Popular Ethiopian Cinema

This insightful work explores Amharic-language cinema's history and evolution, emphasizing the role of love in shaping its genres and cultural significance. Popular Ethiopian Cinema offers a comprehensive analysis.

This book shines much-needed light on the history, structures, and films of the Amharic film industry in Ethiopia. Focusing on the rise of the industry from 2002 until today, and embedded in archival, ethnographic, and textual research methods, Popular Ethiopian Cinema offers a sustained and detailed appreciation of Amharic-language cinema. Michael Thomas considers 'fiker'/love as an organizing principle in national Ethiopian culture and, by extension, Amharic cinema. Placing 'fiker' at the center of understanding Amharic film genres also illuminates the continuous negotiations between romantic, familial, patriotic, and spiritual notions of love in these films.

Thomas examines the production and exhibition of films in Ethiopia, charting fluctuations and continuities between the past and the present. He provides detailed textual readings of films, identifying significant junctures in the industry’s development and the emergence of new genres. The findings of Popular Ethiopian Cinema detail the affective characteristics that delineate most Amharic genres and the role culturally specific concepts, such as fiker, play in maintaining the relevance of commercial cinemas that rely on domestic audiences.

This book is the first to present Ethiopian cinema through the lens of local film genres, shedding much-needed light on the history and contemporary landscape of the Amharic film industry in Ethiopia. It serves as a vital resource for understanding the intricate relationship between culture and cinema in this unique context.