By Camillo de Marco

African film has for some time been all but excluded from selections and above all from prize lists at most international festivals. Selected in competition at the Venice Film Festival, Haile Gerima’s film ‘Teza’ could represent a reversal of this tendency.

In Europe, there are many who believe in the work of African filmmakers. Indeed, German company Pandora and a minority investment from France’s Unlimited provided backing for the production by the
Ethiopian director’s small company.

Having lived in the US for 40 years now, Gerima is considered the most representative director of films from the Horn of Africa. Moreover, Teza confirms the centrality in his work of the theme of the journey
in time and history, which is characteristic of African diasporic film.

In a series of flashbacks and flash-forwards, protagonist Anberber (Aaron Arefe) looks back at his return to Ethiopia in 1970 after studying medicine in West Germany. In Addis Abeba, he intends to
dedicate himself to the battle against infectious diseases but has to confront the violent repression of dissent from the upholders of the Marxist-Leninist regime.

Intellectuals inspired by the values of socialism are persecuted. His best friend is murdered and Anberber is forced to go to East Germany, where – after the fall of the Wall – he becomes a victim of racist extremism. As a 60 year-old, haunted by nightmares and memories, he finally returns to his impoverished village, where he challenges the prejudices of the traditional culture, while civil war rages.

The skilful and polished direction – often reflecting the filmmaker’s theatrical training – reveals disillusions and frustration, which are cast aside at the end to give way to enthusiastic hope in future
generations. Gerima’s previous major film was entitled Sankofa (1993), which means “returning to the past to look to the future”.

The Ethiopian director continues this approach in Teza, which emerges as the number one contender for the Golden Lion.