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May 14, 2008 05:47
Heart Of Fire (Feuerherz) Premieres @ Berlin Film Festival
In an ever-increasing vein of war/death/corruption cinema stories that come "Out of Africa" (no pun intended),
Produced by BetaCinema , Luigia Farloni's film Heart of Fire ("Feuerherz" in Italian) is the true story of Senait Mehari, who came of age as a young girl soldier during the Eritrean Civil War . Set in the early 1980s, the film charts the recruitment of Awet (played by Letekidan Micael) and her older sister into a militia battling a rival faction also opposed to Ethiopian occupation.
A European director telling the story of African liberation struggle based on a memoir that "inspired" the story is a recipe for disaster given that the eyewitness account and memory is also controversial. The memoir, Heart of Fire: From Child Soldier to Soul SingerFormer the child soldier and Eritrean author Senait Mehari -- who has been attacked herself for misrepresenting the war -- but Falorni and the producers said the book was just the inspiration for a fictional account.
The film was difficult from the onset. Having been refused permission to shoot in Eritrea, the film was made in Kenya -- but shortly before it was due to start, most of the cast walked out amid threats and "telephone terror" from Eritrean officials, according to producer Andreas Bareiss. The intimidation of his original cast by Eritrean government supporters forced Falorni to recast his film five days before shooting, and what a stroke of good fortune that turned out to be. He found actors in an Eritrean refugee camp in northern Kenya whose own sad reality gives his film all the authenticity it needs.
Heart of Fire was made in the Eritrean language of Tirgrinya. Luigi Falorni: “When the Eritrean government refused to give us permission to film we prepared the shoot in Nairobi, because Kenya is home to the largest community of Eritrean émigrés outside Eritrea. One of the most important criteria during casting was that those in the film should have a knowledge of Tigrinya and an enduring bond to Eritrean traditions and way of life.”
Six-year-old Senait spent three years in a training camp for child soldiers. She learned how to use a rifle and endured hunger, sickness and beatings. She was rescued in 1983 when her uncle arranged a daring escape to Sudan and the sisters lived in Khartoum for four years, until they were summoned to Germany by their father.
Life in Germany was difficult. At fourteen, Senait left home to live on the streets, bought herself a cheap keyboard and began composing music. Senait Mehari lives in Berlin where she is a well-known singer-songwriter. (from publisher)
And it shows, the slick book jacket offers a visual akin to a MCA Motown CD album cover and her sleek, celebrity look at the film premiere at the Berlin Film Festival makes it hard to remotely imagine that a child soldier crossed her young life.
It's hard also to get past the alleged fact that her father gave up her and her sister and later hatched a daring escape to rescue them to join him in Germany....
Mehari has been sued by fellow child soldiers who accuse her of fictionalizing much of her account. Meanwhile, the Eritrean government has steadfastly -- and falsely -- maintained that no children took up arms in the war. A few protesters even stood outside the Palast before its first press screening here, holding signs denouncing the film's "distortions."
But the reviews are quite good and little Letekidan Micael who is seeking asylum in Europe gives a stellar, untrained actor performance that lends a level of reality and lack of self-consciousness that only a child possesses.
We'll certainly see this film at FESPACO 2009 .
Produced by BetaCinema , Luigia Farloni's film Heart of Fire ("Feuerherz" in Italian) is the true story of Senait Mehari, who came of age as a young girl soldier during the Eritrean Civil War . Set in the early 1980s, the film charts the recruitment of Awet (played by Letekidan Micael) and her older sister into a militia battling a rival faction also opposed to Ethiopian occupation.
A European director telling the story of African liberation struggle based on a memoir that "inspired" the story is a recipe for disaster given that the eyewitness account and memory is also controversial. The memoir, Heart of Fire: From Child Soldier to Soul SingerFormer the child soldier and Eritrean author Senait Mehari -- who has been attacked herself for misrepresenting the war -- but Falorni and the producers said the book was just the inspiration for a fictional account.
The film was difficult from the onset. Having been refused permission to shoot in Eritrea, the film was made in Kenya -- but shortly before it was due to start, most of the cast walked out amid threats and "telephone terror" from Eritrean officials, according to producer Andreas Bareiss. The intimidation of his original cast by Eritrean government supporters forced Falorni to recast his film five days before shooting, and what a stroke of good fortune that turned out to be. He found actors in an Eritrean refugee camp in northern Kenya whose own sad reality gives his film all the authenticity it needs.
Heart of Fire was made in the Eritrean language of Tirgrinya. Luigi Falorni: “When the Eritrean government refused to give us permission to film we prepared the shoot in Nairobi, because Kenya is home to the largest community of Eritrean émigrés outside Eritrea. One of the most important criteria during casting was that those in the film should have a knowledge of Tigrinya and an enduring bond to Eritrean traditions and way of life.”
Eritrean journalists have repeatedly questioned the factual basis for the story during the news conference at the film festival, with one Eritrean saying:
"This film is shaming 30 years of Eritrean struggle. In Eritrea, when we fought, we never used children."
However, Falorni rejected this, and stressed how impressed he had been by the "heroism" shown by Eritrea.
"In
Eritrea there were children who fought. And they did so willingly. The
official version is that they were sent back to school. There are
pictures which show the opposite was true.
Six-year-old Senait spent three years in a training camp for child soldiers. She learned how to use a rifle and endured hunger, sickness and beatings. She was rescued in 1983 when her uncle arranged a daring escape to Sudan and the sisters lived in Khartoum for four years, until they were summoned to Germany by their father.
Life in Germany was difficult. At fourteen, Senait left home to live on the streets, bought herself a cheap keyboard and began composing music. Senait Mehari lives in Berlin where she is a well-known singer-songwriter. (from publisher)
And it shows, the slick book jacket offers a visual akin to a MCA Motown CD album cover and her sleek, celebrity look at the film premiere at the Berlin Film Festival makes it hard to remotely imagine that a child soldier crossed her young life.
It's hard also to get past the alleged fact that her father gave up her and her sister and later hatched a daring escape to rescue them to join him in Germany....
Mehari has been sued by fellow child soldiers who accuse her of fictionalizing much of her account. Meanwhile, the Eritrean government has steadfastly -- and falsely -- maintained that no children took up arms in the war. A few protesters even stood outside the Palast before its first press screening here, holding signs denouncing the film's "distortions."
But the reviews are quite good and little Letekidan Micael who is seeking asylum in Europe gives a stellar, untrained actor performance that lends a level of reality and lack of self-consciousness that only a child possesses.
We'll certainly see this film at FESPACO 2009 .
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