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Award-winning Ethiopian-Canadian filmmaker Tamara Mariam is bringing her critically acclaimed documentary Finding Sally to its long-awaited Ethiopian premiere. The screening will take place at Century Cinema in Addis Ababa on Friday, May 9 at 6 PM, and will be followed by a special Q&A session with Tamara and composer Abegasu Shiota.
This screening will feature the full international feature version of the film—not the shorter version previously aired on Al Jazeera English, which has been widely bootlegged in Ethiopia.
Finding Sally is a deeply personal and politically resonant documentary that explores the life of Sally, a young aristocrat-turned-revolutionary who disappeared during the Ethiopian Revolution in the 1970s. Through the lens of her own family’s secrets, Tamara embarks on a journey to uncover what happened to her aunt Sally—a vibrant and idealistic young woman who became a committed Marxist and went underground to fight the Derg regime.
Tamara discovered Sally’s story only as an adult, long after Sally had vanished without a trace. As she pieces together the fragments of her aunt’s life, Tamara also reveals how personal history intersects with national trauma. The film weaves together family interviews, archival footage, and personal reflection to expose the costs of political struggle and the silence that often follows such upheaval.
“I never imagined that a family mystery would lead me to such a profound investigation of Ethiopia’s revolutionary past,” Tamara said. “Finding Sally isn’t just about solving the riddle of one woman’s life—it’s about understanding the forces that shape our memories, identities, and silences.”
The documentary has previously screened at international festivals including Hot Docs, IDFA, and the Durban International Film Festival, where it was praised for its emotional depth, historical insight, and unique perspective on postcolonial African history.
Tamara credits the Addis Ababa-based production house Videobet for making the Ethiopian premiere possible, along with the support of cast, crew, and community members who have been part of the journey. “This is a homecoming—not just for the film, but for the history it brings with it,” she said.
Tickets for the event are 300 ETB, and audience members will have the rare opportunity to engage directly with Tamara and Abegasu Shiota, who co-composed the film’s evocative score. The evening promises to be both a cinematic experience and a reflective gathering centered on memory, justice, and healing.
Finding Sally is more than a documentary—it’s a call to revisit the past in order to better understand the present.
