![]() ![]() Zeleke provides a poignant depiction of how a child copes with grief in a country most know little about. Scene from the movie Lamb, Ethiopia © Photo courtesy of ARThound, Geneva Anderson Yared Zeleke Of course Ephraim is distraught when he learns of his uncle’s plans for Chuni and makes a plan to escape earning money. His uncle strongly opposes this and wants to make a man out of him and put him in the fields. He prefers to stay home with the women tending to Chuni and cooking, his passion in life. Ephraim shares a special bond with Chuni. The family is just getting by and it is decided that Ephraim’s beloved sheep will be slaughtered for a holiday, setting up something of a ticking clock. We watch the family as they farm and celebrate a lifestyle far removed from the one lived in the West. Scene from the movie Lamb, Ethiopia, 2560×1440 © Photo courtesy of While Ephraim settles in to his new life, his father goes to Addis to look for work. The family consists of a loving but all-business great aunt who keeps a whip by her side for occasional discipline, a stern uncle, an aunt concerned with her sick daughter, and another daughter who is past marrying age but seems more interested in reading newspapers than getting married and having children. Forced to move after a drought paralyzes their village, the father and son along with his mother’s sterile pet lamb, Chuni, travel south where their relatives live on farmland surrounded by rolling green hills. Life changes drastically for him and his father, Abraham (Indriss Mohamed) once his beloved mother passes away. The simple, heartwarming, semi-autobiographical movie focuses on the life of 9 year-old Ephraim (Rediat Amare). Variety added the then 37-year old writer-director, Zeleke, to its “10 Screenwriters to Watch” list. It was the Ethiopian entry for the Best Foreign Language film at the 88 th Academy Awards, but wasn’t nominated. It screened at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival and the 2015 Milano Film Festival, winning “Best Feature Film”. Lamb made its world premiere at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. Lamb shares unexpected images of picturesque villages, priests in bright colored robes, and craggy lush peaks. Ethiopia has a tendency to bring pictures of famine, conflict and strife to mind. It does an extraordinary job of telling a story that could only be set in Ethiopia. This award winning Ethiopian film, Lamb (2015) 94 minutes Amharic with English subtitles is a must see. Scene from the movie Lamb, Ethiopia © Photo courtesy of A young Ethiopian boy and his rust-colored lamb are the protagonists of Lamb, the beautifully crafted first feature from Yared Zeleke.
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