Haile Gerima is an independent filmmaker and professor of film at Howard University in Washington, D.C. Born and raised in Ethiopia, he emigrated to the United States in 1967. Following in the footsteps of his father, a dramatist and playwright, Gerima studied acting in Chicago before entering the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, where his exposure to Latin American films inspired him to mine his own cultural legacy. After completing his thesis film, Bush Mama (1975), he received international acclaim with Harvest: 3000 Years (1976), an Ethiopian drama that won the Grand Prize at the Locarno film festival. In 1993, he directed the epic Sankofa, and three years later founded Sankofa Video and Bookstore in Washington, D.C., a cultural and intellectual space that offers opportunities for self-expression, interaction, discussion, and analysis through community events. Gerima continues to distribute and promote his own films, including his latest festival success, Teza (2008), which won the Special Jury Prize and Best Screenplay at the Venice Film Festival. He also lectures and leads workshops on alternative screenwriting and directing, both in the US and internationally.
In 2022, LEFFEST screened two of his films (Sankofa and Ashes and Embers) as part of the retrospective dedicated to the L.A. Rebellion movement, and in this edition, Haile Gerima participates in the Exílios program with the film Teza.
