In this interview, Festival Coordinator Menna Haile reflects on how the Addis International Film Festival has managed to endure for two decades despite political shifts, financial pressure, and occasional pushback. She discusses the festival’s commitment to human rights storytelling, the thinking behind this year’s theme, and why AIFF sees its mission as far from complete.
Q1: The festival has survived 20 editions through political shifts and financial pressure — what has kept AIFF going when so many cultural initiatives in the region have not?
A: First, I have to acknowledge our partners — many of them have been with us through the years and without that continued support this festival simply would not exist. But beyond that, the mission never shifted. AIFF stayed anchored in human rights storytelling even when it would have been easier to soften that focus. A lot of initiatives fade because they start playing it safe. We never did. That clarity of purpose, backed by partners who believed in it as much as we did, is what kept this festival alive for twenty years.
Q2: “Stories That Matter” was this year’s theme — how does AIFF decide what stories deserve a platform?
A: It comes down to what’s being silenced or overlooked. If a story isn’t getting space elsewhere and it speaks to something urgent, that’s exactly where AIFF should be.
Q3: Has AIFF ever faced pushback over a film it chose to screen?
A: Yes. During the 18th edition we had a film about Palestine scheduled at the Italian Cultural Institute and faced difficulties showing it there. We moved the screening to the Goethe Institute. The film screened, the audience came, and the conversation happened. That’s the job.
Q4: Twenty years in — is AIFF achieving what it set out to do?
A: The work isn’t finished. Films are being shown, rooms are being filled, but the gap between these stories and the audiences who need them most is still real. Twenty editions is a milestone, not a finish line.
