SYNOPSIS
Ruth was a teenager when her mother passed down her Medallion, etched with a golden portrait of Nefertiti. Not only was this medallion an artefact, it was an emblem of her mother’s inconceivable plight – captured in middle school by the Derg communist military regime and raised in a prison camp for years. This story follows her early memories of the Derg Genocide and how she first came into possession of the medallion upon her escape.
Country of Production: Ethiopia / United Kingdom
Year: 2023
Runtime: 19 min
Language: Amharic, English
Awards & Selections: Silver Dominion Award – FESPACO 2025 · Prix Documentaire court ou moyen métrage – Vues d’Afrique 2025
Biography
Ruth Hunduma is an Ethiopian-Australian writer, director, photographer, actor and poet. She is the recipient of the John Hay Lobban Prize in English Literature from Birkbeck, University of London, and has been featured in publications such as Dazed and Perfect Magazine. Ruth won the 2022 Roundhouse Film Fund and the 2022 BFI Short Documentary Fund. Her debut narrative film, A Band Apart, premiered at the London Independent Film Festival and won Best Short Film (Directors UK Award). Her debut documentary, The Medallion, has since travelled the festival circuit. Ruth was shortlisted for the 2021 Guy Ritchie Creative Access mentorship and selected for the Independent Film Trust's Catalyst programme in 2022. She is based in London.
Ruth Hunduma Writer, Director, Photographer, Actor and Poet