An earnest and passionate film, based on a true story that is enraging yet inspiring, that is essential viewing for anyone concerned with women’s rights. I’m “biast” (pro): I’m desperate for stories about girls and women
I’m “biast” (con): nothing
(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)
Difret is an Amharic word — that’s the language of Ethiopia — that has a double meaning: “to dare” and also “the act of being raped.” Which is a bizarre duality to my Western ears, but difret is here embodied by 14-year-old Hirut Assefa (Tizita Hagere), who is kidnapped on her way home from her small village school to her family’s farm, held prisoner, and raped by a man who intends to make her his wife. Abducting girls for the purpose of forced marriage is all perfectly normal in rural Ethiopia, but Hirut has the unfeminine audacity to fight back,...
I’m “biast” (con): nothing
(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)
Difret is an Amharic word — that’s the language of Ethiopia — that has a double meaning: “to dare” and also “the act of being raped.” Which is a bizarre duality to my Western ears, but difret is here embodied by 14-year-old Hirut Assefa (Tizita Hagere), who is kidnapped on her way home from her small village school to her family’s farm, held prisoner, and raped by a man who intends to make her his wife. Abducting girls for the purpose of forced marriage is all perfectly normal in rural Ethiopia, but Hirut has the unfeminine audacity to fight back,...
- 10/26/2015
- by MaryAnn Johanson
- www.flickfilosopher.com
Presented by Angelina Jolie, Zeresenay Berhane Mehari's feature film debut "Difret" opens in a limited theatrical release this Friday, October 23, 2015, making it a potential awards season contender. Here's our previous interview with the filmmaker on the film. *** There's a scene in Zeresenay Berhane Mehari's feature film debut "Difret," where several men swoop in, riding horses and abruptly kidnap 14-year-old Hirut (Tizita Hagere) as she walks home from school. There's something very masculine and forceful about it, almost as if they're cowboys coming to take over a town. The film, which had it's world premiere at last year's Sundance Film Festival, centers on the...
- 10/20/2015
- by Nijla Mumin
- ShadowAndAct
Presented by Angelina Jolie, Zeresenay Berhane Mehari's feature film debut "Difret" now has an October 23, 2015 theatrical release date set, making it a potential awards season contender. Today we have both the film's release poster (above) and trailer (below). *** There's a scene in Zeresenay Berhane Mehari's feature film debut "Difret," where several men swoop in, riding horses and abruptly kidnap 14-year-old Hirut (Tizita Hagere) as she walks home from school. There's something very masculine and forceful about it, almost as if they're cowboys coming to take over a town. The film, which had it's world premiere at last year's Sundance Film Festival, centers on the...
- 9/11/2015
- by Nijla Mumin
- ShadowAndAct
Presented by Angelina Jolie, Zeresenay Berhane Mehari's feature film debut "Difret" now has an October 23, 2015 theatrical release date set, making it a potential awards season contender. *** There's a scene in Zeresenay Berhane Mehari's feature film debut "Difret," where several men swoop in, riding horses and abruptly kidnap 14-year-old Hirut (Tizita Hagere) as she walks home from school. There's something very masculine and forceful about it, almost as if they're cowboys coming to take over a town. The film, which had it's world premiere at last year's Sundance Film Festival, centers on the very textured bond between Hirut and the tenacious female lawyer (Meaza...
- 8/27/2015
- by Nijla Mumin
- ShadowAndAct
Watch Gripping New Clip from Sundance-Winning Angelina Jolie-Exec Produced Ethiopian Drama, 'Difret'
There's a scene in Zeresenay Berhane Mehari's feature film debut "Difret," where several men swoop in, riding horses and abruptly kidnap 14-year-old Hirut (Tizita Hagere) as she walks home from school. There's something very masculine and forceful about it, almost as if they're cowboys coming to take over a town. The film, which had it's world premiere at last year's Sundance Film Festival, centers on the very textured bond between Hirut and the tenacious female lawyer (Meaza Ashenafi, played by Meron Getnet) who comes to represent her in a fight against one of the country's oldest traditions of abduction into marriage, which is also practiced in many other parts of the...
- 6/12/2015
- by Nijla Mumin
- ShadowAndAct
This Ethiopian docudrama recreates the game-changing legal case involving a 14-year-old who shot her kidnapper
Ethiopian director Zeresenay Mehari’s docudrama recounts a game-changing legal case from the mid-90s that involved a 14-year-old girl named Hirut (played by Tizita Hagere) who tried to plead self-defence after fatally shooting the man who abducted and raped her. Local star Meron Getnet, who’s terrific, co-stars as Hirut’s pro-bono lawyer Meaza Ashenafi, a feisty modern woman who won’t give up the fight against patriarchal tradition. It’s tempting to give this more of a pass because the subject is so noble and so few African-made films make it over here, but it has to be admitted that the some of the acting is a bit ropey and the script is a little too on-the-nose at times. There really is a scene where our heroine Meaza goes to a bar to...
Ethiopian director Zeresenay Mehari’s docudrama recounts a game-changing legal case from the mid-90s that involved a 14-year-old girl named Hirut (played by Tizita Hagere) who tried to plead self-defence after fatally shooting the man who abducted and raped her. Local star Meron Getnet, who’s terrific, co-stars as Hirut’s pro-bono lawyer Meaza Ashenafi, a feisty modern woman who won’t give up the fight against patriarchal tradition. It’s tempting to give this more of a pass because the subject is so noble and so few African-made films make it over here, but it has to be admitted that the some of the acting is a bit ropey and the script is a little too on-the-nose at times. There really is a scene where our heroine Meaza goes to a bar to...
