Ethiopian independent filmmaker Haile Gerima is to be honored by The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures with a special award at a star-studded opening gala in September. Gerima is acclaimed for his portraits of Black urban life in films like “Bush Mama” and “Ashes & Embers.” The Ethiopian-born filmmaker will be receiving the inaugural Vantage Award, recognizing artists who have contextualized or challenged dominant narratives in film. Halie Gerima arrived in the United States from his native Gondar (where his father was a director of a theater group and a dramatist and playwright, of which young Haile was a member) to study acting and directing at the Goodman Theater in Chicago, Illinois. He taught at Howard University’s Department of Radio, Television, and Film (Washington DC) where he influenced young filmmakers for over twenty-five years. Gerima’s films are noted for their exploration of the issues and history pertinent to members of the African diaspora, from the continent itself to the Americas and Western Hemisphere. What distinguishes his films are that the narratives are told from the perspectives of Africans and members of the African Diaspora itself, rather than being sanitized and misinterpreted by more commercially oriented filmmakers. Gerima’s unique filmmaking aesthetic is coupled with a personal mission to correct long-held misconceptions about Black peoples’ varied histories throughout the world; for this reason, he is considered–by colleagues and students alike–to be a master teacher in the classroom and behind the camera.
SOURCES: ABC News and IMDP
