Jeans & Martò

Sometimes apparently normal people hide extraordinary and important stories. Roba comes from a remote pastoralist Ethiopian village. Belonging to the Karrayu clan, he grew up among the herders and his path of life was a matter of tradition. However, his passion for school will conduct him through a series of amazing events: the escape to the Capital city, the family conflict, the internal doubts and the hope for reconciliation, a terrible drought in the Karrayu lands, the loneliness of the city life, an unexpected journey to Italy, the death of his brother killed in an ethnic conflict, and finally the coronation of a big dream.
Jeans and Martó reveals the complexity of the „Ethiopia of the new milenium“, constricted between modernity and tradition, pastoralist and urban lifestyle, old and new generations who struggle to adapt to such a rapid transformation. Roba´s unique and privileged point of view provides a new way of considering a very burning issue of present time, namely how tradition and modernity could possibly work together in building a better future. (Antropofest)