- 3/5/2015
- by Leslie Felperin
- The Guardian - Film News
★★★☆☆ Zeresenay Mehari's directorial debut Difret (2014) is a captivating story about a revolutionary period of feminism in Ethiopia as the battle between traditional sacraments and modern ideologies climax over a murder trial and a young girl's right to self defence and freedom to choose. Based on a true story, tensions become calamitous in Ethiopia when a 14-year-old girl, Hirut (Tizita Hagere), murders the man who abducted and raped her. Not only is such abduction widely accepted as a grand romantic gesture, but it's openly encouraged for considerably older men. According to tradition, the woman must accept being taken, held with little food and water, and be prepared for her future husband to rape her.
- 3/3/2015
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
Zeresenay Berhane Mehari's feature film debut "Difret," is a 2015 Pan African Film Festival selection, which runs from February 5 to the 16th. The film next screens on Monday, February 16 at 5:30pm. There's a scene in Zeresenay Berhane Mehari's feature film debut "Difret," where several men swoop in, riding horses and abruptly kidnap 14-year-old Hirut (Tizita Hagere) as she walks home from school. There's something very masculine and forceful about it, almost as if they're cowboys coming to take over a town. The film, which had it's world premiere at last year's Sundance Film Festival, centers on the very textured bond between Hirut and the tenacious female lawyer...
- 2/12/2015
- by Nijla Mumin
- ShadowAndAct
Title: Difret Written and Directed by Zeresenay Berhane Mehari Starring: Meron Getnet, Tizita Hagere, Harege Woin, Shetaye Abreha, Mekonen Laeake, Meaza Tekle. Angelina Jolie epitomises the humanitarian filmmaker, always attentive to socially relevant projects. Therefore it won’t surprise to see that she served as executive producer of 2014’s Ethiopian drama film that was selected as the country’s entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the 87th Academy Awards, besides winning the the World Cinematic Dramatic Audience Award at Sundance Film Festival and the Audience Award at the Panorama section at the 64th Berlin International Film Festival. ‘Difret’ is based on a true story. A true cultural battle for the female [ Read More ]
The post Difret Movie Review 2 appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post Difret Movie Review 2 appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 1/22/2015
- by Chiara Spagnoli Gabardi
- ShockYa
There's a scene in Zeresenay Berhane Mehari's feature film debut "Difret," where several men swoop in, riding horses and abruptly kidnap 14-year-old Hirut (Tizita Hagere) as she walks home from school. There's something very masculine and forceful about it, almost as if they're cowboys coming to take over a town. The film, which had it's world premiere at last year's Sundance Film Festival, centers on the very textured bond between Hirut and the tenacious female lawyer (Meaza Ashenafi, played by Meron Getnet) who comes to represent her in a fight against one of the country's oldest traditions of abduction into marriage, which is also practiced in many other parts of the...
- 12/12/2014
- by Nijla Mumin
- ShadowAndAct
Stepping out in Tinseltown, Angelina Jolie was in the house at the ArcLight Hollywood Cinemas for a special engagement last night (December 9).
The “Changeling” actress schmoozed with Meaza Ashenafi, Tizita Hagere and director Zeresenay Mehari at the Variety Screening Series premiere of “Difret,” sporting a lovely black dress. Meanwhile, in several leaked Sony emails, producer Scott Rudin slams Ms. Jolie’s acting abilities as well as her attitude.
He writes, “[She’s] a minimally talented spoiled brat who thought nothing of shoving this off her plate for eighteen months so she could go direct a movie [Unbroken]... She’s a camp event and a celebrity and that’s all and the last thing anybody needs is to make a giant bomb with her that any fool could see coming.”...
The “Changeling” actress schmoozed with Meaza Ashenafi, Tizita Hagere and director Zeresenay Mehari at the Variety Screening Series premiere of “Difret,” sporting a lovely black dress. Meanwhile, in several leaked Sony emails, producer Scott Rudin slams Ms. Jolie’s acting abilities as well as her attitude.
He writes, “[She’s] a minimally talented spoiled brat who thought nothing of shoving this off her plate for eighteen months so she could go direct a movie [Unbroken]... She’s a camp event and a celebrity and that’s all and the last thing anybody needs is to make a giant bomb with her that any fool could see coming.”...
- 12/10/2014
- GossipCenter
I know that the Sundance Film Festival ended over a week ago, but in the six days I was at Sundance (and on screeners in the days before), I saw 25 movies. I wrote full reviews for 13 of them. My Full Sundance reviews: 'The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz' "The Overnighters" "Rudderless" "Fed Up" "Marmato" "Love Child" "Land Ho!" "The Voices" "Happy Valley" "My Prairie Home" "Life Itself" "Mitt" "Web Junkie" But that left 12 movies that I just didn't have the time to write my usual 1000-to-1750 words on. Since getting back from Park City, I've been slowly working my way through capsule reviews for those 12 movies. These are roughly the length of my Take Me To The Pilots entries, which means that in this format, people are going to complain about all of the text and the lack of paragraphs. Sorry. Because I'm just one part of HitFix's awesome Sundance team,...
- 2/5/2014
- by Daniel Fienberg
- Hitfix
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