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Transcriber: Joseph Geni
Reviewer: Camille Martínez
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Woman: Doc? We're ready for you.
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Mehret Mandefro: OK.
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Man 1: Here we go. Places, please.
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Last looks.
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Man 2: We're at roll time.
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Man 3: Rolling!
Man 2: Roll cameras.
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Man 3: A speed, B speed, C speed.
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Man 1: Marker. And ... action.
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MM: I started making movies 15 years ago,
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during my internal medicine residency,
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as one does.
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I was doing HIV disparities research
amongst Black women,
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and that work turned into a documentary,
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and I've been making movies ever since.
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I like to think of the movies
and shows I create
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as a kind of visual medicine.
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By that I mean I try to put
stories on the screen
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that address large social barriers,
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like racism in America,
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gender inequities in Ethiopia
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and global health disparities.
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And it's always my hope that audiences
leave inspired to take actions
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that will help people
hurdle those barriers.
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Visual medicine.
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Most of the time,
I live and work in Ethiopia,
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the country I was born in,
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and currently,
I sit on the advisory council
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of the Ethiopian Government's
Jobs Creation Commission.
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Now, I'm sure you're wondering
what a doctor-turned-filmmaker,
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not economist,
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is doing working with
the Jobs Creation Commission.
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Well, I believe the creative industries,
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like film and theater,
design and even fashion,
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can promote economic growth
and democratic ideals in any country.
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I've seen it happen,
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I've helped it happen,
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and I'm here to tell you
a little bit more.
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But first, some context.
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Over the past 15 years,
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Ethiopia has had
amongst the fastest-growing economies
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in the world.
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This growth has led
to a reduction in poverty.
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But according to 2018 numbers,
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unemployment rates in urban areas
is around 19 percent,
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with higher unemployment rates
amongst youth ages 15 to 29.
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No surprise, those numbers
are even higher among young women.
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Like the rest of Africa,
Ethiopia's population is young,
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which means as the urban
labor market continues to grow,
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people are aging into the workforce,
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and there aren't enough jobs to go around.
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So put yourselves
in the shoes of any government
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struggling to create enough
good-paying jobs for a growing population.
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What do you do?
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I'm guessing your first thought isn't,
"Hey, let's expand the creative sector."
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We've been conditioned to think
of the arts as a nice thing to have,
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but not really as having a place
at the economic growth and security table.
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I disagree.
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When I moved to Ethiopia four years ago,
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I wasn't thinking about
these unemployment issues.
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I was actually thinking about
how to expand operations
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of a media company I had cofounded,
Truth Aid, in the US.
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Ethiopia seemed like
an exciting new market for our business.
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By the end of my first year there,
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I joined a fledgling TV station
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that exploded onto the media scene,
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Kana TV,
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as its first executive producer
and director of social impact.
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My job was to figure out
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how to produce premium original content
in Amharic, the official language,
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in a labor market where the skills
and education for film and TV was limited.
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There was really only
one way we could do it.
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We would have to invest
heavily in training.
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I was charged with training
the scripted drama team,
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and there was really
only one way we could do that:
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on the job,
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paying my employees to make TV
while they learned how to make TV.
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Their average age was 24,
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it was their first job out of university,
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and they were eager to learn.
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We built a world-class studio and began.
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The first show we created
as a product of our training
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was a scripted series
with a powerful family at the center
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called "Inheritance."
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The second show
was Ethiopia's first teen drama,
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called "Yegna,"
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and was made in partnership
with the nonprofit Girl Effect.
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These shows turned the cast
into overnight stars
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and won audiences over,
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and the best part
of my job quickly became
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running what was essentially a content
production talent training factory.
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Kana would go on to make
several original content shows,
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including a health talk show I created
called "Hiyiweti,"
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which translates into "my life."
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Now, this is obviously great for Kana,
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but we were doing something bigger.
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We were creating a model
for how training becomes employment
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in a market where creating new jobs,
especially as it relates to young people,
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is among the largest
of demographic challenges.
