Film Screening - Adwa: An African Victory

About the Film

Made in commemoration of the centennial anniversary of the 1896 Battle of Adwa. Haile Gerima's eponymous film tells the story of Ethiopia's revolutionary struggle against an imposing Italian colonial project. Part autobiography and part documentary, Gerima's Adwa (1996) presents a sweeping account of the historical events that paved the way for Ethiopia's liberation under the leadership of Emperor Menelik and Empress Taitu. Gerima gathers and interweaves oral accounts, allegories, songs and chants, as well as archival documents in an effort to quilt a response to a question posed early in the film: "Why didn't you come earlier if you wanted to know history?" The battle aids in the search for an answer and leads us to a central theme in Gerima's larger body of work. By filming the landscapes and the people of the region, Gerima demonstrates the role cinema can play in preserving memory, summoning history,…