IP/09/380
Brussels, 10 March 2009
EU-funded Ethiopian film "Teza" awarded main
African film prize for best film
After "Slumdog Millionaire", winner of 8 Oscars at this year's Academy
Award ceremony, EU support to international cinema has yet another
success to celebrate: "Teza", a movie by Ethiopian film maker Haile Gerima
about the "red terror" in Ethiopia, was the jury's unanimous choice for this
year's top African film prize during the 21st pan-African Cinema and
Television Festival (FESPACO) in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
The film about the regime of the country's former dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam
was co-financed by the European Commission with over €56,000 of the total
estimated co-production cost of €400,000 funded from the European Development
Fund (EDF). The programme contributes to the emergence and strengthening of the
production capacities of the film and audiovisual industries in African, Caribbean and
Pacific (ACP) countries as well as to improving the distribution of ACP cinema and
audiovisual works.
European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, Louis Michel, said;
"I'm delighted that 'Teza' has received Africa's top film prize: to add to the growing list
of prestigious awards it has received across the globe. I'm also proud that the
European Commission was able to support the making of this film. This film's
success is a timely reminder of just how essential art and culture are for the
development process for Africa and I'm pleased that this film will be justifiably
headlining at the forum "Culture and Creativity as Vectors of Development" at the
start of April in Brussels."
Teza tells the story of Anberber, an Ethiopian intellectual who flees his country in the
1980s. After his return as a Western trained doctor he is quickly confronted with the
brutal reality of life under the repressive Marxist regime of Mengistu Haile Mariam.
Living in a country entangled in its tragedies and hopes, Anberber is forced to
question his own revolutionary ideals and to recognise his own helplessness faced
with the dissolution of humanity and values in Ethiopian society.
At the 65th Venice Film Festival, Teza was awarded the Special Jury Prize and the
OSELLA for best screenplay. It also won the 2008 Cinema for UNICEF Award. At the
2008 Arab-African film festival of Carthage, Tunisia, the film swept away 5 Awards,
including the Tanit d'Or for the best film. It was also awarded the Golden Unicorn for
the best feature film at the Amiens International Film Festival in France and won
prizes at the 2008 Dubai International Film Festival and 2009 Rotterdam
International Film Festival. At this year's FESPACO festival in Ouagadougou it came
first out of 128 films running in the competition.
The importance of culture for the identity of people, peace and stability of societies
and the economic development of ACP countries will be the topic of the EU's
upcoming international colloquium "Culture and creativity as vectors of Development"
on 2-3 April. The forum will be a platform of debate between artists, culture and
development professionals on the one hand and political decision-makers on the
other, both from ACP and European countries, on reinforcing future actions of the
EU in the area of culture and development. In the framework of the cultural events
complementing the colloquium, Teza will be screened at the Cinema UGC-Toison
d'Or and Vendôme on 3 and 4 April.
Background:
The British film "Slumdog Millionaire" received € 830,000 support from the EU's
MEDIA programme for distribution in 2008 and 2009. The total budget of the film is
estimated to be € 11 million (see MEMO/09/81).
For more on the other Oscar nominees co-funded under MEDIA and previous Oscar
winners, see IP/09/284.
http://ec.europa.eu/media
http://www.acpfilms.eu
http://www.culture-dev.eu
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