Lights, Camera Jemuru — Adventures of a Film-Maker in Ethiopia is the remarkable true-life story of a high-flying adman who swapped his expense account lifestyle in London to go and teach in a back-street community film school, Gem TV, in Addis Ababa. Bob Maddams spent ten years living and working in Ethiopia and filming took him and the Gem TV film-makers all over the country, from shanty towns and famine feeding stations to rock hewn churches and the source of the Nile. Each encounter eroded the Live Aid Image the author had of Ethiopia when he first arrived, to reveal a country of staggering natural beauty, Biblical history, diverse ethnic groups and a culture as rich as the people are poor. But most of all Lights, Camera, Jemuru is the uplifting story of Gem TV, the young film-makers whose films are transforming the lives of ordinary people all over Ethiopia. Funny, sad, and moving, Lights, Camera, Jemurucolourfully portrays this most ancient of countries as it struggles to define its place in the modern world. And for the 400 million people all over the world who watched Live Aid and wondered whatever happened to Ethiopia — it’s a fascinating answer.
