For the past eight years, Eritrea has been ranked last in Reporters Without Borders press freedom index. The country has been a dictatorship since 1993 after battling for independence from Ethiopia, a war that took 30 years and saw hundreds of thousands of people dead. The tension between the two Horn of Africa states still remains high. In the tiny one-party state, press freedom is a luxury and to date there are at least fifteen journalists who are serving jail terms while others are held incommunicado.
The country has also imposed a mandatory national military service to be completed by all Eritreans between the ages of 18 and 40, which has caused many to flee the country in search of greener pastures. Some people, however, like filmmaker Merhawi Meles, have chosen to stay and create stories that boldly tell about life in the capital city, Asmara.
Meles explores themes like love, betrayal, intimacy and romance. A director and actor, his movies have a sizeable following among the Habesha community, both in Asmara and the diaspora.
“Film is a passion that I have always had,” Meles says. “We are natural born story tellers and it takes the eye of a director to fulfill that story.”
But what is a great Eritrean story?
“We have gone through a lot as Eritreans,” Meles remarks. “Most of us have people living abroad, families we can’t access, siblings who died and our lives have been programmed with loss, so to me a great story is the one that does not deny but confronts these tragedies without prejudice and for me love is greater than hate, peace is better than war and that is why my stories, however basic, are fueled by human relationships.”
Shot in intimate close-ups in suburban cafés and empty Asmara streets, his films are constructed with a French New Wave sensibility that draws the viewer deeply into the characters’ worlds. His YouTube film Abzeyelenalu, is a work true to his style; Meles’s lens is a reflective tool that colours his vision with beauty and a sense of the sanctity of his country and culture.
The film is a story about a young man who is head over heels in love with a woman, but rumours have hindered his chances and he has to scheme ways of convincing her of his love.
“I like the fact this film has over 200 000 views from all over the world. I am not concerned with who watches it, but the fact that it’s different people from different parts of the world.” Why is that important? “It means everyone is interested in stories from different places and that means we are connected as story tellers and love as a theme goes beyond borders.”
At 26, Meles has shot music videos, documentaries and dozens of films that have made him a force to be reckoned with in his home country. He’s recognised as an avid filmmaker who bravely explores human emotions.
“He does not fear to tell love stories,” Eritrean TV producer, Yonas Solomon says. “We tend to get shy when it comes to relationships, but he goes beyond that and defines how we live in our bedroom, that’s why his films are loved here.”
In a bid to connect with the diaspora, his films are uploaded on a YouTube channel named Love You Erena –LYE, a one of a kind Eritrean online TV whose motto is, ‘Bringing to you Eritrean Documentary, Movies, Comedy, Music Video, Entertainment in High Definition.’
The platform is based in Frankfurt, Germany with coordinating offices in US and Asmara.
How about films about freedom of expression and democracy?
“After consideration and much thought,” Meles says, “we opted to stick with these themes for now, not out of fear but wisdom, to ensure we can survive and practice our art. I want to do as many films as I can that will maximise my creativity as much as it can regardless of any constraints, so that when the time comes for me to do other non love related stories, I won’t have to look back and wish I had done this or that while I had the opportunity.”
A passionate auteur, Meles was trained at the Eritrean Institute of Technology, graduating with a diploma in film production in 2011. It was after the graduation that he travelled to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and bought his camera gear and went back to Asmara where he began doing films with his friends as crew.
“It was fun I remember, when I started,” he says. “We started as three and now people contact me from all over the world wanting to be a part of my crew and cast.”
For now, Eritreans’ homegrown interest in film will be measured by their undying passion to support their own, even in challenging times where art freedom is restricted and creativity is censored.
Meles concludes: “A time will come for us to do create other types of films but before that, we will keep doing what we are doing: bringing love stories to the people of Eritrea and the world, hoping to change the mindset of those critics who think this country’s art is dead’.
