Halie Gerima arrived in the United States from his native Gondar,
Ethiopia, to study acting and directing at the Goodman Theater in
Chicago, Illinois. He later transferred to the Theater Department at
UCLA where he completed the Master's Program in Film. Afterward, he
relocated to Washington, DC, to teach at Howard University's Department
of Radio, Television, and Film where he has influenced young filmmakers
for over twenty-five years.
Influenced by UCLA classmate and filmmaker Charles Burnett, and by the
celebrated Black poet and educator Sterling Brown, Gerima's films are noted
for their exploration of the issues and history pertinent to members of
the African diaspora, from the continent itself to the Americas and
Western Hemisphere. Often corrective of Hollywood versions of slave
stories, his films comment on the physical, cultural, and psychological
dislocation of Black peoples during and after slavery. What
distinguishes his films are that the narratives are told from the
perspectives of Africans and members of the African Diaspora itself,
rather than being sanitized and misinterpreted by more commercially
oriented filmmakers.
Gerima's unique filmmaking aesthetic is coupled with a personal mission
to correct long-held misconceptions about Black peoples' varied
histories throughout the world; for this reason, he is considered--by
colleagues and students alike--to be a master teacher in the classroom
and behind the camera.
