The Lost Tribe

Through amazing archival footage and dramatic re-creation of the rescue of Ethiopian Jews, Ethiopian filmmaker Belay Workneh tells how he survived persecution, war and hunger in Ethiopia - a raw and honest depiction of that country's brutal civil war.

Director Belay Workneh is an Ethiopian Jew born in a rural Jewish village in the Ethiopian province of Gondar, and is, thus, fluent in Amharic - the language of Ethiopia. In 1970, while still a boy, he moved to the capital, Addis Ababa, to live with his uncle and gain the education and opportunities that were not available to him at his home village. In 1980 he moved to Yemen to escape the civil war that was devastating Ethiopia and was subequently able to emigrate to the United States in 1982. After learning English, he was admitted to UC Berkeley and, in 1992, graduated with a B.A. in film. While in college Belay completed a number of short video projects, including a documentary on the Gurages Tribe in Southern Ethiopia.