Katanga Nation
Logline
Enkehone, naive but ambitious and from rural Ethiopia, lives in a hostel in the bustling neighborhood of Katanga. His host, Amele, lives in the back room of the dorms she rents out. As the path to his dreams unfold in uncertainty, Enkehone witnesses the raw, chaotic, and captivating life of his host family and their community in the last days of Katanga before it is engulfed by the monstrous construction of Addis Ababa.
Synopsis
Amele is the colorful host of a small hostel in the bustling neighborhood of Katanga, Addis Ababa. She rents out beds to people from all walks of life; day laborers, streets kids, pickpockets. Katanga is one of the last few undeveloped places in the heart of Addis Ababa and it is surrounded from all sides by the looming shadows of construction. Enkehone, a young man from the northern city of Gondar, works as an illegal street vendor while sleeping in Amele’s hostel. He is a shrewd and ambitious salesman who is constantly on the run from the police. The unpredictability of his business is shared by many who sleep in Amele’s house. Most have to scavenge together some money everyday to afford staying the night. One day, during one of his street sales, Enkehone’s merchandize gets confiscated by the police. Several tries to get his stuff back returns fruitless and forces him out of business. He starts spending more time at the hostel and he bears witness to the raw, chaotic but self sustaining energy of Katanga and its inhabitants. He also grows closer with Amele, who promises to support him until he gets back on his feet again. Enkehone gets a job as a day laborer in one of Addis Ababa many construction sites. Building apartments, he dreams of one day scraping together enough money to start his business again. As the monstrous construction of Addis Ababa gets closer and closer to Katanga, Enkehone settles into his life in the neighborhood and starts appreciating the precious little time left with Amele and his other co-habitats.
Director
Hiwot Getaneh & Beza Hailu Lemma
Born in Addis Ababa, Hiwot Getaneh studied electrical and computer engineering before joining the Blue Nile Film Academy. Her first short film, New Eyes, was selected for the Venice Orizzonti and Toronto International Film Festival in 2015. She then directed a short documentary, Letters from Ethiopia, in 2016, and A Fool God in 2019. She was also a lead director on YEGNA, a teenage TV drama. An alumnus of TIFF Talent Lab, Addis to Cannes, Locarno Summer Academy, Berlinale Talents, Durban Talents and Realness Residency, Hiwot is currently developing her debut feature, Sweet Annoyance.
Beza Hailu Lemma is an Ethiopian filmmaker based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. A graduate of Addis Ababa University’s School of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, he has written, directed and independently produced a number of short films including Ballad of the Spirits in 2017 which screened at the Addis International Film Festival. He has also directed numerous documentaries for different clients. Beza is a 2019 alumnus of Berlinale Talents, Realness Screenwriting Residency, TIFF Filmmakers Lab and the Africa Centre’s Artist in Residency program.
Producers
Hiwot Getaneh
EFUYE GELA FILMS
Beza Hailu Lemma
EFUYE GELA FILMS
Don Edkins
STEPS
Don Edkins is a South African documentary filmmaker and producer based in Cape
Town. He has produced documentary film projects that have been broadcast around
the world, such as Steps for the Future, Why Democracy? and Why Poverty? earning
multiple international awards, including an Oscar for Taxi to the Dark Side, and the
Special Teddy Award at the 63rd Berlinale for Steps for the Future. The Peabody
awarded Why Poverty? Project, with documentary films from 21 countries, was
screened globally by 70 broadcasters. He is Executive Producer of AfriDocs, a free-to-
view VOD platform and broadcast strand across Africa that screens the best African
and international documentary films. He is currently producing a new documentary film
project with African filmmakers across the continent, Generation Africa, around the
theme of migration. He is a mentor for the Berlinale Talents, Durban FilmMart, and
Docs by the Sea in Indonesia, and a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Tiny Mungwe
STEPS
Tiny Mungwe is a documentary film and arts producer. She currently works at STEPS
(Social Transformation and Empowerment Projects) where she produces Generation
Africa, a pan-African anthology of 25 documentary films from 16 countries in Africa, on
the topic of migration. Mungwe’s films include Akekho uGogo, a 48 minute
documentary about urban youth culture, which screened at several festivals including
the Durban International Film Festival, Apollo Film Festival and DOKANEMA Festival.
Her short film script Evelyn was selected for the National Film and Video Foundation
(NFVF) Women Filmmaker Project and she directed another short film in the program,
Daddy’s Boy. She has written for some of the highest rating South African television
dramas such as Muvhango and Matatiele, and was one of the directors on the series
Uzalo. For several years she worked as a festival organizer and programmer for four
international festivals, namely Time of the Writer, the Durban International Film
Festival, Jomba! Contemporary Dance Festival and Poetry Africa. During that time she also worked on the program for Durban FilmMart (the co-production market of the festival) and Talents Durban (a career development program for emerging African filmmakers in partnership with Berlinale Talents). She continues to work as a program curation associate for the Durban FilmMart. She also programmed and curated the city of Durban’s inaugural book and art fair, ARTiculate Africa.
