A Graphic Memoir in VR
“Ferenj” is an afrosurreal dreamscape crafted from the director’s reconstructed memories questioning the meaning of home and identity as a mixed-race, Ethiopian-American growing up amidst cultural dissonance. The viewer is guided through fragments of Empress Taytu (her parents’ Ethiopian restaurant in Cleveland, OH) to the streets of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia by a speculative one-way conversation between the narrator and Empress Taytu – the restaurant personified as the historic empress. “Ferenj” harnesses photogrammetry as a tool to reclaim the 3D scanned spaces and redefine Robson’s relationship to them on her own terms.
Ainslee Alem Robson
Director, Writer
Ainslee Alem Robson
Narrator
Melkamayehu Belachew
Tewabech Belachew
Betelhem Shiferaw
Senait Robson
Carl A. Robson
Laure Michelon
Kate Stuteville
Spencer Daly
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