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A Film by Haile Gerima Teza_Presseheft:Layout 1 20.08.2008 19:02 Uhr Seite 2

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Synopsis 55555555555555555555555555555555 Teza, set in Ethiopia and Germany, chronicles the return of the African intellectual Anberber to his country of birth during the repressive Marxist regime of Haile Mariam Mengistu and the recognition of his own displacement and powerlessness at the dissolution of his people’s humanity and social values. After Anberber spends several years in Germany studying medicine, he returns to Ethiopia only to find the country of his youth replaced by turmoil. His dream of using his craft to improve the health of Ethiopians is squashed by a military junta that uses scientists for their own political ends. Seeking the comfort of his countryside home, Anberber finds no shelter from violence. The solace that the memories of his youth provide is quickly replaced by the competing forces of the military and rebelling factions. Anberber must determine if he can bear the strain or piece together a life from the fragments that lay around him. Teza_Presseheft:Layout 1 20.08.2008 19:02 Uhr Seite 4

UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU Director’s Note 55555555555555555555555555555555 Teza provides me with the opportunity to tell the story of those African intellectuals who find themselves dislocated by a series of compli- cated historical circumstances. To evade the larger world, Anberber, the principal character of Teza, retreats to the land of his childhood – even if that becomes the ultimate end of his existence. But immediately he is faced with all the socio-economic ills of his birthplace, lacking a place to hide. Like Prometheus, he went to bring the fire of modernization from Europe ... however the fire he has acquired can’t help him cure the ills of his village, a village so inundated with countless needs. Consequently, as I did in real life, he mentally escapes to his childhood memory, when things appeared fantastic and yet prosperous, mentally it becomes his last refuge from everything that is real. Even though he wants to be inactive in the daily dramatic reality of his village ... the reality of his village, at least morally, still has the capacity to incriminate him. Moreover, his past isn’t something he can easily forget either. It belongs to a memory that is collective of his generation. Every immigrant, when getting older, hears the soundtracks of childhood. Now, like in Teza, when I go to Ethiopia, the present Ethiopia is a nightmare for me, I create a psychological refuge and hide in my past when it was still fantastic. When trees had fruits, when we were kids. It’s not only your parents that feed you. The land fed me. Wild fruits, raspberrys, blueberrys, everything you can think of. When I Teza_Presseheft:Layout 1 20.08.2008 19:02 Uhr Seite 5

UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU went to shoot Teza in 2004, I couldn’t find the trees where I used to eat those wild fruits. It’s part of the desertification, the global ecological change has even destroyed the memory of taste. I come from a family where my father was a storyteller, a playwright. My grandmother is a very good storyteller as well. I was born in a house where electricity only came much later. So I was around the fire with my grandmother most of my adolescence years, before I am exposed to the cinema, listening to her stories. And there are these aesthetics that are passed down to me from my grandmother and my father as well as my stories. When my father did plays I went with him to various provinces. He was a nationalistic writer and he himself fought during the Italian occupation. Logically most of his plays were about Ethiopian patriots, who fought invaders including the Turkish Empire as well as during the Italian attempt of colonize Ethiopia. I grew around stories and songs and narrative drama that come out of my particular cultural aesthetics. The idea of identity and liberation is perhaps the defining goal for me and my vision for an independent cinema. To tell one’s story is to place one’s name on the map of history and to do so while honoring the struggle of ancestors is essential to ensure that future generations have the documentation to create their own blueprint of survival. The history, culture and socio-economic well-being of all peoples of African descent is my primary concern, but above all the preservation of their humanity is the greatest motivation for me as a filmmaker. Teza_Presseheft:Layout 1 20.08.2008 19:02 Uhr Seite 6

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Haile Gerima – Biography 555555555555555555555555555 Haile is perhaps best known as the writer, producer and director of Sankofa (1993). With this historically inspired dramatic tale of African resistance to slavery he won international acclaim: he was awarded First Prize at the African Film Festival in Milan, Italy. Best Cinematography at Africa’s premier Festival of Pan African Countries known as FESPACO and competing for the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival. He finished his first films Hour Glass and Child of Resistance in 1972. In 1976, he completed Bush Mama. The Washington Post insists “Bush Mama is a picture that must be seen ... This film crackles with energy. Fury shakes every frame.” The same year marked the release of Harvest: 3000 Years, a film being selected as a Critic’s Choice for screening at the Cannes Film Festival, winning the George Sadoul Award, the Grand Prize / Silver Leopard at the Locarno Film Festival and the Grand Primo Award at the Festival International de Cinema at Figueroa da Foz in Portugal. In the US, it garnered the Oscar Micheaux Award for Best Feature Film at the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame. Variety magazine describes the film simply as “remarkable”. In 2006, the restaured version of Harvest: 3000 Years was presented by Martin Scorsese during Cannes Film Festival in the Official Selection / Cannes Classics. Teza_Presseheft:Layout 1 20.08.2008 19:02 Uhr Seite 7

