The African Film Institute
Admission starts at $5
March 19, 2024, 7pm
Brooklyn, NY 11205
USA
The African Film Institute is pleased to invite you to e-flux Screening Room on Tuesday, March 19, at 7pm for a screening of Merkato by Ethiopian-American filmmaker Sosena Solomon followed by a conversation between Solomon, designer and urban scholar/theorist Mpho Matsipa, and anthropologist Natacha Nsabimana. The event is organized as part of the film series curated by Nsabimana for the African Film Institute and e-flux Screening Room.
Taking a cue from the practice of an evening school as proposed by Christian Nyampeta’s Ecole Du Soir, Nsabimana invites filmmakers, artists, and scholars for a meditation and conversations around “African Cinema,” unfolding at e-flux Screening Room over the course of twelve months. What does the formulation evoke for us today? Is it worth holding onto? For whom? Comprised of a series of viewings sometimes followed by conversations, the curation will include feature films, shorts, and documentaries.
Solomon’s Merkato is a documentary tracing the lives of four people as they navigate the demands of life and work in one of the biggest markets in Africa in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Filmed on location in Merkato, before a radical architectural transformation, Solomon’s documentary invites us to ask expansive questions about space, architecture, transition, and preservation.
Sosena Solomon, Merkato (2013, 18 minutes)
Merkato journeys through the largest open-air market in Africa, documenting the daily lives of four merchants and their interconnected relationship with the market. These visually gripping, poetically felt portraits illuminate the fragile and universal nature of the human condition. The film explores the living testimonies of Hawa, the oldest woman working in Merkato; Gideon, an ex-gang member looking for redemption; Ashenafi, a young dreamer learning how to make it; and Wurro, a young woman responsible for her own success. As their livelihoods are on the verge of being transformed by incoming strip malls and parking lots, this social documentary is a tribute and celebration of the people who live, work, and dream in Merkato.
For inquiries addressed to the African Film Institute, please write to africanfilminstitute@e-flux.com.
For general and press inquiries, contact program@e-flux.com.
Accessibility
–Two flights of stairs lead up to the building’s front entrance at 172 Classon Avenue.
–For elevator access, please RSVP to program@e-flux.com. The building has a freight elevator which leads into the e-flux office space. Entrance to the elevator is nearest to 180 Classon Ave (a garage door). We have a ramp for the steps within the space.
–e-flux has an ADA-compliant bathroom. There are no steps between the Screening Room and this bathroom.