New film “Albo” hits screens soon

By Alemayehu Seife Selassie

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia – With 90 percent of its editing completed, the film “Albo” has a lot of unique qualities that distinguish it from many Ethiopian films. Edited by one award-winning editor Yared Shumete, and featuring the legendary Kasa Tesema’s songs for the soundtrack, the film is expected to be a hit. With only a little work left for production completion, SSI had the chance to get a sneak preview of the film.
“Albo” portrays how one housewife has to replace her sister’s role in a movie, while her abusive husband finds the whole situation absurd.

While it is preparing to hit screens soon, the film has the participation of many reckoned faces. Nigusu Zewge and Yigerem Dejene are the renowned faces from other films. The actress that was previously seen in the “Key Sihtet,” Fitsum Tsegaye, took a more challenging role in this film, acting as twin sisters. The lead actor in the film, Anteneh Asress, is also the scriptwriter of the film. The writer has been known for his theatre acting, while the director of the film, Henock Ayele, also directed “Yewondoch Gudai.”
Henock is a progressive director and he develops the script along with the actual acting. The performance-based directing has made this director unique. His film “Yewondoch Gudai” stayed in the cinema for over a year with full house audiences. Tamirat Mekonnen, the director of photography, was camera operator for the film Siryet. Executively produced by Semir Seid, “Albo” is produced by Merdi Film Productions.

Falling under the genre of suspense drama, Albo deals with a family that is interrupted by a stereotypical man treating his housewife with no respect. The editor of Siryet, Yared Shumete, has done the editing of the film. “One of the things that I had trouble with at Siryet was the sound echo, as most of the shots were in a big hall.” He compares it to the award winning Siryet. Yared has re-edited many films, including Aladankushim, Key Sihtet, and Yewondoch Gudai.

He explains how his second full feature film is different from the previous. “What you usually see in Ethiopian films is though they each have some good aspect, they are poor in general. But this time, it went all harmoniously. From the films I have worked with, this is the one that has the most true Ethiopian-ness in it, too.”
Assisted by Meskerem Wondimagegn, Yared is the main person that was responsible for the post production. The film cueing expert from Australia, Daniel Kebede, who teaches film music cueing there, has done the main theme of the songs in Albo. The composer has re-made the legendary Ethiopian blues artist Kassa Tesema’s songs, and the film will feature the greatest songs of all time for the first time in a symphony sound.

The musical composer is also currently working on remaking another legendary musician’s - Mery Armede’s – songs. The two sets of re-made songs are going to be released on a CD soon. The other musically gifted person that has taken part in the sound is the renowned washint (Ethiopian flute) player Abu Gebre. The artist has previously done a magnificent washint performance for the Ethiopian director Haile Germa’s “Teza.” His playing for the Balageru III album was also memorable.

The makeup artist for Albo is Tesfaye Wondimagegn, one of a kind in makeup artistic works. The variety of transformations that he has achieved on this film is somewhat unique as well.
Currently, Albo editors are in the process of footage selection to produce a 145 minute film.
Filmed at Menagesha Suba Chaka - where “Key Sihtet” and “Ashenge” were shot, the film has captured forest shots that have not been seen in previous films.