2014 Sundance “Trading Cards” Series: #9. Zeresenay Berhane Mehari (Difret)

Eric Lavallee: Name me three of your favorite “2013 discoveries”…
Zeresenay Berhane Mehari: The Master (P.T. Anderson), Half of a Yellow Sun (Novel, Chimamanda Adichie), Orchestra Baobab (60s Band, Senegal)

Lavallee: They say: write and create from what you know. Why did you decide to tackle this subject matter for your first feature?
Mehari: I chose this story because I was inspired by the act of courage two women took. One was a lawyer who dared to question a centuries-old tradition, the other, a young girl who refused to live by it. The story also made me question the very tradition that I am a part of but failed to see how it affected us all as a country and I found that interesting from a storytelling standpoint. Lastly, what the two women were able to realize is a filmmaker’s dream story to tell.

Lavallee: Despite it being a work of fiction … I imagine it must have been a harrowing experience for the actress behind your protag (Hirut). How did you find her, and what kind of workshopping did you do with her?
Mehari: I didn’t think it was at all possible for a 13-year old kid with no prior experience or training to emotionally portray such a horrific story. But Tizita Hagere (Hirut) is a natural. It took me eight months of auditions, often times working seven days a week to see as many kids as I could on the weekends to find her. After our first table read, I realized that she actually didn’t need any workshop. The only thing I did in the way of preparing her was to keep her away from the other actors and crew to protect and maintain her raw emotions.

Lavallee: Angelina Jolie is among the exec producers….how did she board the project?
Mehari: We are really honored and lucky to have Angelina Jolie as one of our producers. She heard about the film through a mutual friend who was moved by the story.

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