Skip to main content
The River film image; women in a circle around another woman with their hands framing her head

The River

The River is a poetic and beautiful short film that pays homage to culture and the experiences of girls and women as they relate to education, marriage, and the life-giving properties of water. Exploring these themes in the context of Ethiopia, this artfully crafted film draws inspiration from the director’s childhood home, Kebena.

Director
Credits
Country of Origin

USA

Year

2024

Language

In Amharic with English subtitles

Film Contact
PG

Open to youth

18 min
Documentary Drama Shorts Women Directors

Credits & Director

Executive Producer

Firehiwot Berhane

Producer

Firehiwot Berhane Germay

Screenwriter

Tigist Mezgebu Kifle

Cinematography

Tedos Teffera Tesfaye

Editor

Tedos Teffera Tesfaye, Amanuel Girma Ashenafi

Production Design

Rediet Haddis Yalew

Herrana Addisu headshot

Herrana Addisu

Herrana Addisu is a multi-disciplinary artist, film director, and social impact strategist passionate about community organizing and visual storytelling.

Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Dir. Steven Spielberg
138 min

Richard Dreyfuss sees something in the sky which suggests... transcendence? Spectacular but also grounded, of all Spielberg's blockbusters Close Encounters may be the one that holds up best.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Tough Old Broads

Dir. Stacey Tenenbaum
90 min

Tough Old Broads is a feature documentary that follows three trailblazing women as they continue to make waves well into their 70s. Because you can't keep a good woman down.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Turner & Constable

Dir. David Bickerstaff
93 min

Filmed as a supplement to a blockbuster exhibition at Tate Britain happening right now, this doc in the popular Exhibition on Screen series allows us to view these competitive, complementary English landscape artists side by side.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

Dir. Steven Spielberg
115 min

One of only a handful of live action children's films to capture the imaginations of generations, E.T. has a luminous warmth; it's a suburban symphony of emotion, and it's fascinating to revisit it in the light of The Fabelmans.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

The President's Cake

Dir. Hasan Hadi
105 min

Nine year old Lamia and her friend Saeed venture into the city to scrounge ingredients for a cake to celebrate Sadaam Hussein's birthday — a quest fraught with real peril in precarious times. Winner, Camera d'Or, Cannes.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Antonia's Line

Dir. Marleen Gorris
102 min

This month's Pantheon selection spotlights the first woman to win the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, the Dutch feminist filmmaker Marleen Gorris, and her charming, vibrant tale of an emancipated farmer who refuses to conform.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema