Oromo identity in film.

21-24 Feb 2006. Three documentaries by French anthropologist Thomas Osmond and film maker Jean-Marc Lamoure shed light on the Oromo people originating from present-day southern Ethiopia and northern Kenya. Osmond has worked in the Oromia region studying issues of religion, law and identity for eight years. The film series at the Alliance Ethio-Franaise begins with Chaalo, les voix du deuil (2004), focussing on the meeting between Lamoure and Chaalo Magarsa, a religious leader living in the Ambo valley, who leads a group of bereaved women in worship. It is followed on 22 Feb by La famille dElemo (2004), which looks at the organisation of rural communities in western Shoa. The film cycle ends on 24 Feb with Imaginaires croiss (2004), which explores issues of ethnic identity in Nekemte in the Wollega zone. Estimated at around 30 million, or 40 per cent of the population, the Oromo is the largest ethnic group in Ethiopia and has its own distinct culture and language. Traditionally nomadic pastoralists, they are now mostly sedentary farmers and cattle breeders. The Oromo Liberation Front has been fighting a guerrilla war against the government of Addis Ababa, which it accuses of discrimination, for over ten years. Screenings at 18.30. Entry free.