Ferenj

“Ferenj” is an afrosurreal dreamscape crafted from the director’s reconstructed memories questioning the meaning of home and identity as a mixed-race, Ethiopian-American growing up amidst cultural dissonance. The viewer is guided through fragments of Empress Taytu (her parents’ Ethiopian restaurant in Cleveland, OH) to the streets of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia by a speculative one-way conversation between the narrator and Empress Taytu – the restaurant personified as the historic empress. “Ferenj” harnesses photogrammetry as a tool to reclaim the 3D scanned spaces and redefine Robson’s relationship to them on her own terms.

Cast

Ainslee Alem Robson Narrator

Melkamayehu Belachew

Tewabech Belachew

Betelhem Shiferaw

Senait Robson

Carl A. Robson

Laure Michelon

Kate Stuteville

Spencer Daly

Cole Daly

Metadata from the source database.