Synopsis
Like many African metropolises, the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa is growing rapidly. The Oromo farmers in the surrounding area call it Finfinnee, and a part of the Great Rift Valley still separates the remaining land from the city. More and more farmers are giving up and moving to the city as day workers and, thus, into the tribal territory of the urban Amhara, which causes additional conflicts.The film begins with a long shot of the rift landscape, including a narrow footbridge leading through the valley, which is constantly used by passers-by in both directions. It is the place of passage between worlds. Hidden behind the hill lies the city, which is then shown through its construction sites, endless blocks of new buildings, already decaying parts, a donkey cart trotting along a wide road, and street vendors at the roadside. A field, surrounded by new buildings, is actually still being cultivated, an emblematic picture that sticks to one’s mind. On the audio track Daniel Kötter assembles separate sound recordings of conversations with people he has spoken to or listened to, a specific location remains unclear. They revolve around everything that has to do with the transformation of the region— a testify to the deep cuts in lifestyles that urbanization has brought about.
DEFA Award @ DOK Leipzig 2020
Daniel Kötter was born in 1975 and lives in Berlin. He is a filmmaker, video artist and musical theater director whose work oscillates between various media and interdisciplinary contexts. His films combine documentary observation with structural concepts and editing. His works are often contextualised in the spaces of visual arts or theater. From 2008-11 he collaborated with the composer Hannes Seidl on a series of video performances as well as the multiple-channel trilogy „Arbeit und Freizeit“. With stage designer Constanze Fischbeck, he worked on projects concerned with social conditions of performativity, such as „state theatre“ (2009-14) and the musical theater trilogy „Ökonomien des Handelns: KREDIT, RECHT, LIEBE“ (2013-16). Between 2014-18 he collaborated with the curator Jochen Becker (metroZones) for an online exhibition and film project titled „Chinafrika. Under Construction“ about economic relations between Africa and China. Other feature documentaries include HASHTI TEHERAN (2016), DESERT VIEW (2018), YU GONG (2019)
