10th edition CIFF – 10-14 April 2024

Lamb (2016 Feature Film)

Yared Zeleke | Ethiopia, France, Germany, Norway, Qatar | 2015 | 94 min | Amharic | e.s.

A realistic children’s film with mature undertones. About a boy who grows up without parents in the harsh mountains of northern Ethiopia, but also about the adults around him. And yes, it’s also about his sheep - his best friend, who is in danger of being sacrificed.

The young Ephraim is left to his own devices, even though he is still almost a child. His father left him behind with relatives to go and seek his fortune elsewhere. Ephaim’s biggest friend is his sheep: he is inseparable from the animal. One day his uncle tells him that the sheep has to be slaughtered for a religious sacrifice. Ephraim, who can’t do much apart from cook well, does everything he can not to lose his sheep. Without the film being strictly autobiographical, the filmmaker bases the characters and mood on his own childhood memories. And just like Ephraim he enjoyed being in the kitchen. Life was hard in those years – years of dictatorship and starvation – yet it was possible to have a fairly happy childhood. The film was screened during the last Cannes festival in the Un Certain Regard section and was hence also the first Ethiopian film invited by the prestigious festival.

Place: CINEMA 6

Date: 8 April 2016

Time: 19:30

Duration: 1:30

Place: CINEMA 6

Date: 10 April 2016

Time: 21:00

Duration: 1:30

Year in
Festival

2016

Director

Yared Zeleke

Camera

Josée Deshaies

Cast

Rediat Amare
Kidist Siyum
Welela Assefa
Surafel Teka

Country

Ethiopia
France
Germany
Norway
Qatar

Editor

Véronique Bruque

Language

Amharic

Length

94 min

Music

Chassol

Producer

Ama Ampadu
Laurent Lavolé
Johannes Rexin
Alan Milligan

Production Company

Slum Kid Films
Gloria Films Production
Heimatfilm GmbH + Co. KG
Film Farms As

Production Design

Laurence Brenguier

Sales

Films Distribution

Scenario

Yared Zeleke

Sound Design

Till Heinrich Röllinghoff

Year of Production

2015

Website

Yared ZELEKE (1978, Ethiopia) studied Film at the University of New York, with a major in Screenwriting and Directing. He worked for several NGO’s before starting his film career. Zeleke wrote, produced and directed a number of short films and long fiction films and documentaries. His first long film Lamb (2015) became the first Ethiopian film included in the official selection of the Cannes Film Festival.

 

Filmography

The Quiet Garden (2009, short), Housewarming (2009, short), Full (2009, short), Lamb (2015)