Muluken Teshome

A sequel to the most successful Ethiopian film of all-time, Theodros Teshome's Kezkaza Welafen (2003). Starring Teshome himself as Ali, a cop trying to catch a serial rapist-killer, whilst in a long-term relationship with Joanna (Martha Adugna). Like the first movie, Fiker Siferd deals with a kind of horrifying, anxiety-ridding issue facing modern Ethiopians: violence against women.

Set in the Sidist Kilo campus of Addis Ababa University, Kezkaza Welafen directly addresses the social tensions of everyday life for Ethiopian university students with the dangers of HIV/AIDS as its central theme. It follows the story of the female protagonist Selam, a promising university student and advocate for the prevention of HIV/AIDS who secretly believes she too is living with the disease.

Kaleab and Jemal are two who are willing to endure any travail to reach America and what they deem as a promise of a better life, but is it? Along the way Kaleab meets Winta, who is from neighboring Eritrea and on a similar journey as Kaleab. Kaleab and Winta fall in love with each other as the group of Ethiopians and Eritreans travel an arduous and illegal path from East Africa through Libya, Italy, Mexico and finally to America, but their love for each other is tested thoroughly as the group meets up with violence, sickness and, ultimately, tragedy.