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CHAPTER 1

From Yeseytan Bet — Devil's House to 7D

Mapping Cinema's Multidimensional Manifestations in Ethiopia from Its Inception to Contemporary Developments

Michael W. Thomas

Roughly 115 years from the time when the first attempt was made to establish a cinema in Ethiopia, in 2012 a seven-dimensional movie show simulator opened in the capital city, Addis Ababa (billed as the first 7D cinema in Africa). The time in between the establishment of these fantastical exhibition spaces has borne witness to a long and complex history of cinema in the country. Indeed, Ethiopia has been a site for multiple and diverse experiences of cinema, barely touched upon by scholarship but deserving of as much attention as other significant global cinematic contexts enjoy. Despite much recent scholarship lauding the success of the Nigerian and Ghanaian video film industries, there has been no systemic research on the recent growth of the film industry in Ethiopia. Ethiopia presents a case that deserves attention, not only due to the rapidly growing size of its potential internal market but also because, unlike the rest of Africa, European languages are not widely spoken in Ethiopia. This has meant that while Nollywood profits internationally from the global power and status of English (Adejunmobi 2002), Ethiopia remains relatively untouched by the Nollywood phenomenon. Instead, the local Amharic-language film industry has recently grown to fill the gap in demand for a locally produced and locally comprehensible film industry that has proliferated primarily within Addis Ababa.

In terms of film culture, Ethiopia offers an alternative case study compared with other African countries that have favored a "straight to VCD" distribution model. Cinemas in Ethiopia still play a central role in society with the commercial Amharic films favoring theatrical releases in the fifty-odd cinemas that populate Addis Ababa and other urban centers throughout the country. Larkin's influential study on cinema and cinemagoing in Kano (northern Nigeria) and other recent studies highlight the need to broaden the parameters of film studies in order to properly understand the social and cultural impacts and meanings of cinema, moving beyond assumptions of cinema as a "universal language," to explorations of cinema as a hybridized site of distinct global and local exchanges and meanings (Dovey and Impey 2010; Garritano 2013; Jancovich, Faire, and Stubbings 2003; Jedlowski 2012; Larkin 2008). At a time, then, when scholars note the demise of cinema across the globe due to the onset of the digital revolution in the new "information age," it is important to ask why it is that cinema building, movie making, and cinemagoing are enjoying a local renaissance in urban Ethiopia.

Cinema is understood here as an inherently modern phenomenon wherein the spectacle of the movie, traversing space and time, constitutes a social event in a translocal space (a space in which global exchanges in goods, ideas, and people occur). Cinema is imbued with intrinsic features of modern society (for example the commodification of leisure time). Cinema in Ethiopia began life being vehemently opposed by antimodernizing sectors in a largely conservative society while remaining an important trend setter and facilitator between global cultures and forward-thinking Ethiopians. With the advent of local productions dominating the big screens in the early 2000s, the position of cinema within society shifted dramatically, shedding its risqué status in order to speak specifically to the growing urban populations in the country. After licensing stipulations that prevented the screening of DVDs and VHS tapes in Ethiopian cinemas were lifted in 2002, local digital film productions in Amharic, the national language of Ethiopia, proliferated exponentially. This popular, low-budget, and commercially led cultural phenomenon has radically changed the meaning of cinema in the country, usurping the once ubiquitous foreign (mainly Hollywood and Bollywood) movies. The popularity of local productions has inspired increased numbers of cinemagoers, which has in turn fueled the construction of cinemas in the country at a rate not seen since the Italians sought to use cinema as a tool of conquest and subjugation during their brief five-year occupation of Ethiopia from 1936 to 1941.

The extensive research focused on other media industries in Ethiopia — such as Meseret Chekol Reta's The Quest for Press Freedom: One Hundred Years of History of the Media in Ethiopia (2013) and studies by Gagliardone (2011, 2014) and Gartley (1997) — omit cinema and film from their focus on mass media. As will become evident, there is little work published on cinema in Ethiopia that is based on systematic, academic study. The following historical overview of cinemagoing and film production, framed as a modernizing moment in Ethiopian history, brings together what little scholarship there is on the subject in an attempt at curating scattered writings and mapping a more coherent history. The various works of historians Richard Pankhurst (1968, 1998) and Paulos Ñoño (1992) have been crucial in explaining the introduction of cinema in Ethiopia, along with information provided in a publication by the Addis Ababa Cinema Houses Administration (AACHA 2007), which administers governmentrun cinemas. Ruth Ben-Ghiat's (2003, 2015) works on cinema in Italian-occupied Ethiopia are captivating and detailed studies that address cinema's capacity for entertainment, propaganda, and even subversion during this turbulent period in Ethiopian history. Anecdotes from Michael Lentakis's memoir (2005), recalling going to the cinema during this period, have proved insightful and support Ruth Ben-Ghiat's more rigorous research. The contributions titled "Cinema" and "Film: Ethiopia and Eritrea in Film" in the various volumes of Encyclopaedia Aethiopica (Bonnano 2003; Haars et al. 2014) have helped nuance the early history of cinema in Ethiopia and are key sources that discuss the first film productions in the country. The majority of the history from the Derg period has been drawn from the Ethiopian Film Corporation's Derg-era publication, Kefilm Madaberiyana Mekotateriya Wana Kifil Eske Ityopya Film Korpreshin/From the Film Development and Control Board to the Ethiopian Film Corporation (1986/1987), with other information made available during interviews. The more recent history of video/digital production is also greatly indebted to interviews with industry insiders and professionals and the work of Tesfaye Mamo (2006) and Fikadu Limenih (2013) in particular. This research has also been influenced by a few unpublished BA and MA theses (in Amharic and English) at Addis Ababa University along with the many articles and blog posts that are helping to fuel the contemporary debate surrounding the film industry in Ethiopia today. Most recently, there have been a few publications in academic journals that have contributed foundational work and important preliminary studies on filmmaking in Ethiopia (Jedlowski 2015a, 2015b; Jedlowski and Thomas 2017; Thomas 2015; Tadesse 2016).

