Ethiopia’s submission for Best Foreign Film to the 88th Academy Awards is LAMB. Director/Writer Yared Zeleke lush film explores the meaning of an unusual friendship during adverse times. Ephraim is a young Ethiopian boy living in the Northern Farmland. His father leaves the family for the city in search of work. Family tragedy strikes when Ephraim’s mother dies forcing the decision of the boy and his lone friend, a lamb, to leave his home to live with a tyrannical relative. For a religious festival the uncle decide to sacrifice the lamb for a feast. Ephraim is ready to do anything to save his lamb and return to his old life.
Full of contrasts and contradictions, Lamb’s many themes include views on home, traditions, roles, displacement, loss, survival, and loyalty filled with tender, colorful moments. It is a world viewed through the innocent eyes of a child in rugged terrain.
Lamb was Ethiopia’s first entry in the Cannes Film Festival in 2015.
Lamb premieres at the Denver International Film Festival on November 13th.
Ephraim und das Lamm opens in Germany November 26th.