MICHAEL W. THOMAS is a doctoral candidate at the Centre for Film Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.ALESSANDRO JEDLOWSKI is a Belgian Scientific Research Fund (F.R.S.-FNRS) postdoctoral fellow in Anthropology at the University of Liège, Belgium, and a former Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions research fellow.ABONEH ASHAGRIE is Associate Professor of Theatre Arts at Addis Ababa University.

“A magnificent collaborative contribution to African cinema and global cinema studies, involving scholars from both Ethiopia and beyond. At last we have a book exploring the richness of the cinemas and screen media of Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Somalia—cinemas that fully reveal the diversity and complexity of Africa itself.”—LINDIWE DOVEY, reader in Screen Arts and Industries, SOAS University of London, author of African Film and Literature: Adapting Violence to the Screen and Curating Africa in the Age of Film Festivals

• Contents Introduction, Alessandro Jedlowski, Michael W. Thomas, and Aboneh Ashagrie From Yeseytan Bet—Devil’s House to 7D: Mapping Cinema’s Multidimensional Manifestations in Ethiopia from Its Inception to Contemporary Developments, Michael W. Thomas Fascist Imperial Cinema: An Account of Imaginary Places, Giuseppe Fidotta The Revolution Has Been Televised: Fact, Fiction, and Spectacle in the 1970s and 1980s, Kate Cowcher The Dead Speaking to the Living: Religio-Cultural Symbolisms in the Amharic Films of Haile Gerima, Tekletsadik Belachew Whether to Laugh or to Cry? Explorations of Genre in Amharic Fiction Feature Films, Michael W. Thomas Women’s Participation in Ethiopian Cinema, Eyerusaleam Kassahun The New Frontiers of the Ethiopian Television Industry: TV Serials and Sitcoms, Bitania Tadesse Ethiopian Cinema and the Politics of Migration, at Home and Abroad, Alessandro Jedlowski A Wide People with a Small Screen: Oromo Cinema at Home and in Diaspora, Teferi Nigussie Tafa and Steven W. Thomas Hope, Forced Migration, and Desire of Elsewhere in Eritrean Diaspora Films, Aurora Massa and Osvaldo Costantini Somali Cinema: A Brief History Relating Italian Colonization, Somali Diaspora, and the Changing Ideas of Nationhood, Daniele Comberiati Debebe Eshetu (actor and director), interviewed by Aboneh Ashagrie Behailu Wassie (scriptwriter and director), interviewed by Michael W. Thomas Yidnekachew Shumete Desalegn (director and producer), interviewed by Alessandro Jedlowski Contributors Index

MICHAEL W. THOMAS is a doctoral candidate at the Centre for Film Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.ALESSANDRO JEDLOWSKI is a Belgian Scientific Research Fund (F.R.S.-FNRS) postdoctoral fellow in Anthropology at the University of Liège, Belgium, and a former Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions research fellow.ABONEH ASHAGRIE is Associate Professor of Theatre Arts at Addis Ababa University.

“A magnificent collaborative contribution to African cinema and global cinema studies, involving scholars from both Ethiopia and beyond. At last we have a book exploring the richness of the cinemas and screen media of Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Somalia—cinemas that fully reveal the diversity and complexity of Africa itself.”—LINDIWE DOVEY, reader in Screen Arts and Industries, SOAS University of London, author of African Film and Literature: Adapting Violence to the Screen and Curating Africa in the Age of Film Festivals