Cinema in Ethiopia until the 1960s

Cinema was introduced into Ethiopia through the modernizing aspirations of Menelik II. Menelik attempted to establish a modern Ethiopian nation-state after the victory over the Italians at the Battle of Adwa and subsequent recognition of statehood in the Treaty of Addis Ababa, 1896 (Marcus 1995). Ethiopia's position as the only free native African state, surrounded by colonizing European regimes, urged Menelik to modernize, establishing a telephone network, railway, piped water system, radio, modern hospital, bank, newspaper, and parliament, to mention a few of the modern developments under his reign. Despite it being difficult to pinpoint the exact time cinema started in Ethiopia, Menelik's curiosity about cinema allegedly arose after he held discussions with a merchant by the name of Stévenin, a Frenchman who was one of only a few European traders to operate in Addis Ababa in the 1890s (C. Michel 1900, 95–101). The first film screening in Ethiopia, mentioned by Paulos Ñoño (1992) in his seminal work on Menelik II's reign, was shown to Menelik and his ministers in the great hall of his palace on the first of Miyazya, 1889 E.C. (April 9, 1897). This film is said to have depicted Jesus walking on water, which provoked the ministers to pay homage to the images by bowing in veneration (Paulos 1992, 337).

Paulos (1992, 336) goes on to explain that Stévenin was concerned with how the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church would react to cinema, but Menelik was unfazed in his admiration and promotion of the new technology. The first attempt at establishing a commercial, public cinema was on the outskirts of Addis Ababa in around 1890 E.C. (1897/98), by a Frenchman from Algeria (Pankhurst 1968, 1998; Paulos 1992; Bonnano 2003). His endeavor, however, is said to have been unsuccessful precisely due to the negative reaction stemming from the Ethiopian Orthodox clergy, associating cinema with the Devil's work (Mérab 1921; Pankhurst 1968, 1998; Paulos 1992; Bonnano 2003). The Ethiopian public dubbed cinema yeseytan bet (Devil's house), and the Orthodox clergy were quick to warn people not to attend, leading to the subsequent bankruptcy of the proprietor who, before leaving the country, sold his projector to the Italian minister, Major Ciccodicola (Pankhurst 1998; Paulos 1992). Ciccodicola promptly presented the projector as a gift to Menelik in an attempt to improve Italy's status within Ethiopia after the recent defeat at Adwa (Paulos 1992). Menelik's enthusiasm for cinema increased as he took it upon himself to project religious films in his great hall at his palace, slowly accustoming influential guests to cinema, making it more difficult for them to speak of it as an invention of the Devil (Paulos 1992, 337).

Unlike the mainly entrepreneurial beginnings of cinema in Euro-American histories as a commercialized entertainment product of vaudevillian shows and fairground spectacle, in Ethiopia, cinema's origins can be understood more in terms of its use as a pedagogical tool, upheld by the emperor to persuade Ethiopian society, and the powerful Orthodox clergy in particular, to accept modern technology. The literal demonization of cinema, its high costs, and the immoral aura attributed to it, however, only made it accessible to the few modernizing elites of the country such as Ras Mekonnen and Tekle-Haymanot of Gojjam (and later his son, Haylu Tekle-Haymanot) who, along with the emperor, were reportedly sedulous cinemagoers (Pankhurst 1998). The religious dimension of cinema is significant in the Ethiopian context, both as a tool used for visualizing religious episodes and with the technology being deemed the work of the Devil. Through the projected visual image, cinema can be seen to be a revelatory instrument used to instruct and enlighten. These visualizations are not too dissimilar, according to the renowned Ethiopian-born film scholar Teshome Habte Gabriel, from the oral stories told in Orthodox churchyards when he was a child. Teshome recounts that he was "treated to 1- to 2-hour long verbal visualization of 'revelations' as experienced by such prophets as Ezekiel, Elijah or Jeremiah (incidentally, 'revelations' in Ethiopic [Amharic] stands for ra'ey, literally meaning 'seen with the mind's eye')" (Gabriel 2001, 97). Unlike in other African experiences, such as in Ghana, in which Brigit Meyer (2003, 2015) and Lindsey Green-Simms (2012) explore the religious aspect of video films as they visualize the triumph of evangelical Christian forces over traditional occult specters, in Ethiopia, cinema's introduction reinforced the entrenched Ethiopian Orthodox Christian beliefs of the ruling classes. Despite the apparatus of cinema being stuck in the quagmire of Christian dualism, Menelik's tactics of harnessing cinema's revelatory powers, exposing to cinema the same conservative Orthodox clergy who had previously associated all foreign technologies with the Devil, is testament of Menelik's conviction in the visual power of cinema.

