The 12th edition of Ethiopian International Film Festival held

The 12th Ethiopian International Film Festival was held at the Alliance Ethio-Francaise, Addis Ababa Ethiopia last week. The annual festival brought several interesting films for the public’s viewing starting December 25th to December 30th, 2017. The list of films for the festival included;
Yelij Habtam: This film features the issue of infertility the negative impact it brings in life in general and in family in particular. It is made to show how motherhood and fatherhood is beyond the issue of infertility.
Taza: Set in Ethiopia, from 1980 to 83, the film narrates about the then social life through an educated girl who came from Cuba and the love affair she has with a man who was a soldier of the former government.
Atse Mandela: This film is set in Merkato, the largest open market of Ethiopia. It shows the day to day activity of Merkato and what life looks like in it.
Kedemena Belay: Helen, the leading role of this film, believes that all human beings are born equal and have a right to access all opportunities. The book she intends to write is aimed to fulfill her ambition as she believes it is as an instrumental to reach wide audiences. The film shows the challenges she faces in life, and the steps she goes through to succeed in realizing her dream.
The festival had the viewing of about 70 films from 33 countries and was attended by thousands.
As part of the festival’s special program called Community Focus, designed to support the needs of certain people and organization in Ethiopia, the organizers held a half a day conference with discussions revolving around social responsibilities and human rights in films.
This half-day conference is one of the organizer’s objectives designed to educate people using film and give a real sense of social responsibility concepts to the people in general and film communities in particular.
The conference showed the different point of views that films play in the role of social development by using the persuasive strengths of cinema and by bringing together filmmakers, human rights specialists, and audiences from varying walks of life to address many prominent issues.
The conference had the attendance of over 100 film makers, producers, and media professionals, government officials and various cultural and educational institutions.
Ethioiff is an annual event in Addis Ababa where shorts, fiction, feature, documentary, animation, experimental, classics and contemporary from around the world are shown. All screenings are free and open to the public. An important part of the film festival is to give awards to the best Ethiopian films of the year in 10 categories.