• Contents Introduction, Alessandro Jedlowski, Michael W. Thomas, and Aboneh Ashagrie From Yeseytan Bet—Devil’s House to 7D: Mapping Cinema’s Multidimensional Manifestations in Ethiopia from Its Inception to Contemporary Developments, Michael W. Thomas Fascist Imperial Cinema: An Account of Imaginary Places, Giuseppe Fidotta The Revolution Has Been Televised: Fact, Fiction, and Spectacle in the 1970s and 1980s, Kate Cowcher The Dead Speaking to the Living: Religio-Cultural Symbolisms in the Amharic Films of Haile Gerima, Tekletsadik Belachew Whether to Laugh or to Cry? Explorations of Genre in Amharic Fiction Feature Films, Michael W. Thomas Women’s Participation in Ethiopian Cinema, Eyerusaleam Kassahun The New Frontiers of the Ethiopian Television Industry: TV Serials and Sitcoms, Bitania Tadesse Ethiopian Cinema and the Politics of Migration, at Home and Abroad, Alessandro Jedlowski A Wide People with a Small Screen: Oromo Cinema at Home and in Diaspora, Teferi Nigussie Tafa and Steven W. Thomas Hope, Forced Migration, and Desire of Elsewhere in Eritrean Diaspora Films, Aurora Massa and Osvaldo Costantini Somali Cinema: A Brief History Relating Italian Colonization, Somali Diaspora, and the Changing Ideas of Nationhood, Daniele Comberiati Debebe Eshetu (actor and director), interviewed by Aboneh Ashagrie Behailu Wassie (scriptwriter and director), interviewed by Michael W. Thomas Yidnekachew Shumete Desalegn (director and producer), interviewed by Alessandro Jedlowski Contributors Index

MICHAEL W. THOMAS is a doctoral candidate at the Centre for Film Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.ALESSANDRO JEDLOWSKI is a Belgian Scientific Research Fund (F.R.S.-FNRS) postdoctoral fellow in Anthropology at the University of Liège, Belgium, and a former Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions research fellow.ABONEH ASHAGRIE is Associate Professor of Theatre Arts at Addis Ababa University.

“A magnificent collaborative contribution to African cinema and global cinema studies, involving scholars from both Ethiopia and beyond. At last we have a book exploring the richness of the cinemas and screen media of Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Somalia—cinemas that fully reveal the diversity and complexity of Africa itself.”—LINDIWE DOVEY, reader in Screen Arts and Industries, SOAS University of London, author of African Film and Literature: Adapting Violence to the Screen and Curating Africa in the Age of Film Festivals

• Contents Introduction, Alessandro Jedlowski, Michael W. Thomas, and Aboneh Ashagrie From Yeseytan Bet—Devil’s House to 7D: Mapping Cinema’s Multidimensional Manifestations in Ethiopia from Its Inception to Contemporary Developments, Michael W. Thomas Fascist Imperial Cinema: An Account of Imaginary Places, Giuseppe Fidotta The Revolution Has Been Televised: Fact, Fiction, and Spectacle in the 1970s and 1980s, Kate Cowcher The Dead Speaking to the Living: Religio-Cultural Symbolisms in the Amharic Films of Haile Gerima, Tekletsadik Belachew Whether to Laugh or to Cry? Explorations of Genre in Amharic Fiction Feature Films, Michael W. Thomas Women’s Participation in Ethiopian Cinema, Eyerusaleam Kassahun The New Frontiers of the Ethiopian Television Industry: TV Serials and Sitcoms, Bitania Tadesse Ethiopian Cinema and the Politics of Migration, at Home and Abroad, Alessandro Jedlowski A Wide People with a Small Screen: Oromo Cinema at Home and in Diaspora, Teferi Nigussie Tafa and Steven W. Thomas Hope, Forced Migration, and Desire of Elsewhere in Eritrean Diaspora Films, Aurora Massa and Osvaldo Costantini Somali Cinema: A Brief History Relating Italian Colonization, Somali Diaspora, and the Changing Ideas of Nationhood, Daniele Comberiati Debebe Eshetu (actor and director), interviewed by Aboneh Ashagrie Behailu Wassie (scriptwriter and director), interviewed by Michael W. Thomas Yidnekachew Shumete Desalegn (director and producer), interviewed by Alessandro Jedlowski Contributors Index