According to Paulos, it was not until 1901 E.C. (1908/9), when Menelik encouraged the Baicovich brothers to install a Pathé projector in Addis Ababa, that a second attempt at establishing a commercial, public cinema was made. Whilst Paulos (1992, 337) mentions that this business failed after a year due to projector malfunction, Pankhurst (1998) cites Mérab's 1921 account that the business was abandoned due to a lack of public interest after the first month. There was not only caution surrounding the perceived devilish magic of the cinema, but the concept of paying for something you cannot physically consume or use was perceived as money-spinning chicanery (Ethiopian Film Corporation 1986/1987).

Pankhurst (1998) mentions that a Greek migrant made a third and more successful attempt at the original site of yeseytan bet (also at this time known as Pathé Cinema) near Tewodros Square, which was quickly taken over by the proprietor of the Hôtel de France, M. Terras, while Cinema Empire was later established in Piassa where the current Ethiopian Electric Power Corp. building is (Ethiopian Film Corporation 1986/1987). The Hôtel de France also had a cinema hall and, as well as in Addis Ababa, M. Terras gave cinema shows in Dirre Dawa and Djibouti (Pankhurst 1998). The train link between Djibouti and Addis Ababa allowed M. Terras to easily access the French distribution network, meaning that most films in this period originated from France (Ethiopian Film Corporation 1986/1987). Between 1924 and 1925, AACHA (2007, 40) notes that M. Terras screened silent films at a rate of one alad (old money, half of a Menelik thaler) for a chair and one mahalliq (old money, one-sixteenth of a Menelik thaler) to sit on a stone, making cinema accessible only to the wealthy new urban population of traders, skilled laborers, and university students, as well as accommodating the aristocrats, intellectuals, and foreigners of Addis Ababa (Ethiopian Film Corporation 1986/1987). The high price of a single ticket was the equivalent to buying a sheep, which meant the cinema was unaffordable for most but keenly enjoyed by those who could afford it (be they male or female, Christian or Muslim) even though many still perceived cinema as posing a cultural and religious risk, as was apparent when women would regularly be seen covering half their face during screenings as a defense mechanism (Ethiopian Film Corporation 1986/1987). The popularity of cinema in Addis Ababa also began to increase around this time due to the attraction of the first talkies, screened in 1927 along with the opening of two more cinemas in the 1920s around Arada and Menelik Square called Le Perroquet and Mon Cinéma (AACHA 2007; Reta 2013).

Cinema became more established in Addis Ababa during the period of Teferi Mekonnen's regency beginning in 1916 due to the continued commitments to modernize Ethiopia. Along with the rapid urbanization and development of a thriving cosmopolitan capital city and the general customization of urban Ethiopians to other modern inventions such as the train, motor vehicles, and cameras, cinema steadily developed a devout following. According to Arefaynie Fantahun (2006), the first Ethiopian-made film was shot by an Ethiopian by the name of Tedla in this same year, documenting Empress Zewditu's coronation. Foreign dignitaries and film crews were invited to the more regal coronation of Teferi Mekonnen as Emperor Haile Selassie I in 1930, the same year that the population of Addis Ababa passed one hundred thousand (Pankhurst 1968). Due to the rise in foreign migrants, especially from Greece, Armenia, India, and France, and the establishment of foreign diplomatic missions, there was also an increase in demand for modern entertainment such as the cinema. The increased commodification of leisure time further led to a tax on entertainment set out in a decree by Haile Selassie on August 5, 1932, regulating cinemas, theaters, concerts, and meetings (Pankhurst 1968, 533). Although Haile Selassie was said to be "fascinated by film and cinema and understood how important film could be" (Haars et al. 2014, 317), particularly in constructing his image as a modern and benevolent leader, the emperor explicitly supported the theater, believing it more viable as a tool of propaganda and for educational purposes. As it was fashionable at the time to follow the trends of the emperor, and as the local theatrical productions were in Amharic and celebrated Ethiopian culture, thus being more accessible than the foreign images, sounds, and mechanisms of cinema, the theater (and not the cinema) established itself as the favorite and most successful art and entertainment form among most of the wealthy urban population (see Ashagrie 1996).

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