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Ethiopia: Historical Overview On In Ethiopian Film Industry

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  • Ethiopia: Historical Overview On In Ethiopian Film Industry

    ETHIOPIA: HISTORICAL OVERVIEW ON IN ETHIOPIAN FILM INDUSTRY
    By Arefaynie Fantahun

    The Daily Monitor (Addis Ababa)
    Sept 25 2006

    As many will agree, the cinema industry in Ethiopia is still in its
    infant stage. In recent times, the country is seeing a good number
    of new generations of filmmakers, in their majority amateurs, who
    are making films that are enjoying a good run in various cinema houses.

    On a not brighter note, however, the contemporary films "are not up
    to the standard," many in the industry admit. There just is much to
    be desired as far as the development of films is concerned, they say.

    But, ironically, cinema was introduced to this country only three
    years after the world's first film ever was projected in Paris in
    December 28, 1895 by the Louis Lumière brothers. To get a sense of
    how far this industry has come and why it failed to make the progress
    it should, read on the following article by our regular contributor,
    Arefaynie Fantahun.

    In an article appeared in 'Annales d'Ethiopie '(2003), a French
    journal on Ethiopia, Dr. Berhanou Abebe, a renowned historian who has
    published extensively on aspects of Ethiopian history and culture,
    wrote that in 1898, a Frenchman from Algeria brought one of the first
    cinematic artifacts to Ethiopia, and sold it to the Italian minister
    Ciccodicola, who presented it to Emperor Menilek of Ethiopia as a gift.

    It so happened that, Minilik, had heard about the invention and was
    keen to get the cinematograph. It was said that he watched several
    films after he owned the projector.

    According to Dr. Berhanou, there was a film house called 'Pate'
    owned by MM. Baicovich Frères in 1909 -1910. People were stunned
    by this magical invention for the first months but soon they turned
    indifferent. A French historian, Merab, in his 'Impressions d'Ethiopie
    (1922), quoted by Dr. Berhanou, said, 'people apparently didn't like
    to entertain themselves.' Dr. Richard Pankhurst, a distinguished
    historian with several publications and books to his credit, in his
    widely-acclaimed book 'Economic History of Ethiopia' (1968) wrote
    about another attempt made in 1909-10 by some Armenians, but the
    project attracted only temporary interest, and was soon abandoned.

    But despite such indifference, the newly established Addis Ababa was
    undergoing changes and was on its way to becoming the center of the
    country's political and cultural life.

    It was at this time the first European oriented school, staffed largely
    by the French, was opened in Addis Ababa, and with these were imported
    teachers who would promote western-style dramas, the theatres, and
    films in the years to come.

    According to, Encyclopedia Aethiopica, Vol. I (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz
    Verlag, 2003), in the early days cinema, cinema houses were called
    'Ye Seytan Bet', (House of Satan), a definition which well suited
    the technological "devilry" of cinematographically combined images
    and movement.

    The first film known to be produced in Ethiopia was a short 16mm
    black-and-white film, produced by a certain Tedla on the occasion of
    Empress Zewditu's coronation day in 1917.

    To be continued.

    --Boundary_(ID_aEzmde70iar/7KraKn9ePw) --
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