Room 11, Ethiopia Hotel / Oral Pornography / Lalibalocc

Itsushi Kawase, Ph.D., is a filmmaker, anthropologist and Buddhist monk born in Gifu, Japan. In 2001, he initiated the long-term anthropological research on hereditary singers known as Azmari and Lalibala (Lalibalocc) in northern Ethiopia under the Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies, Kyoto University. He has produced several documentary films, including the award-winning 'Room 11, Ethiopia Hotel' (2007).

Following his commitment to the UNESCO/Norway Funds-in-Trust project in 2007, he began exploring the potential of ethnographic films/filmmaking as a part of the policy-making activities of international agencies. His aim is to bridge the gap between the academic concerns of films created as 'visual anthropology' and the political considerations underlying the growing dependence on film to record 'intangible cultural heritage'. He is currently affiliated with Granada Centre for Visual Anthropology, The University of Manchester as a postdoctoral fellow for research abroad of Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. He is also a board member of the Commission on Visual Anthropology (IUAES).

Programme:
Room 11, Ethiopia Hotel 2007, 24'
Oral Pornography 2006, 15'
Lalibalocc Living in the Endless Blessing 2004, 24'