02 Jan GFE Ethiopia Conference 2019
On 7 – 8 December 2019, IEFTA hosted its 3rd Global Film Expression Conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. At our invitation, seven leading industry figures attended the conference to lead workshops, masterclasses and meet 1:1 with emerging Ethiopian filmmakers.
- Dorothee Wenner (International Filmmaker)
- Jane Kim (Toronto International FF)
- Mike Gabrawy (International Producer)
- Marco Orsini (IEFTA President, Documentary Filmmaker)
- Paul Federbush (Sundance Institute)
- Rosanne Korenberg (International Producer)
- Tigist Kebede (Distributor)
One of the highlights of the conference was the selection of Semagngeta Aychiluhem for our Addis to Cannes program.
He will be attending the Marché du Film’s Workshops at the Festival de Cannes in May of 2020.
Semagngeta Aychiluhem
Semagngeta is an award winning producer/director based in Ethiopia, Addis Ababa. He is interested in stories that start conversation and show different perspective. He believes in creating an African cinema industry that tells the African and international stories from an African perspective. Semagngeta runs a company called Guzo films. He is currently developing his first feature film titled ‘A Farmer, A Traitor, a General and a Queen’, and a comedy TV series titled ‘Love and Brain’.
As a kid, he had always wanted to join the aviation industry. That all changed when he turned twelve years old and his father bought a VHS player. He was introduced to the world of movies and thought it was all real. He watched movies day and night, movies from Jackie Chan were his favourite. He always believed it to be real and tried to do all the fighting scene; bruising and breaking his bones in the process.
He wants to inspire kids by his films the same way movies have done for him. He wants them to think it is all real.