Hello Ladies

Directed by Deborah Stratman

Hello Ladies follows women who write Ethiopia into being, using 'write' in the broadest sense, including that of the land itself. The story is collectively told. Three things magnetize its parts: the Great Rift Valley, where continental plates spread apart, birthing new earth; the 3.2 million year old female hominid Dink'inesh aka 'Lucy,' who was found there; and Azmari tradition, a form of social singing used to critique power and narrate current events. Azmari women still perform today, but who are their descendants? A search for their conceptual inheritors populates and drives the film.