Harvest: 3,000 Years
Gerima’s second fiction work takes him to his homeland of Ethiopia shortly after the overthrow of Haile Selassie. Inspired to make a film in his mother tongue, Amharic, after seeing Ousmane Sembène’s Borom Sarret (1963), Harvest: 3,000 Years turns away from the cityscapes of Bush Mama for a more expansive setting.
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Gerima’s second fiction work takes him to his homeland of Ethiopia shortly after the overthrow of Haile Selassie. Inspired to make a film in his mother tongue, Amharic, after seeing Ousmane Sembène’s Borom Sarret (1963), Harvest: 3,000 Years turns away from the cityscapes of Bush Mama for a more expansive setting. In rural Ethiopia, a greedy landowner exploits the peasants who tend his property, commanding them from the shade of his veranda. But a griot challenges the social order and slowly an awakening occurs among the suffering workers. Elliptical and epic, the film played at Cannes to acclaim and won two prizes at the Locarno Film Festival.
Director: Haile Gerima. Cast: Kasu Asfaw, Worke Kasa, Melaku Makonen, Adane Melaku. 1975. 150 minutes. Ethiopia. B&W. English, Amharic. 16mm.
All film screenings of Imperfect Journey: Haile Gerima and His Comrades are available here.