Above: Aaron Arefe, left, and Haile Gerima
Director of several of the best-known African films ever to screen in the West, Howard University film professor, wit, maverick, impassioned critic of Hollywood, grumpy old man, warm soul — all these descriptions seem to fit Haile Gerima. “Teza,” the helmer’s film at DIFF, is about a man who returns to Ethiopia after years away in Europe. Traumatized by the hope his people place in him, he is forced to confront his childhood. Sitting in panel discussions here this week, Gerima’s views on filmmaking often drew the loudest and longest applause. THR Asia editor Jonathan Landreth met up with Gerima, 62, and his 28-year-old “Teza” star Aaron Arefe to talk about African filmmaking.
The Hollywood Reporter: How long did you take to shoot “Teza”?
Haile Gerima: Shooting was eight weeks in Ethiopia and six days in Cologne, Germany. From the first seed money I received from WDR- Arte Television in February 1993, it’s taken a lifetime.
THR: Who is the lead character Anberber and when is “Teza” set?
Gerima: First, you have to understand that there was a fascist Italian period of Ethiopia’s history that lasted from 1935-1940. This was followed by Emperor Haile Selassie, who was then overthrown in ‘74 by the military junta. Anberber has returned to his village in the beginning of the movie in 1989-90, during the most intense war between the political group and the junta it’s trying to unseat.
THR: Do you have a distributor beyond sales to Italy and Switzerland?
Gerima: I will distribute in the U.S. and Canada, the same thing I did before with (1993’s) “Sankofa.”
THR: What did you learn about self-distribution with 1993’s “Sankofa”?
Gerima: Well, initially, I wanted to use distributors because my wife (Shirikiana Aina) and I are both filmmakers. We were hoping distributors would take us through fair economic transactions. When we realized that was not the case, we organized throughout the African-American community what we call ” ‘Sankofa’ families,” because they had such an emotional response to the movie. They were just unpaid groups of people in 32 states. They opened it, in some cases, with independent theaters.
THR: How much did it cost to make “Sankofa” and did you make a profit?
Gerima: We made it for close to $1 million and by newspaper accounts it made about $3 million. But this was being distributed by footwork. Had it been distributed professionally, it would have done more with the broader African-American community and the progressive, crossover audience.
THR: Will “Teza” get Middle East distribution?
Gerima: So far, (Middle East distributors have not been) not good with African cinema. I’m hoping to explore the possibilities. … it’s an important market for us to sell and distribute, but it’s still very difficult. They’re better with North African films than with Sub-Saharan films.
THR: In this economy how will you continue to make movies with a conscience?
Gerima: A lot of African filmmakers of my generation are really exhausted from being nomadic, going from continent to continent looking for money. It can be very discouraging. Most of our national governments don’t have much vision for policy on national cinema.
Aaron Arefe: In my generation, there are a number of filmmakers who are building a consumer base that is steadily growing and increasingly attracted to African movies like “Teza.” Through grassroots efforts — pounding on doors, advertising on sites like Facebook and My Space– my friend, Yehdegeo Abeselome in Los Angeles, got his film “Thirteen Months of Sunshine” into theaters in five or six cities in America. The consumers are Pan-African and cross-generational. In the future, this will be a viable pool for finances.
THR: Where’d you grow up?
Arefe: I grew up in the Fairfax district of L.A. until I was about eight, then Iwent back to Ethiopia until I was 18, but came back every summer. My mom is a development consultant for international companies in Africa.
THR: Obama? Does his being president help African cinema?
Gerima: No. I think Hollywood is a monster of its own. The Congress has so many other problems and I don’t think politicians have the consciousness, nor do they care to get into democratizing Hollywood. Mine could be a minority opinion, but the industry doesn’t respond like that. There’s too much money, too many stars at stake.
THR: Won’t more people take an interest now that the U.S. president is the son of an African?
Gerima: The African-American community has always been interested in African films. Despite the neglect of distributors, African films have constitutions, they have consumers. … The problem is that the capitalists, the people who are the gatekeepers of the distribution system, don’t have that much interest in African films.
THR: There are small independent films about Africa, then there are films such as “Hotel Rwanda.” Is there hope for anything in between?
Gerima: Well, there was “Sometimes in April” for HBO, also by Peck. “Hotel Rwanda” can’t come close to that film in terms of the way it fleshed out the very causes of the genocide.
Arefe: I would concede that the current Hollywood system is incapable of adjusting itself, but in the time of Obama, it’s obvious that we’re moving toward a wider demographic than the Pan-African audience. … The traditional isolationist mentality doesn’t exist any more (in the U.S.). In the end, Hollywood’s a consumer-driven system, and I definitely think that within the next eight years there’s going to be a dramatic shift.
THR: Is what Aaron’s saying a reflection of youthful idealism?
Gerima: It doesn’t speak to history. Go talk to Danny Glover about what he has to do to get a movie done. The only chance that Aaron’s generation has is to create an alternative using new technology. … If they’re capable of using digital cinema as an alternative medium of expression, then the revolution will happen.
