The history of cinema in

Eritrea Eritrea ( ; ti, ኤርትራ, Ertra, ; ar, إرتريا, ʾIritriyā), officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of Eastern Africa, with its capital and largest city at Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia ...

dates back to the country's colonial rule under the Kingdom of Italy. In connection with the growth of Italian cinema in the 1930s, so too did the rise of cinema occur in

Asmara Asmara ( ), or Asmera, is the capital and most populous city of Eritrea, in the country's Central Region. It sits at an elevation of , making it the sixth highest capital in the world by altitude and the second highest capital in Africa. The ...

, Eritrea. In 1937,

Asmara's Opera Asmara Theatre ( it, Teatro di Asmara), also known as Asmara Opera, is a theatre in Asmara, Eritrea. It was constructed in 1918 following a design by the Italian engineer Odoardo Cavagnari, with later renovations in 1936. Characteristics The b ...

was converted into a dual-use theatre and cinema. By the following year, Asmara had a total of nine movie theatres. The Italian

missionary film A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...

was first introduced in a 1922 work produced in the country by

Capuchin monks The capuchin monkeys () are New World monkeys of the subfamily Cebinae. They are readily identified as the "organ grinder" monkey, and have been used in many movies and television shows. The range of capuchin monkeys includes some tropical forest ...

collaborating with the colonial government. Despite the country's independence, film screenings in Eritrea are mostly still confined to English and Italian language movies. Films like were produced in Eritrea and shown the culture and differences between the Eritrean people. Directed by Giuliano Tomei, it was told through a viewpoint of

Domenico Meccoli Domenico Meccoli (4 January 1913 – 21 November 1983) was an Italian film critic, journalist, screenwriter and occasional actor. Born in Assisi, Meccoli started his career as a journalist and a film critic for the magazine ''Cinema'', and ...

. European influence continues to this day, such as "European Film Weeks", which have been held annually for the last 15 years. Almost 100% of the films produced in Eritrea fall under the "Fiction" category.

See also

References

Further reading