Throughout his career, Haile Gerima has used his work as a critical lens for personal growth and creative development. His concern for people of African descent is evident, especially, where the representation of their image is concerned. His belief is that independent cinematic expression should counter the superficial and stereotype-laden films of Hollywood and, instead, engage socially relevant issues. Toward this end, many of Gerima’s films have been produced with grassroots, community support and/or financing from arts institutions, outside of the U.S.

Haile Gerima is an independent Ethiopian filmmaker, based in Washington, D.C. Since 1975, he has served as a distinguished professor of film at Howard University.

Born in Gondar, Ethiopia, Gerima is a writer, producer and director, perhaps best known for his acclaimed 1993 film SANKOFA. The dramatic tale of African resistance to slavery won international acclaim, awarded first prize at the African Film Festival in Milan, Italy, as well as Best Cinematography at Africa’s premier Festival of Pan African Countries.

His most recent film, TEZA (2007), was another personal drama, set in Ethiopia and Germany. The film chronicled the return of an African intellectual to his country of birth, during the repressive Marxist regime of Haile Mariam Mengistu. Anberber, the film’s principal character, was forced to confront his own displacement and feeling of powerlessness, amid the dissolution of his people’s humanity and social values.

TEZA was awarded Best Screenplay and the Grand Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival in 2008, and also received the Grand Prize at the Ouagadougou Panafrican Film and Television Festival in 2009, among other international commendations.

Throughout his career, Haile Gerima has used his work as a critical lens for personal growth and creative development. His concern for people of African descent is evident, especially, where the representation of their image is concerned. His belief is that independent cinematic expression should counter the superficial and stereotype-laden films of Hollywood and, instead, engage socially relevant issues. Toward this end, many of Gerima’s films have been produced with grassroots, community support and/or financing from arts institutions, outside of the U.S

The concepts of identity and independence are, perhaps, the most pervasive in all of Gerima’s films. He sees filmmaking as a conduit for telling his personal stories, a means to honor the struggles of his ancestors and add their names to the map of history, for future generations to have a blueprint for their own survival.

Press

The Atlantic

… remarkably focused, even obsessed, with betrayal and faithfulness ... Sankofa sees film about slavery not just as a way to remember, but as a survival technique—a way to identify who the enemies are, and how to defend yourselves from them. -- THE ATLANTIC.

THE WASHINGTON POST

… in the 1970s and 1980s a group of African American filmmakers formed the “L.A. Rebellion. It was out of that revolutionary cadre in 1975 that filmmaker Haile Gerima arrived at Howard, where he has since taught writing and directing, and guided film to becoming a force of substance and bold expression.”-- THE WASHINGTON POST.

THE NEW YORK TIMES

“I am from a generation that genuinely wanted a better society ... but which got blinded and lost and turned against its own humanity to become the opposite of what we wanted to be … -- THE NEW YORK TIMES.

THE WASHINGTON POST

As an artist, he transports himself in his own pocket: He has spent his entire career resolutely avoiding the deep pockets that dominate commercial Hollywood moviemaking.-- THE WASHINGTON POST.