The Campaign
On June 1st, Haile Gerima, the independent filmmaker, behind such critically-acclaimed and award-winning films as TEZA, SANKOFA, BUSH MAMA & HARVEST 3000 YEARS is launching his first crowd-sourced fundraising campaign on Indiegogo to finance the production of a new dramatic feature, YETUT LIJ.
YETUT LIJ is a film about the struggle for love and freedom, in the face of local and global forces. Set in the 1960s, in post-occupation Ethiopia, the film tells a fictional story with very real implications about human rights. Aynalem, a peasant girl, from the countryside, gets adopted by a wealthy judge's family and taken away from her own, to work as a domestic servant. Despite the close watch and cruelty of her employers, Aynalem meets and falls in love with Tilahun, an ordinary police man, who manages to help her escape. Though, genuine affection exists between the two, Tilahun is helpless when Aynalem finds herself, years later, in the clutches of another powerful captor.
A graduate of UCLA and distinguished professor of film at Howard University, since 1975, Gerima has spent over 40 years making independent documentaries and narratives, telling passionate and personal stories that reflect his unique cultural accent. .