Ten hours of cinematic history arrived in Padua on November 10, 2026, marking the Italian premiere of Haile Gerima’s monumental project, Black Lions, Roman Wolves (Leoni Neri, Lupi Romani), as reported by Il Bo Live.
The veteran Ethiopian filmmaker spent thirty years constructing this sweeping exploration of the 1935 Italian occupation and the fierce Ethiopian resistance. The university city hosts the final six-leg Italian tour stop for the multi-part cinematic experience. Screenings began immediately at the Complesso Beato Pellegrino, drawing scholars, students, and cinephiles into a sprawling confrontation with colonial memory.
Decades of Archival Combat and Cinematic Craft
Gerima’s artistic trajectory stretches from his birthplace in Gondar, Ethiopia, to the United States, where he emerged as a leading figure of the L.A. Rebellion during the 1970s. Alongside contemporaries at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, he rejected mainstream Western aesthetics to forge a radical, anti-colonial cinematic language.
His breakthrough 1976 feature, Harvest 3,000 Years (Mirt Sost Shi Amit), won the Grand Prize at the Locarno Film Festival, establishing an uncompromising voice that later yielded the acclaimed slavery drama Sankofa (1993) and the analytical masterpiece Adwa: An African Victory (1999).
Black Lions, Roman Wolves functions as both a narrative epic and a physical monument to a repressed past. The project dismantles traditional center-periphery historical hierarchies through meticulous sound and visual editing.
Gerima and Aina Host Public Dialogues About the Film
Following the initial rollout of episodes detailing the scars of Adwa, the invasion, and the Italian occupation, the program shifts toward direct audience engagement.
On November 16 and 17, 2026, Gerima and producer Shirikiana Aina will appear in Aula 1 of the Beato Pellegrino complex for extended public dialogues. Alongside co-curator Daniela Ricci, the creators will dissect the guerrilla warfare and ultimate victory sequences that conclude the ten-hour masterwork.
