SACOBSERVER.COM WIRE SERVICES

(GIN via NNPA) – Award-winning director Haile Gerima captured the top prize for his new feature film “Teza” in Africa’s premier film festival that recently closed.

Director Haile Gerima won a coveted award at the 40th Pan-African Fespaco Film Festival recently. Photo courtesy of NNPA.

A historical drama spotlighting the harsh years spent under strongman Mengistu Haile Mariam (1974-1991), the film was praised for its strength, depth and poetry conveying the dashed hopes of a returning intellectual elite. Stunning village vistas and shoulder-dancing amid ululations in bars capture an expressive, vital Ethiopian culture.

''The message of the film is peace,'' said Selome Gerima, associate producer of the film and sister of the U.S.-based, Ethiopian-born director, speaking to the Reuters news agency as she carried off the Golden Stallion of Yennenga, Africa's ''Oscar.''

Over 300 films were shown at the 40th pan-African Fespaco film festival in Burkina Faso – many urged change on the continent.

In “Nothing But The Truth,'' from South Africa, director and lead actor John Kani asserts that post-apartheid freedom's dividends have not been realized.

''We need to establish an African filmmakers' bank,'' Selome Gerima told Reuters on winning the award. She is building four new 35mm cinemas for the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa and hopes it will help African cinema to go it alone.