EXCLUSIVE: China is making a big play for influence in Africa, both on an economic and political level. According to a 2022 report by the nonpartisan United States Institute for Peace, “China is Africa’s largest two-way trading partner, hitting $254 billion in 2021, exceeding by a factor of four U.S.-Africa trade. China is the largest provider of foreign direct investment, supporting hundreds of thousands of African jobs.”
Some of those jobs are in the Horn of Africa, as seen in the documentary Made in Ethiopia, which premieres tonight in Documentary Competition at the Tribeca Festival (additional screenings are set for Sunday, June 9, and Friday, June 14). Xinyan Yu and Max Duncan directed the film, their feature debut; we have your first look at Made in Ethiopia in the trailer above.
“When a massive Chinese industrial park lands in rural Ethiopia, a dusty farming town finds itself at the new frontier of globalization,” notes a synopsis. “The sprawling garment factory’s formidable Chinese director Motto now needs every bit of mettle and charm she can muster to push through a high-stakes expansion that promises 30,000 new jobs. Ethiopian farmer Workinesh and factory worker Beti have staked their futures on the prosperity the park promises. But as initial hope meets painful realities, they find themselves, like their country, at a pivotal crossroads.”
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Made in Ethiopia, filmed across four years, “lifts the curtain on China’s historic but misunderstood impact on Africa and throws audiences into two colliding worlds: an industrial juggernaut fueled by profit and progress, and a vanishing countryside where life is still measured by the cycle of the seasons. As the human stories at its center unfold, the film challenges us to rethink the relationship between tradition and modernity, growth and welfare, the development of a country and the well-being of its people.”
The trailer includes scenes of conflict between workers in the garment factor and Chinese management – scenes that may evoke comparison to American Factory, the 2019 Oscar-winning documentary directed by Julia Reichert and Steve Bognar that examined a Chinese auto glass plant erected on the footprint of an old GM truck factory in Ohio.
“We know there are some challenges,” a factory supervisor says of labor relations in the Made in Ethiopia trailer. Another supervisor, pointing to factory floor employees, says, “Why aren’t they working? New workers who aren’t working can all leave.” One worker protests, “How can we finish 5,000 pairs of jeans? Even machines don’t work that fast.”
Made in Ethiopia also explores the dispossession of Ethiopian farmers whose land is needed to expand the factory. “Where can we go?” one man says with anguish. “All we know is farming.”
Tribeca Festival
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In the Tribeca program, Deborah Rudolph writes, “This is a nuanced tale, exploring the lives built on a vanishing countryside and the contrasting industrial megaplex that represents progress and profit. It’s an examination of the relationship between tradition and modernity, what progress means for the well-being of a country and its people, and an intimate look at its effect on individual lives.”
After the Tribeca premiere, the documentary will hold its international premiere at Sheffield DocFest in the U.K. and it will screen at DC/DOX in mid-June.
Hard Truth Films, Dogwoof and Gobez Media present Made in Ethiopia. The documentary is directed by Xinyan Yu and Max Duncan and produced by Tamara Dawit, Xinyan Yu and Max Duncan. Director of Photography: Max Duncan. Editors: Biel Andrés, Jeppe Bødskov and Siyi Chen. Composer: Ali Helnwein. Executive producers include Anna Godas, Oli Harbottle, Susan Jakes, Mehret Mandefro, Roger Graef. Dogwoof is handling sales.
Xinyan Yu is based in Washington, DC. Her bio notes, “She has directed, produced, filmed and edited stories for the BBC, CNBC, PBS NOVA, PBS Frontline and NHK. Born and raised in China, she has been working for top-tier international newsrooms in Asia and the US for over a decade.”
Max Duncan is a U.K.-based filmmaker, cinematographer and journalist. “His award-winning documentary and reportage has appeared on media including the BBC, PBS, VICE, The Guardian, The New York Times and Al Jazeera.”
Watch the trailer for Made in Ethiopia above.