Gir-gir

Feature début about an Ethiopian aristocratic revolutionary, Yoseph, who planned in 1960 to organise a coup against Haile Selassie. Yoseph studied at an American university and after his return to his own country, he wants to put into practice his new ideas about democracy and responsibility. He joins a group of young people who have had enough of the anachronistic, autocratic government. When pinpricks towards the government do not help, they decide on a coup when the Emperor is on a state visit to Brazil. However the coup was badly prepared and they turn out to be largely on their own. Yoseph flees. During his desperate journey, his last hope is Dejen, a servant who was his childhood playmate. But Yoseph and Dejen soon find out that class prejudiceand old resentment cannot easily be put aside.Gir-gir is based on historic fact. The December coup of 1960 was a turning point in the history of Ethiopia and a forerunner of the Revolution of 1974/1975 in which Haile Selassie was deposed. The film is an American-Ethiopian co-production and shot in Southern California over a period of seven years. The film has been praised for its fine depiction of strange typically-Ethiopian customs and habits.