Haile Gerima

Haile Gerima (b. 1946, Gondor, Ethiopia), one of Africa's top independent directors, studied in Chicago and Los Angeles. He made his first films, Hour Glass and Child of Resistance in 1972. Four years later he presented the epic Harvest: 3000 Years (Mirt Sost Shi Amit, 1976), which screened at the Cannes festival and at Locarno, where it took the Silver Leopard; in 2006 Martin Scorsese presented a restored print of the movie at Cannes. As a director of documentaries, his first entry was Wilmington (1978), and the drama Sankofa (1993), about African opposition to slavery, competed at the Berlinale and took numerous awards at African film showcases. Teza was selected for the competition at the Venice IFF, and Gerima parlayed his success there into an award for Best African Film at the 21st Ouagadougou Film Festival, Africa's largest.

MFF Karlovy Vary