Wax & Gold

A filmmaker settles into the Hilton in Addis Ababa and uses the grand hotel as a way into Ethiopia's thorny past and present.

Emperor Haile Selassie opened the Hilton at the end of Africa's defining decade of the 1960s, and it became a controversial symbol of both his hope for the continent and his own self aggrandisement. Decades on, Ruth Beckermann takes up residence and starts pulling at the threads. Wax & Gold blends archival footage of the Emperor with present day conversations among hotel staff and Beckermann's own reflections as a European woman navigating the familiar and the foreign. Her search for historical truth is layered with contradictions, and she knows it. Inside, the polished corridors tell one story. Outside, workers queue in long lines at bus stops and the skyline is marked by the skeletons of high rises awaiting completion. The contrast speaks for itself.