Stories from the Fireplace

This book is an
interdisciplinary theological exploration of Haile Gerima’s cinema, an
Ethiopian filmmaker and storyteller who successfully translated African
folkloric orality and wove other indigenous art forms into the language
of cinema. Gerima’s five decades legacy of Pan-African cinema embodies
‘symbolic resistance’ against Afro-pessimistic and stereotypical
mis/disrepresentations, both manifestations of neo-colonialism. In
response, he uses “camera as a weapon” to resist exotic otherness and
alienation invented by conventional cinema. Through an alternative
moving pictures, he depicted dignified images of Africa towards
decolonising cinema and liberating the mind. His memory-films achieves
archiving the stories of the people of African descent. Gerima, who
stands in par with great African film griots such as Ousmane Sembène –
‘the father of African cinema’ and Med Hondo, deserves further
interdisciplinary reflections.

Gerima’s ‘Triangular cinema’ and
‘imperfect cinema’ are inspired from indigenous values and cultural
products such as holy icons and fireplace stories. His works foster
asserting identity of the self, maintaining the right to difference and
embracing ubuntu-like human personhood. They are essential acts in the
21st century. Like theology, cinema alters a way of life – human
experiences, imaginations, and narrative identity. This book engages
with the works and thoughts of Gerima towards re-imaging Africa through
cinematic narratives in being and becoming an African.