Imperfect Journey

In 1896, Ethiopia, an African nation, largely armed with spears and knives, defeats a well-equipped and organized Italian military bent on colonization.

Jonathan Dimbleby’s landmark 1973 documentary “The Unknown Famine” stands as a pivotal moment in Ethiopian history—a journalistic endeavour that not only exposed a humanitarian crisis but inadvertently helped precipitate the end of Africa’s oldest monarchy. The footage was broadcast by ITV for its flagship affairs series named "This Week".

A dream-like exploration of the interconnected lives of two women and two children, celebrating the profound moments of love, loss, and resilience that shape the tapestry of womanhood. Set to the backdrop of Sidama's coffee-growing hills, 'Amakki', meaning 'your mother', captures the intricate threads that bind these women to the land, to each other, and to the unspoken essence of motherhood. The language spoken in this film is Sidaamu Afoo.

The armies of Fascist Italy conquered Addis Ababa, capital of Abyssinia, in May 1936, thus culminating the African colonial adventure of the ruthless dictator Benito Mussolini, by then lord of Libya, Eritrea and Somalia; a bloody and tragic story told through the naive drawings of Pietro Dall'Igna, an Italian schoolboy born in 1925.

"A Walk to Beautiful" tells the story of five women in Ethiopia suffering from devastating childbirth injuries. Rejected by their husbands and ostracized by their communities, these women are left to spend the rest of their lives in loneliness and shame. The trials they endure and their attempts to rebuild their lives tell a universal story of hope, courage, and transformation.

First aired on TV on the BBC Two on 29 September 1989, this second episode of the documentary series "Under African Skies", a grand project aimed at presenting the rich diversity of contemporary African music of those days and known for its unforgettable memento "A celebration of the new sounds of a continent. " traverses the nostalgic roots and the euphoric contours of Ethiopian music of the '80s.

When a massive Chinese factory complex attempts a high-stakes expansion in rural Ethiopia, three women in search of prosperity have their faith in industrialization tested to the limit. Filmed over four years with singular access, Made in Ethiopia lifts the curtain on China’s historic but misunderstood impact on Africa, and explores contemporary Ethiopia at a moment of profound crisis. The film was awarded the Jury Special Mention at Tribeca Festival.

With stunning views of eruptions and lava flows, Werner Herzog captures the raw power of volcanoes and their ties to indigenous spiritual practices.

A short film documenting Ethiopian musician Hailu Mergia's life as the leader of the Walias Band in the 1970, his immigration to the United States and his subsequent re-emergence as a performer in 2014.

The region of Lake Turkana, located in Kenya and Ethiopia, is considered to be “the Cradle of Humankind”. Among other finds, primate fossils from millions of years ago have been discovered in the region. But what about the region’s modern inhabitants and their relationship to their environment? Iiris Härmä, whose previous work includes the award-winning Leaving Africa, had the chance of joining Helsinki University’s researchers, Álvaro Fernández-Llamazares and Mar Cabeza, on their pre-pandemic trip to study the Daasanach people’s relationship to their environment through traditional animal tales. The researchers hope that storytelling would help to bridge the gap between people’s everyday lives and conservation efforts.

A travelogue of Ethiopia by plane, automobile and mule, showing the lives, customs, and habits of the people, and the conditions of the country.

Thursday 27th of October 2016 – Teatro Espace, Turin. Mulatu Astatke is a musician, composer, arranger and Ethiopia’s cultural ambassador. He’s known as the godfather of ethiojazz, a unique blend of jazz, traditional Ethiopian music, latin, caribbean reggae and afrofunk. Born in 1943 in Jimma, Mulatu studied music not only in Ethiopia but also in UK and USA. In 2005 he contributed to the soundtrack of Jim Jarmusch’s film “Broken Flowers”, reaching a new public worldwide.