Grandma Knows Best?
The 30-year connection between two grandmothers (one Canadian, one Ethiopian) is explored across cultures, languages and continents.
- Field Producer
- Documentary DP
- Creative Director
Tamara D.
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
$100 - $500 / Day
About
Tamara Dawit merges arts and social justice together through her projects. For ten years she led the 411 Initiative For Change, an arts organization for which she produced multi arts presentations that toured to over 500,000 young people across Canada. Tamara has extensive experience working in the music industry both in North America and Ethiopia. Tamara produced the documentaries Forgotten Children (2007, EOne) and Girls of Latitude(2008, MTV/CTV) and she produced and directed Grandma Knows Best? (2014, Bravofactual/Planet Africa/Globe&Mail), a short documentary exploring the thirty-year friendship between her two grandmothers. Finding Sally (CBC) is her first feature documentary. Tamara has been selected to participate in the following programs: Durban Talent Lab (2016), Berlin Talent Lab (2015), and Reel World Lab at the Toronto International Film Festival (2014). Tamara is of Ethiopian, Eritrean, Ukrainian and British ancestry. Tamara is based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where she splits her time between working on interactive productions, music and film projects.
Top Services
- Documentary DP
- Field Producer
- Creative Director
Top Projects
Girls of Latitude
A documentary about young women making a difference in their communities in Colombia, Haiti and South-Sudan, in partnership with Plan Canada for MTV and CTV.
- Field Producer
- Documentary DP
Forgotten Children
A documentary about restavecs, slave children in Haiti. The documentary shows the situation of the restavecs through the eyes of different personalities including pop singer George Nozuka, a Canadian UN peacekeeper, some Haitian youth filmmakers and activists, and former working children themselves.
- Field Producer
- Documentary DP
Produced for Gobez Media
Finding Sally
FINDING SALLY TELLS THE INCREDIBLE STORY OF A 23-YEAR-OLD WOMAN FROM AN UPPER-CLASS FAMILY WHO BECAME A COMMUNIST REBEL WITH THE ETHIOPIAN PEOPLE’S REVOLUTIONARY PARTY. IDEALISTIC AND IN LOVE, SALLY GOT CAUGHT UP IN HER COUNTRY’S REVOLUTIONARY FERVOUR AND LANDED ON THE MILITARY GOVERNMENT’S MOST WANTED LIST. SHE WENT UNDERGROUND AND HER FAMILY NEVER SAW HER AGAIN. FOUR DECADES AFTER SALLY’S DISAPPEARANCE, TAMARA DAWIT PIECES TOGETHER THE MYSTERIOUS LIFE OF HER AUNT SALLY. SHE REVISITS THE ETHIOPIAN REVOLUTION AND THE TERRIBLE MASSACRE THAT FOLLOWED, WHICH RESULTED IN NEARLY EVERY ETHIOPIAN FAMILY LOSING A LOVED ONE. HER QUEST LEADS HER TO QUESTION NOTIONS OF BELONGING, PERSONAL CONVICTIONS AND POLITICAL IDEALS AT A TIME WHEN ETHIOPIA IS GOING THROUGH IMPORTANT POLITICAL CHANGES ONCE AGAIN.
- Senior Producer / Project Manager
- Non-Fiction Film Director
Equipment
Video
- Multiple cameras
- DSLR or equivalent
Video
All Services
Production Support
- Field Producer
- TV News Producer
- Documentary DP
- Production Assistant
- Non-Fiction Film Director
Production Support
Post Production
- Video Editor - Documentary
Post Production
Miscellaneous
- Fixer
- Creative Director
- Senior Producer / Project Manager
Miscellaneous