Ruth Mengsteab, Aida Muluneh, Yamrot Nigussie, Sosena Solomon, Bitania Tadesse, Helen Tadesse, Kidsan Tadesse, Bruktawit Tigabu, Mekdes Tsegaye, Feven Tadesse, Seble Wada, Abedech Wolde, Arsema Worku, Azeb Worku, Kidist Yilma, Saaret Yoseph, Keyirat Yusuf, Rahel Zegeye

(1) Bitania Tadesse. Les Femmes dans le cinéma et à la télévision éthiopienne | Female Forces in Ethiopian TV and Film. Awotele No. 9 - Mars/March 2018.

Note: Several of the women on the list are drawn from Steven W. Thomas's research.

REPORT BY BETI ELLERSON 

Ethiopian Women in Cinema Links on the African Women in Cinema Blog:

2020

 

14 December 2020
"The Women Blowing up Ethiopia's Film Industry". An essay by film scholar Steven W. Thomas 

https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2020/12/the-women-blowing-up-ethiopias-film.html

 

17- Aug 2020 - Tamara Mariam Dawit: "Finding Sally" (Ethiopia/Canada)

https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2020/08/recent-films-tamara-mariam-dawit.html

2018

13 - Feb 2018 - Lucy Gebre-Egziabher: A Woman on a Mission

https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.fr/2018/02/lucy-gebre-egziabher-woman-on-mission.html

2017

27 – Oct 2017 - Lucy Gebre-Egziabher: Films Without Walls, Call for Collaboration - https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.fr/2017/10/lucy-gebre-egziabher-films-without.html

26 Apr 2017 - Tibeb Girls, an animation project by Bruktawit Tigabu -https://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.fr/2017/04/tibeb-girls-animation-project-by.html

2016

02 Jul 2016 - Producer Ledet Muleta launches Kickstarter crowdfunding for Chula, about mental illness in Africa and African diaspora - http://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2016/07/producer-ledet-muleta-launches.html

2015

18 Sep 2015 - Hiwot Admasu Getaneh: “New Eyes” - http://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2015/09/hiwot-admasu-getaneh-new-eyes.html

20 Feb 2015 - FESPACO 2015 – Hermon Hailay: “Price of Love” | “Le Prix d’amour” - http://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2015/02/fespaco-2015-hermon-hailay-price-of.html

2014

16 Dec 2014 - Crowdfunding BEN & ARA: a film directed by Nnegest Likké, co-produced by and starring Constance Ejuma - http://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2014/12/crowdfunding-ben-ara-film-directed-by.html

08 May 2014 - Cannes: 4 women among 5 young Ethiopian filmmakers | 4 femmes font partie des 5 jeunes cinéastes Ethiopiens - http://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2014/05/four-women-among-5-young-ethiopian.html

2012

18 Feb 2012 - Women Filmmakers from the Ethiopian Diaspora Tell Their Stories. http://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2012/02/women-filmmakers-from-ethiopian.html

2011

02 Sep 2011 - Rahel Zegeye: The Experiences of an Ethiopian Migrant Worker and Filmmaker in Lebanon - http://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2011/09/rahel-zegeye-experiences-of-ethiopian.html

23 Mar 2011 - Focus on Yewbdar Anbessie - http://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2011/03/focus-on-yewbdar-anbessie.html

2010

17 Apr 2010 - A Conversation with Yetnayet Bahru. See: http://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.com/2010/04/conversation-with-yetnayet-bahru-by.html