From orphan to filmmaker: Habtu
lost his parents when he was only 16 years old. For years he has
been supporting his five younger brothers and sisters as a
daily labourer, earning 5 Birr (50 cents) per day. Food was never
enough and more than once he woke up in the middle of the night in
his little mud hut, discovering that rats had eaten the little
breakfast he had been able to buy for the next day.
Then Habtu discovered Alchemy
World. He applied and was chosen to be one of the 24 students
of our first entrepreneurship class in Bahir Dar. Soon Habuts
ambition became clear: Filmmaking. He wanted to make movies, just
like Ethiopian director Haile Gerima, who just won the special
price of the jury at the Venice film-festival for his epos
"Teza".
Whenever we visited the class he
volunteered to shoot images with our digital camera and he showed a
great talent for it.
Like all the other students Habtu
received a small amount of money from Alchemy World during the
18-months-course and - after class - he also continued to work as a
waiter in a local restauarnt in order to help his family the best
way he could. Nonetheless he has always been one of the best
students, curious, studious, willing to learn and to improve his
skills.
Alchemy World recently invited
him to Addis Ababa for the very first time in his life to take part
in a film-festival and to make first business
contacts.
After the festival Habtu was
invited to partecipate in the filming of a documentary presented
by Andrew Zimmern and directed by Tasha Oldham as part of the
bizarre food series for the Discovery Channel and Sky TV.
Habtu will now be partnering
with a leading African Film Director on a business venture
to support the cinema world, and he has also been invited to
a post production training and to participate on a film
set.
Please conitnue to support oour
work so that young Ethiopians like Habtu can make their ambitious
dreams a reality.
Habtu and the dream of becoming an Ethiopian filmmaker