Our Passion in Action
Sandscribe Communications has opened a contact office in Finfinnee (Addis Ababa). It is engaged in the task of building partnership and collaborations with reputed media schools and related professional, technical and social institutions in Africa, Europe and the United States at various levels to meet its goal of achieving creative and technical excellence in media production and training. More specifically, it seeks support or collaboration in the areas of (but, not limited to):
Human resources, which includes providing volunteer media instructors, research associates, interns, and/or media-tech experts for short-term or long-term trainings.
Material resource, which includes donating media books, instructional materials, production and exhibition equipments. (Both new and used are acceptable.)
Financial resource, including financial donations and fundraisings.
Academic advice and guidance in designing and executing the training program.
Any support or collaboration from individuals, universities, colleges and other institutions in one or all of these areas would be of enormous benefit to this newly born media company based in Ethiopia, where resources of this kind are extremely scarce. Further information about the company and specific project proposals on various areas can be provided upon request.
Projects now in progress
Halkan Dorrobaa - A film production
Sandscribe Communications is collaborating with Writer/Director Dhaba Wayessa in the production of ‘Halkan Dorrobaa’, a new film that concurrently looks backward in time to one of the major causes of the social conflicts in the Horn of Africa and looks forward to the moral solution we are hoping to arrive at to bring about social transformation. With a theme of the emerging conflict between tradition and modernity represented by the outgoing and incoming two generations towards the end of 20th century in Ethiopia, the film portrays a specific social experience in a way it can be universally understood by the viewers around the world.
The film will be shot with HDV color and the final output will be a two-hour long HDV and DVD format video with an option to blow it up to 35mm film. We are seeking funding through several sources. Until now, we have focused on gaining the financial and moral support primarily from local immigrant communities living in the United States, Canada, Germany, and Britain through fundraising events at churches and community centers. However, given that many in these communities are refugees and immigrants, who are still rebuilding their lives in new countries, it is difficult to raise enough capital to finance a feature-length film. Now that we have the support of our local community, we are looking outward to other institutions dedicated to supporting Independent filmmakers. As for now, our estimated first day of principal shooting is February 1, 2010.
The Production Team of ‘Halkan Dorrobaa’
The production team of ‘Halkan Dorrobaa’ is lead by a reputed writer / filmmaker / journalist, Dhaba Wayessa, who directs and co-produces the film. Other key production staff will include the Howard University MFA graduate brilliant cinematographer, Burns Forsythe (please see his resume) and a former Addis Ababa University theatre arts professor and respected filmmaker/producer, Nebiyou T. Horssie (please see his resume).
About Dhaba Wayessa, Writer / Director of ‘Halkan Dorrobaa’
Dhaba earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in film from Howard University in 2004. The Fallen Beats, the short film he wrote, directed and produced in 2001, while he was in graduate school at Howard, won three awards including the Black Filmmakers’ Hall of Fame Award and Paul Robeson “Creative Excellence” Award for the “Best Short Film”. VOA Television broadcast this short film along with his other short film, At the Edge of the Day in February 2002. His feature-length screenplay, Hibboo (Riddle), which he wrote for the fulfillment of his MFA degree, also won a “Paul Robeson Honorable Mention Award for Scriptwriting – Feature” in April 2005.
He also studied as an undergraduate in the Radio, TV, and Film department at Howard University from 1997 to 1999 and received a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors.
Dhaba has been a VOA news and feature writer, broadcaster and editor for over 12 years, translating, writing and editing thousands of domestic and international news and feature stories. His literary background can be traced back to his early school years, when he used to write song lyrics and plays to be performed by the drama groups of his schools in remote rural of Oromia.
From 1988 to 1991 he wrote short stories and radio plays, which were regularly broadcast in the Oromo language by the National Radio of Ethiopia. The successful staging of his full-length drama, Dukkanaan Duuba (Beyond the Darkness), in 1991 at Ethiopian National Theater was the first production ever of a modern stage play in Afan Oromo. He then went on to write and produce four more stage plays and publish two novels. His first novel, Godannisa (The Scar), was the first modern novel in Oromo literature. In addition, He was the founder /director of the Gada Theater and Cultural Club, which was established in 1992 in Addis Ababa for the purpose of reviving Oromo artistic traditions. He also worked as chairperson of Ichima Publications, an Oromo-Amharic language magazine. He was honored with Oromo Studies Association Award in 1994, in recognition of his “outstanding contribution to the Oromo literary arts and culture.” A year later, He came to the United States, where he published his second novel, Gurracha Abbaya (The Black of the Nile), and directed/produced his fifth stage play, Faana Miilaa (The Foot Prints), both in the Oromo language.
Dhaba Wayessa’s scholarly works have won several praises from known personalities and the press, of which the following excerpts are taken:
“What my students especially liked about Dhaba Wayessa's movie “The Fallen Beats” is how elegantly it portrays the souls of his characters in the world today. This is all the more significant because the movie has almost no dialogue; it communicates purely through image and abstract sound, which means that it could be appreciated anywhere in the world, no matter what the culture or language of the audience. For my students, Dhaba's story was meaningful and relevant to the world we live in--a world increasingly affected by a process economists and sociologists call globalization. They felt they could relate to the characters even though Dhaba was representing experiences that none of my students had had. In contrast, the more internationally well-known novelists and filmmakers such as Morrison and Erdrich seem to be describing the past and its legacy, not the present and its immediacy. Dhaba's work felt more present and immediate to them, and I suspect that is because his work is simultaneously immanent and transcendent. It is transcendent in the way it portrays the souls of his characters in ways that seem universal, beyond time and place. But it is also immanent in the way it situates those souls in very specific and real historical contexts. In my view it’s a brilliant film.” Steven W. Thomas, Assistant Professor of English at the College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University, Minnesota.
"Given the dearth of reference books and prior artistic works in the Oromo language, Dhaba Wayessa's contribution to Oromo arts is not only highly appreciated, but can also be rated as artistic work par excellence by any standard." Lammi Gudda, Oromo Commentary.
"Dhaba shows that he is a dedicated student of Oromo mythology - with love and respect for the culture . . . He has ears for the music of Oromo language, he uses his talent as a medium to translate the dance, music, costume, and proverbs of the people. He brings the people on the stage - not cultural caricature." The Late Poet Laureate Tsegaye G/Medhin, Ethiopian Herald.
"Dhaba not only pioneers fiction writing but is also appreciated for his critical presentation, depth of thought, originality, plausibility, as well as selection of words." Getachew Kajela, Ethiopian Herald.
"If his works were translated into English today, Dhaba Wayessa would be instantly saluted by [those] who appreciate creative literature, as one of the rising stars among African writers." Mohammed Hassan, professor of History at Georgia State University.
"Dhaba is known for his perseverance - he dreams of something, follows it up to the end and succeeds. He is a man of his word." Tesfaye Mekonnen (director of Dhaba's plays), Ethiopian Herald.