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Finding Sally

Directed by Tamara Mariam Dawit
Canada, 2020 (documentary, 78 minutes, colour, Amharic / English)

Film Description:
"Finding Sally tells the incredible story of a 23-year-old woman from an upper-class family who became a communist rebel with the Ethiopian people's revolutionary party. Idealistic and in love, Sally got caught up in her country's revolutionary fervour and landed on the military government's most wanted list. She went underground and her family never saw her again. Four decades after Sally's disappearance, Tamara Dawit pieces together the mysterious life of her aunt Sally. She revisits the Ethiopian revolution and the terrible massacre that followed, which resulted in nearly every Ethiopian family losing a loved one. Her quest leads her to question notions of belonging, personal convictions and political ideals at a time when Ethiopia is going through important political changes once again."
-- CatBird Films (source)

Film Description:
"When she notices a black-and-white portrait hanging above her grandmother's fireplace, filmmaker Tamara Dawit learns of an aunt she never knew she had. Is this beautiful young woman perhaps the source of the cryptic pain her elders speak of? Now, four decades after her mysterious aunt Sally's disappearance, Dawit enlists the help of her four remaining aunts to piece together her life. What she uncovers is a remarkable woman, idealistic and in love, an aristocrat-turned-communist-rebel. When a period of violence and oppression, dubbed the Red Terror, erupts in Ethiopia, Sally is forced to go underground with her then-boyfriend. Her story becomes part of the erasure of a whole generation of young, educated people who paid the price for their political convictions. Interweaving Sally's story with archival footage from the late '70s, the film underscores the adage that the personal is political."
-- Aisha Jamal (source)


Film Credits (partial):
Written by: Tamara Dawit
Produced by: Isabelle Couture, Katarina Soukup
Participants: Tsehai Tesfamichael, Abrehet Asefa, Tamara Mariam Dawit, Kibre Dawit, Tsion Dawit, Brutawit Dawit, Menbere Dawit, Ferkete Gebremariam, Ashenafi Kersma, Brur Gebrai
Cinematography: Alex Margineanu
Film Editing: Mahi Rahgozar
Music: Zaki Ibrahim
Production Company: CatBird Films
(sources)

Notes about Finding Sally

(sources)

Web Sites about Finding Sally


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