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In 1978, Gerima finished his first documentary Wilmington. Followed by After Winter: Sterling Brown (1985), Imperfect Journey (1994) and Adwa - An African Victory (1999). Haile Gerima is an independent filmmaker born in Ethiopia in 1946. His training as a filmmaker can be said to have begun in Gondar, Ethiopia, the place of his birth, where he sat around the fire engrossed in the tales told by parents and grandparents. His father, a dramatist and playwright, was perhaps his greatest influence. In high school, Haile directed his classmates in end of semester productions before leaving to study at the Goodman School of Drama in Chicago and later at the University of Southern California at Los Angeles (UCLA). Since 1975, Haile Germina is an Honorary Professor of film at Howard University in Washington, DC. Teza_Presseheft:Layout 1 20.08.2008 19:02 Uhr Seite 8

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Filmography 5555555555555555555555555555555 2008 Teza · 1999 Adwa – An African Victory (97 min / Documentary) · 1994 Imperfect Journey (88 min / Documentary) 1993 Sankofa (125 min) · 1985 After Winter: Sterling Brown (60 min / Documentary) · 1982 Ashes And Embers (120 min) 1978 Wilmington (129 min / Documentary) · 1976 Harvest: 3000 Years (130 min) · 1976 Bush Mama (98 min) 1972 Child Of Resistance (47min / Experimental) · 1972 Hour Glass (10 min) Teza_Presseheft:Layout 1 20.08.2008 19:02 Uhr Seite 9

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Awards 55555555555555555555555 2006 Harvest: 3000 Years – Festival De Cannes Selection Official Cannes Classic 2003 Lifetime Achievement Award, 4th Annual Independence Film Festival, Washington, DC 1993 Best Cinematography Award, FESPACO, Burkina Faso First Prize, African Film Festival, Milan, Italy 1987 Long Metrage De Fiction - Prix de la Ville de Alger for Ashes and Embers 1984 Tribute Festival De La Rochelle, France 1983 FIPRESCI Film Critics Award for Ashes and Embers – Berlin Film Festival Outstanding Production Ashes and Embers – London Film Festival 1982 Grand Prix Award for Ashes and Embers – Lisbon International Film Festival 1976 Grand Prize/Silver Leopard for Harvest: 3000 Years – Locarno Teza_Presseheft:Layout 1 20.08.2008 19:02 Uhr Seite 10

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT Cast 555555555555555555555555555555555 Anberber Aaron Arefe · Tesfaye Abeye Tedla · Tadfe Takelech Beyene · Azanu Teje Tesfahun · Ayalew Nebiyu Baye Young Amberber Mengistu Zelalem · Abdul Wuhib Bayu · Minister Zenahbezu Tsega · Cadre Leader Asrate Abrha Cassandra Araba Evelyn Johnston-Arthur · Gabi Veronika Avraham

Crew 555555555555555555555555555555555555 Director Haile Gerima · Scriptwriter Haile Gerima · Cinematographer Mario Masini · Editor Haile Gerima, Loren Hankin Music Vijay Iyer & Jorga Mesfin · Sound Editor Martin Langenbach · Line Producer Pedro Pimenta · Art Director Patrick Dechesne, Alain-Pascal Housiaux, Seyum Ayana · Costume Design Wassine Hailu · Make Up Designers Françoise Dael, Daniel Schröder Sound On Location Umbe Adan · Re-Recording Mixer Stephan Konken · Producer Haile Gerima, Karl Baumgartner Co-Producer(s) Marie-Michèle Cattelain, Philippe Avril · Associate Producer Joachim von Mengershausen, Salome Gerima Commissioning EditorWolf-Dietrich Brücker, Gebhard Henke · Production Company Negod-gwad Production / Pandora Film Produktion Co-Production Companies Unlimited, Westdeutscher Rundfunk Teza_Presseheft:Layout 1 20.08.2008 19:02 Uhr Seite 11

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Technical Data 555555555555555555555555 Format 35mm / 1:1,85 / Color / Dolby SRD · Length 140 min · Language Amharic / German / English Teza_Presseheft:Layout 1 20.08.2008 19:02 Uhr Seite 12

International Press In Venice World Sales 55555555555555555555555555555555555555 Wolfgang W. Werner Public Relations Christiane Leithardt The Match Factory GmbH Hohenzollernstr. 10 cell: +49 - (0)179 - 104 80 64 Balthasarstr. 79 - 81 80801 Muenchen / Germany 50670 Cologne / Germany phone: +49 - (0)89 - 38 38 67 -0 Wolfgang Werner phone: +49 - (0)221 - 539 709 -0 fax: +49 - (0)89 - 38 38 67 -11 cell: +49 - (0)170 - 333 93 53 fax: +49 - (0)221 - 539 709 -10 e-mail: [email protected] e-mail: [email protected] e-mail: [email protected] www.the-match-factory.com