Running Against the Wind

This hard-hitting Ethiopian drama about two close childhood friends who embark on very different paths in their adult life is harrowing and compelling in equal measure.

Beginning in the tiny rural village of Ganda Abdi – a place so barren one can only wonder how men and animal can even exist - two 12-year old boys frolic about on a makeshift playground while tending to some cows and goats. They are Abdi Getachew (Ferhane Beker), the ‘sporty one’ who has high hopes of embarking on a career as a long distance runner (perhaps even emerging as a national sporting hero) and Solomon Tefera (Alamudin Abduselam), the ‘arty one’ who harbours ambitions of one day becoming a recognised photographer after an encounter with a white photographer eager to take snaps of local people plus the surrounding landscape for his portfolio. When the photographer makes the mistake of lending Solomon his expensive camera to try out some photographic skills the young lad takes the well-meant advice “You need to be in the big city to follow your artistic dreams” a little too literally and runs off to the capital Addis Ababa with the stolen camera, despite the protests of his friend Abdi who thinks that what Solomon does is wrong.

Ten years pass and the former childhood friends are now grown men. While Abdi (Ashenafi Nigusu) has indeed managed to embark on a promising career as a long distance runner thanks to being nominated for the Ethiopian National running team, his friend Solomon (Mikias Wolde), with whom he lost touch, is less lucky what with carving out a pitiful existence on the outskirts of Addis Ababa and living in a ramshackle hut constructed of corrugated iron, planks of wood and a few rags. His photographic ambitions long abandoned, Solomon has since fallen in with the wrong crowd, in particular a dope-smoking small-time crook by the name of Kiflom (Joseph Reya Belay) and his gang. Solomon’s only reason to stay strong is his wife Genet (Samrawit Desalegn), the love of his life whom he met as a girl after he ran away from his village years ago, and his little daughter Fikir.

Encouraged by his sports coach Negussie (Genene Alemu) who promises Abdi great heights if he trains hard enough the aspiring athlete soon rises up in social circles, even making the acquaintance of Ethiopian national sporting hero Haile Gebreselassie. A chance meeting with an attractive female PR soon lands him a contract for a photo shoot posing for a condom advert. When the sassy lady discovers an old photo on Abdi’s wall depicting him and childhood friend Solomon he tells her that he has no idea whether his former friend is even still alive though the PR is convinced that he is and urges Abdi to go looking for him in the capital. Taking her advice to heart it doesn’t take long before he’s robbed and beaten up after arriving in the wrong part of the city. Only by chance and days later does he discover Solomon and is shocked and saddened as to what has become of him. Adamant to take him under his protective wing he manages to bamboozle his mentor Negussie to give Solomon a little job carrying out menial tasks for the sports team while the PR arranges a photographic job for the lost soul… Alas, Solomon much prefers photographing the gritty nitty as opposed to the glamorous world of corporate marketing and returns to his urban environment. Eager to demonstrate to Abdi and his family that he is no loser he approaches a gallery in the hope they will exhibit his work but is informed the space is booked up for the next year. As fate would have it, the gallery is run by Paul Reeb (director Jan Philipp Weyl) who turns out to be the same photographer as the one who had snapped Solomon and Abdi years ago. Impressed by Solomon’s work he offers him a chance and his ‘protégé’ soon becomes a huge success but his success attracts the attention of Kiflom and gangster boss Tatek, also known as ‘Blondy’ who orders Solomon to steal a large sum of money from Negussie’s sports team, otherwise he will kill the photographer’s wife and daughter. This puts Solomon in a situation that will alter the life of Abdi, of Paul and most of all his own forever…

This gripping drama is somewhat of a curiosity what with its topic set in a poverty-stricken and crime ridden capital (in this case Addis Ababa) and next to no explanation as to why this was a labour of love for German-born filmmaker Weyl, who not only seems to live there but why Ethiopia of all places? And what is his character ‘Paul Reeb’ doing here in the first place? The film slides between social drama and tense urban thriller – a shocking chronicle of a city divided by social injustice and abject poverty on the one hand and neon-lit clubs and bars in the more affluent parts of town… the contrast couldn’t be starker!

Eureka presents RUNNING AGAINST THE WIND as part of their Montage Pictures label on Blu-ray. The first print-run of 1000 copies will also feature a Limited Edition booklet.