Description
In an unprecedented mission, Emmy award winning African film-maker Sorious Samura set out to understand the real stories of people living on the edge of starvation.
He moved into a remote village in Ethiopia far away from the range of the UN and most NGO’s. In the documentary Sorious lived in a hut and survived on the same meagre diet as the rest of the villagers. As he arrived in the village Sorious got an unpleasant surprise. The villagers made it clear he was not welcome. ‘They think you are the Devil’ he is told. In the Ethiopian Orthodox tradition the devil indeed is usually depicted as a very black being, blacker than most villagers.
It takes Sorious much persuasion to convince the villagers that he will not eat their babies and hasn’t come to rape their wives. Very soon Sorious settles into the routine of the village. He is amazed and exhausted by the hard work he must do to keep up with the villagers as they climb steep slopes to plough and till their fields every day. Despite the weather failing them on so many previous occasions the villagers always have hope that their next harvest will bring the food they so desperately need. Produced for Channel 4, UK.
Awards: 2004 Harry Chapin Media Award + 2004 Japan Prize “International Education Programme Contest Award” + 2004 Japan Prize “The Grand Prix Japan Award”.