Haile Gerima

Halie Gerima arrived in the United States from his native Gondar, Ethiopia, to study acting and directing at the Goodman Theater in Chicago, Illinois. He later transferred to the Theater Department at UCLA where he completed the Master's Program in Film. Afterward, he relocated to Washington, DC, to teach at Howard University's Department of Radio, Television, and Film where he has influenced young filmmakers for over twenty-five years.Influenced by UCLA classmate and filmmaker Charles Burnett, and by the celebrated Black poet and educator Sterling Brown, Gerima's films are noted for their exploration of the issues and history pertinent to members of the African diaspora, from the continent itself to the Americas and Western Hemisphere. Often corrective of Hollywood versions of slave stories, his films comment on the physical, cultural, and psychological dislocation of Black peoples during and after slavery. What distinguishes his films are that the narratives are told fro... [Details Intro]