A film about sister-ancestors, speech acts and resistance, populated by women writing history and culture in Ethiopia.

Hello Ladies follows women who write Ethiopia into being, using ‘write’ in the broadest sense, including that of the land itself. The story is collectively told. Three things magnetize its parts: the Great Rift Valley, where continental plates spread apart, birthing new earth; the 3.2 million year old female hominid Dink’inesh aka ‘Lucy’, who was found there; and Azmari tradition, a form of social singing used to critique power and narrate current events. Azmari women still perform today, but who are their descendants? A search for their conceptual inheritors populates and drives the film.

I am artist who makes films. I work in an intimate way, doing my own shooting, editing and sound design. Hello Ladies follows women who question how do we perform ourselves? How do we perform resistance? How do we perform history? The title comes from a radio show started by hip hop artist and radio jockey, DJLee in Addis Ababa. The film uses an associative structure, with DJLee as MC, or guide; combining portraiture, landscape, archive, technological imaging and performance.