Private Project

Cine-Addis

The first documentary ever made on Ethiopian Cinema. In the heart of Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, an Azmari and his musical compositions guide us through a film week held in the city’s oldest cinemas as film professionals gather over coffee to debate the state of cinema in the country.

  • Michael William Thomas
    Director
  • Michael William Thomas
    Writer
  • Michael William Thomas
    Producer
  • Yisihak Masinko Moges
    Key Cast
    "The Azmari"
  • Haile Gebreselassie
    Key Cast
  • Theodros Teshome
    Key Cast
  • Kassahun Fisseha
    Key Cast
  • Michael Million
    Key Cast
  • Kidist Yilma
    Key Cast
  • Behailu Wassie
    Key Cast
  • Mulualem Getachew
    Key Cast
  • Bertukan Befkadu
    Key Cast
  • Alemtsehay Bekele
    Key Cast
  • Beza Hailu
    Key Cast
  • Yidnekachew Shumete Desalegn
    Director of Photography
    Nishan, Siryet
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Short
  • Runtime:
    39 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    September 28, 2023
  • Production Budget:
    12,500 GBP
  • Country of Origin:
    Ethiopia
  • Country of Filming:
    Ethiopia
  • Language:
    Amharic
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    2.39:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Learning on Screen Awards 2024
    London
    United Kingdom
    In-House Educational Film Award Nominee
  • Kingston International Film Festival
    Kingston upon Thames
    United Kingdom
    June 22, 2024
    Eadweard Muybridge Prize - Finalist
Director Biography - Michael William Thomas

Michael W. Thomas is a Lecturer in Film and Screen Studies and Postdoctoral Research Fellow at SOAS, University of London on the ERC funded project ‘African Screen Worlds: Decolonising Film and Screen Studies’. He is the author of Popular Ethiopian Cinema: Love and Other Genres (2022) and the co-editor of Cine-Ethiopia: The History and Politics of Film in the Horn of Africa (2018). As well as written publications, Mike focuses on practice-led research both in terms of producing audio visual outputs and curating film events. In 2021, along with Ethiopian colleagues, he established the Retrospective on Ethiopian Films which had its second edition in 2023. His documentary Cine-Addis (2023) invites viewers to experience the cinema and film culture of Ethiopia on screen.

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Director Statement

As has been my general experience in Ethiopia since I first travelled there in 2010, filmmakers have spared time to speak with me, invited me to film events and have often welcomed me into their homes. This generosity of spirit was extended to this project as the most prominent and prolific film professionals in the country agreed to appear in the documentary, including the world-renowned long-distance runner, Haile Gebreselassie, who built the first privately-owned Ethiopian cinema (Alem Cinema) in 2002, offering a dedicated space for Ethiopian films to be screened to audiences. In Cine-Addis, Haile discusses the beginnings of the commercial film industry with Theodros Teshome, whose first film, Kezkaza Welafen (2002) ¬– after screening at Alem Cinema – became a huge success, opening the way for the domestic industry to thrive. The film also features conversations between the critically acclaimed writer/directors Kidist Yilma, Behailu ‘Waje’ Wassie and Mulualem Getachew; the actors Michael Million and Kassahun ‘Mandela’ Fisseha, who are both household names in Ethiopia; and director Alemtsehay Bekele, writer/director Beza Hailu and actress/producer Bertukan Befkadu, focusing on what it means for women filmmakers in Ethiopia to balance motherhood with their careers.

Since the beginning of my research on Ethiopian cinema in 2012, many of my relationships with Ethiopian filmmakers have also flourished through discussions over a coffee or tea after a film screening or premiere where people come together to debate what they have just seen. The use of the film medium for this project gave me the opportunity to try to represent these intimate, animated conversations by setting up encounters between film professionals, assisted by thematic prompts to loosely guide their discussions.

I approached my good friend, the Ethiopian filmmaker Yidnekachew Shumete, with the proposition for the documentary in late 2020, and we began development shortly after, with valuable assistance and guidance from Ethiopian filmmaker Hermon Hailay and her husband and filmmaking partner Max Conil. Through these partnerships and out of the ethical dilemma of how best to capture the cinemagoing experience in Addis Ababa while also gaining people’s consent, we decided to curate a film week in Addis Ababa, free for the public to attend on the condition that they consented to appearing in the documentary. This resulted in the founding of the Retrospective on Ethiopian Films in February 2021, run by Yidnekachew and myself in partnership with the Addis Ababa City Cinema Houses Administration Enterprise; it is the screenings at this film week that feature in Cine-Addis.

Finally, improvisation, experimentation, and creative expression were all also central to the making of this film. The narrative is woven together through the performance of Yisihak “Masinko” Moges, an Azmari (a local musician and storyteller) and his musical compositions (with original songs written by myself, Yidnekachew and Sisay Tesfaye Hassen) that speak to the history and experiences of cinema in Ethiopia.