Asmara Beraki's new film reflects her interpretation of her father's experience as a taxi driver in Washington, D.C. (Photo credit: Jan Vlnas – © 2012)
Tadias Magazine
By Tigist Selam | Events News
Updated Saturday, September 15, 2012
Washington, D.C. (TADIAS) – The D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities is hosting a screening today of a short film by the district’s Artist Fellowship Grant recipient Asmara Beraki entitled Anywhere Else. The 45 minute movie, scheduled to premier from 6 to 8 pm at Goethe Institute in Washington D.C., follows a divorced taxi-driver and his relationship with his teenage daughters who are growing up in a culture vastly different than his.
“The short film was inspired by my father because he worked as a taxi driver in Washington, D.C. and it’s kind of based on his life experience,” the filmmaker said in an interview. “Because when I was young he used to be a teacher and at some point he stopped teaching. And at the time, when I was growing up, I always used to say to him “Why don’t you go back to teaching?” or do this and that, or do something else besides driving a taxi. So I guess it’s a portrait of what I imagine my father might have felt, like being an immigrant here, doing that job, being divorced, and trying to relate to his kids.”
Beraki, who grew up in D.C. but currently lives in Prague, Czech Republic with her husband and 6-year-old, acknowledged, however, that her mother, on the other hand, is noticeably absent from the movie. “There is a reason for that,” she said. “My mother’s story is more complicated in a way that I am not ready to tell it.”
As for her father, Beraki said he “loves” the film. “He was really pleased,” she said. “I am sympathetic to him now because I have grown. Had I written this ten years ago, I would have had a different perspective.”
The film’s poster for the D.C. screening.
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If You Go:
The screening of Anywhere Else
Followed by Q & A with the filmmaker
Saturday, September 15, 2012
6:00 to 8:00 PM
Goethe Institute Cinema
812 Seventh Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001-3718
Tel: (202) 289-1200
info@washington.goethe.org
