#245. Teza [2009]

Title: Teza [2009]
Running Time: 120 Minutes
Country: Germany
Director - Haile Gerima
Screenplay - Haile Gerima
Producer - Karl Baumgartner
Genre: Drama, Foreign
Cast : Abvetedla, Aaron Arefe, Takelech Beyene, Abiye Tedia,
Review Summary :Anberber finishes his studies in Germany and returns post-graduate to Ethiopia. He is full of hope that he can support his country with his newly acquired knowledge. However, he ends up struggling with disillusionment, desperately grappling with his own foreignness and homeland.
Wins : Best Screen Play, 65th Venice Film Festival. Dioraphte Award, 2009 Rotterdam International Film Festival

“Teza,” an Ethiopian film about the ruthless regime of the former dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam, who was in power in Ethiopia from 1974 until 1991, won the Golden Stallion of Yennenga, the top prize at the Fespaco film festival in Burkina Faso, Reuters reported. The film’s Ethiopian-born director, Haile Gerima, now lives in the United States, and his sister Selome Gerima, right, also co-produced the film, accepted in his honor at the event, which plays a similar role in Africa to the Academy Awards in the United States. The second-place prize was awarded to the South African film “Nothing but the Truth,” directed by and starring John Kani as a librarian struggling against racism before and after apartheid. The film is based on Mr. Kani’s play of the same name. “Teza,” about a scientist who returns to Ethiopia after studying in Germany in the 1970s, also won best screenplay and a special jury award at the 2008 Venice Film Festival in September.