Running Against the Wind

Spoken: Amharic. Subtitles: English.

The lives of Abdi and Solomon, two boys from rural Ethiopia, take very different paths. Abdi trains to be an Olympic runner, trying to emulate national hero and two-time Olympic gold winner Haile Gebrselassie (who has a cameo in the film). Solomon, inspired by an European photographer he meets by chance, travels to the capital, Addis Ababa, where he drifts into poverty and petty crime. Fate reunites the two friends, at a pivotal moment in both their lives.

Ethiopian submission for Best International Feature Film, Academy Awards 2020