Film still from “Heart to Heart: Rome to Addis, opening night,” directed and edited by Isabelle Zaugg, and shot by Marcos Tesfaye.
During my Fulbright in Ethiopia I worked extensively with a group of talented students at the Alle School of Fine Arts and Design, one of the premier art schools in Africa. I taught a production course on narrative and documentary filmmaking in which students wrote, directed, and produced their own short films:
In the documentary portion of the course, my students and I interviewed around 20 influential Ethiopian artists and created a promotional video for Alle School of Fine Arts and Design. The director of the school was inspired by the film to request that students from the Yared Music School, also part of Addis Ababa University, compose a unique score, and asked that I not publish the video publicly until that time.
I also collaborated with Whiz Kids Workshop to teach a digital filmmaking workshop with youth and produce Season 3 of the “Involve Me” TV show. You can view an English-subtitled episode here. The students’ one minute films are also viewable here. You can view a portion of my presentation of the students’ films here.
During my time in Addis Ababa, I also produced two videos about an art exhibition showcasing some of the powerhouse contemporary artists in the emerging Ethiopian art scene. One video documented the opening night of the “Heart to Heart: Rome to Addis” exhibition, curated by Meskerem Assegued, and the other documented the Artist Roundtable.
ISABELLE ALICE ZAUGG, PhD 