Merawi Gerima, has made a debut on the giant American streaming platform, Netflix, last week, with his award-winning feature film “Residue.”
Merawi, whose father is a famous Ethiopian filmmaker Haile Gerima, joined the show world with his first directed movie, which focuses on his childhood in D.C.
American filmmaker Ava DuVernay’s film company, Array acquired Residue after being launched internationally at the Venice Film Festival in Italy. It took the festival’s Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature.
Born and raised in Washington, D.C, Merawi attended a film school at the University of Southern California in 2015.
His father, Haile Gerima, is a renowned Ethiopian filmmaker and winner of multiple international awards with his best-known films Sankofa, Ashes and Embers, Teza, and more. He has also been a prominent film professor at Howard University since 1972.
Shirikiana Aina, the mother of merawi, is also an American film director, cinematographer, producer, and writer. Aina is also a co-producer of Sankofa, Haile Gerima’s award-winning drama film, and a co-founder of Negod Gwad Productions, a nonprofit film company providing support for independent filmmakers.
