User Reviews

Zemene radiates off the screen in this film.

Melissa Donovan captures Zemene's vibrant spirit and heart throughout this film. It is so well done, beautifully photographed and the story so rich, it comes together like visual poetry.

While Zemene may have been considered "deformed" and in her culture, not worthy of living a full life, it is incredible to see such a bright spirit beaming out of her. Because of this spirit, she was able to endure the bullying, the poverty, and the unlikelihood of ever getting treatment.

The fact that the director was there when she met Dr. Rick was serendipity.

It is rare to see the kind of compassion and incredible character transformation in such an organic way. I feel privileged to have witnessed this beautiful experience and hope to see more documentaries from Donovan.

Zemene (2014) is a documentary directed by Melissa R. Donovan. The movie tells the story of a young Ethiopian woman--Zemene Tiget Adababy-- who was born with a severe spinal deformity. There are no facilities in Ethiopia for correcting this deformity. By incredible good luck, Zemene met Dr. Rick Hodes, a U.S. physician who lives in Ethiopia. He specializes in helping people with spinal deformities, and he was able to arrange for Zemene to receive the surgery she needed in Ghana.

By almost bizarre serendipity, director Donovan was in Ethiopia as a camerawoman. She was getting some footage of Dr. Hodes, so she was there when Hodes met Zemene. She was astute enough to start filming, right from the start. When she was done, Zemene had a straight back, and Donovan had this incredible documentary.

We saw this film at Rochester's Little Theatre, as part of the remarkable Rochester International Jewish Film Festival. (The tie-in is that Dr. Hodes is Jewish.)

Zemene is a wonderful person, and the documentary about her is wonderful as well. I hope this film goes into general release, because it's definitely worth seeing. It will work well on the small screen.

Note: Director Donovan was at the screening, and it was really a treat to hear her tell how the film got made, and what she learned while making this movie. My compliments to the RIJFF for bringing three filmmakers to the festival. That's an expensive and difficult challenge, but they did it.