Mekdes Shiferaw
Contributing Writer
Ainslee Alem Robson ’15 released her first project, Ferenj: A Graphic Memoir in Virtual Reality (VR) in April 2020. It was set to be featured in several film festivals including Tribeca and South by Southwest, but then 2020 happened… you know the vibes. The title, Ferenj, is an Amharic word used to describe a foreigner, often someone white. As an Ethiopian-American who grew up in inner-city Cleveland with the privilege of going to private schools in the suburbs, the filmmaker often felt contradicted by her identity. I mean, being called Ferenj by your wegenoch (people you call your own) hurts a lot, and this is what the film is all about — a graphic memoir exploring home, memory and nostalgia in VR.
Robson approached Ferenj through a postcolonial and intersectional lens. During her time at Wooster, she was a French and Philosophy double major, implying she used the same theoretical frameworks to explore her Independent Study titled “TOMSfoolery: A Neo-colonial Deconstruction of The One for One Ideology of Giving.” When asked how the approach was different in terms of writing a thesis and establishing a creative project, she answered, “I’m very inspired by theory. During the conceptual development of this project (and for other projects as well), I reread W.E.B. DuBois, Bell Hooks, Audre Lorde, Chandra Mohanty, Teju Cole. I looked for quotes and passages that spoke to me and to the concept so I could apply them to the worldbuilding process. For example, I’d ask myself things like, ‘How do you spatialize double consciousness? How do I orient the story to centre my culture? Is this actually decolonial or is this perpetuating trauma-centric narratives of victimhood and tropes of immigrants as nothing but resilient? How do I speak to my audience and tell my story in a productive and interesting way?’”
Ferenj uses VR as a medium and photogrammetry for its concept design. Robson explained how it made sense for the story, as Ferenj explores diasporic themes such as home and memory. Besides, she stated, “As a graduate student with no budget to create a live action short or feature film, it was pocket-friendly to create this entirely with my computer and mobile phones.” The film is categorised as “emancipatory” storytelling, which for Robson, means “highlighting elements of your culture and/or history that you do not get to see represented and being unapologetic about it.” Born out of the need to understand herself better, Ferenj is a love letter to the diaspora. The score is beautiful and pays homage to Ethiopiques records. If your neighbourhood is anywhere in Merkato, Megenagna or Piassa in Addis Ababa, it is extra special for you.
For folks who are interested and want to get in the creative field, her words of advice are to “research people who inspire you, people who are in the roles you want to have, listen to their interviews, read about their backgrounds and how they got to where they are today. Reach out to them if you can. If not, find people who are on similar paths and within reach. Everyone has to start somewhere, and people have totally different journeys of getting to where they want to be. Only you can tell your story, and your ideas do matter.”
Robson lives in Los Angeles, where she is currently a full-time mum to Burna Boy (her recently adopted cat, not the singer) and in her free time, she is a freelance writer, director and media artist. You can follow her @ahhslay on Instagram to get the scoops on the making of Ferenj and more.