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Now, you can't say
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you took a bite out of a large
social problem like unemployment
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if the jobs you create
only serve the interests
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of a single private sector company,
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which is why I didn't stop at TV.
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I wanted the crews I had trained
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to have exposure to international
standard production
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and was so thrilled
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when a Canadian-Irish coproduction
that I was executive producing
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came to Ethiopia to shoot the feature film
"Sweetness in the Belly."
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I contacted the CEO
of the state-owned tours in Ethiopia
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to see if we could use this film
as a learning case study
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for how government can support
filmmaking and filmmakers.
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The argument was,
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films can promote economic growth
and attract tourism dollars
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in two key ways:
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by bringing production work to Ethiopia
and, more importantly,
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by promoting Ethiopia
and its unique cultural assets
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to the world.
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The latter taps into
a nation's expressive power.
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The government was incredibly
receptive and supportive
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and ended up providing logistical
and security support
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above and beyond what a lone producer
could provide on her own,
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especially to such a large film crew.
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With their help, we were able
to complete shooting the feature film
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under very challenging conditions,
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and I was able to hire my TV crews
so they could deepen their experiences
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and work alongside
a world-class film crew.
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This meant our employees
could mature and grow
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and move up their own
respective career ladders,
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not just in our company
but in the market at large.
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Members of our crew have gone on
to start their own production companies,
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joined ad agencies, communication firms,
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even other TV stations.
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To me, this multiplier effect
is what it's all about.
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But the story gets better.
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This was right around the time
the Jobs Creation Commission
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hired me to conduct a diagnostic study
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to assess the unmet needs of subsectors
like film, visual arts and design
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and see what government could do
to respond to those needs.
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After we completed the study,
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we made policy recommendations
to incorporate the creative economy
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in the National Jobs Action Plan
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as a high-potential services industry.
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This led to a larger effort
called Ethiopia Creates,
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which is just beginning to organize
the creative industry entrepreneurs
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in the sector
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so the sector can thrive.
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Ethiopia Creates recently organized
a film export mission
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to the European film market,
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where a team of Ethiopian filmmakers
were able to pitch their projects
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for potential financing opportunities.
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Now, putting culture
on the economic agenda
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is an incredibly important milestone.
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But the truth of the matter is,
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there's far more at stake than just jobs.
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Ethiopia is at a critical juncture,
not just economically but democratically.
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It seems like the rest of the world
is at a similar make-or-break moment.
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From my perspective
on the ground in Ethiopia,
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the country can go one of two ways:
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either down a path of inclusive,
democratic participation,
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or down a more divisive path
of ethnic divisions.
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If we all agree that the good way to go
is down the inclusive path,
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the question becomes: How do we get there?
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I would argue one of the best ways
to safeguard democracy
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is to expose everyone to each other's
stories, music, cultures and histories,
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and of course, it's the creative economy
that does that best.
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It's the sector that helps
teach civil society
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how to access new ideas
that are free of bias.
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Artists have long found ways to inspire
inclusion, tell stories and make music
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for lasting political impact.
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The late, great American hero,
Congressman John Lewis,
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understood this when he said,
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"Without dance, without drama,
without photography,
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the civil rights movement would have been
like a bird without wings."
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(Bell rings)
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Man 1: OK, we're back.
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MM: Now imagine how much more effective
music, films and arts would be
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if artists had good-paying jobs
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and the government supported them.
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In this case, economic growth
and democratic growth
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go hand in hand.
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I think any government
that views arts as a nice thing to have
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as opposed to a must-have
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is kidding itself.
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Arts and culture in all of their forms
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are indispensable for a country's
economic and democratic growth.
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It's precisely countries like Ethiopia
that can't afford to ignore
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the very sector that has the potential
to make the greatest civic impact.
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So just as John Lewis understood
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that the civil rights movement
could not take flight without the arts,
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without a thriving creative sector
that is organized like an industry,
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Ethiopia's future, or any other country
at its moment of reckoning,
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cannot take flight.
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The economic and democratic gains
these industries afford
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make the creative economy essential
to development and progress.
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Thank you.
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Man 1: And ... cut!
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(Applause and cheers)
