Now booking · Addis Ababa EAT
Film fixer & production services · Ethiopia and Africa
Permits, crew, logistics, line producing, archive, post and original score — for international productions filming anywhere in Ethiopia and across Africa. Led by filmmaker Henok Mebratu from Addis Ababa.
What Film Ethiopia does
Film Ethiopia is a filmmaker-led production service and film fixing company based in Addis Ababa, providing permits, crew, logistics, line producing, archive footage, post-production and original music for international productions filming in Ethiopia and across Africa. We work at every scale, from a single fixer and a driver to a fully line-produced multi-region shoot, and we cover the whole chain through to a delivered, graded and scored film.
What makes us different
Film Ethiopia is led by Henok Mebratu, a working writer, director, producer and editor. That changes what you get on the ground, and it is the reason producers keep coming back with the next one.
Henok Mebratu writes, directs, produces, edits, colour grades and scores films of his own. He has cut four feature films and directed documentaries for the African Union, the European Union, UNDP and Al Jazeera. When you send a treatment, it is read by someone who has sat in your chair, which means the recce notes, schedule and crew list come back shaped around the film you are actually trying to make.
Two decades of working inside the Ethiopian industry means direct lines to DoPs, sound recordists, gaffers, drivers, translators, community elders, park wardens and government offices. Internationally, Henok has represented Ethiopia at Cannes and Berlinale and works continuously with producers, broadcasters and agencies abroad, so the handover between your office and the ground is short.
We have supported crews and clients from Africa, Europe, North America, South America, Asia and Australia, including Al Jazeera, UNESCO, RT, Bombardier, Girl Effect, Arsenal FC, Parking Lot Films in Los Angeles, Hurrah Productions in Singapore, Proudfoot in the UK and Deuxième Ligne Films in France. Every market has its own paperwork, insurance and delivery habits, and we already know most of them.
A solo self-shooter with a camera bag and three days gets the same care as a multi-vehicle series with a fifty-person unit. We scale the team and the spend to your brief instead of pushing a fixed package, and we will tell you honestly when something can be done more cheaply.
Film Ethiopia is Henok plus a bench of specialists assembled per project: producers, ADs, DoPs, drone pilots, sound recordists, fixers in every regional state, translators for each language group, medics, security advisers, editors, colourists and composers. We reach the resources of the whole country and the wider region, and we right-size the crew to the client's requirement and budget.
You can hire us for airport pickup and a translator, or for the entire chain: permits, customs, crew, line producing, shoot, archive research, edit, grade, mix and original Ethiopian score. Most clients start small and hand over more once they see the first day run on schedule.
Services
Take one piece or the whole chain. Most clients start with logistics and hand over more once they have seen the first day run on schedule.
We identify, apply for and hold every permission your shoot needs: federal media authorisation, regional approvals, heritage and national park access, church and community consent, and press accreditation.
Read moreAerial permissions, security clearances, no-fly assessment, licensed local pilots and in-country drone equipment, planned as a dedicated workstream with a ground-camera fallback.
Read moreManifest preparation, temporary import and carnet guidance, clearing agent appointment, Bole airport attendance on arrival and departure, and re-export reconciliation.
Read morePhotographic scout packages with access, light, travel-time and permission notes for every location, delivered before you lock a schedule.
Read moreVetted heads of department, technicians, translators and regional fixers, plus casting of actors and real contributors, hired at transparent rates.
Read moreScale it to your brief: minimal logistical support, a full line producing service, or turnkey production and delivery with you directing remotely.
Read moreVehicles, drivers, domestic flights, hotels, catering, fuel, cash, comms and convoy support, planned around the shoot rather than around the tourist route.
Read moreArchive research and rights clearance from Ethiopian collections, plus newly shot current footage captured to your brief anywhere in the country.
Read moreOffline and online editing, grading, graphics, sound, Amharic transcription and subtitling, and delivery to broadcast spec — in house in Addis Ababa.
Read moreCommissioned original score, traditional Ethiopian instruments and azmari performers, recorded in Addis Ababa with rights cleared and assigned.
Read moreInterpreters for every major and many minority Ethiopian languages, plus elder and community negotiation, consent and fair compensation.
Read moreSelected work
Al Jazeera, UNESCO, RT, Bombardier, Girl Effect, Arsenal FC and Parking Lot Films, among others — documentary, news, commercial, corporate and scripted.
An Ethiopian musician
Reporting from northern Ethiopia
Interview with the President of Ethiopia
An ancient craft in Ethiopia
Photographing the Ethiopian Airlines CEO
Corporate film in Ethiopia
Selected for Toronto and Berlinale
Period limited series shot in Ethiopia
Commercial and corporate film
Two documentaries on adolescent girls
A trip to Arsenal FC
Refugee stories for UNHCR
Where we work
Fixers resident in the regions rather than driven out from the capital — plus vetted partners across the Horn of Africa and the wider continent.
Everything starts here. Bole International Airport is the best-connected hub in the region, the crew base is deep, the equipment is in town, and the g…
Lalibela is not a ruin. It is a working religious complex where the churches carved out of the rock eight hundred years ago still hold daily services,…
The Danakil is the most visually extreme place in Ethiopia and the least forgiving. Ground temperatures regularly exceed anything your gear was design…
The Omo is the most photographed and most misrepresented part of Ethiopia. Crews arrive, pay per frame, shoot decorated bodies for two hours and leave…
Simien is where Ethiopia's landscape does its most cinematic work: thousand-metre escarpments, cloud pouring over the ridge line, and troops of severa…
Bale is the quieter counterpart to Simien and, for a natural history unit, often the more productive one. The plateau is a vast open Afro-alpine moorl…
How it works
Dates, regions, crew size and a paragraph about the film. A rough brief is enough — you do not need a locked schedule.
We assess permits, access and travel against your dates, flag anything that will not work, and return an itemised quote within a working day.
Permits filed in parallel, customs arranged, crew booked, locations scouted, call sheets and movement orders issued.
We run the ground operation, back up every card nightly, and hand over rushes — or take it through edit, grade, mix and score.
What clients say
Henok Mebratu is a very creative, imaginative and hard-working individual. I have known and worked with him for nearly a decade and always found him to be a reliable and supportive colleague. I have worked with many talented people throughout my long career in television and film and have no hesitation in recommending Henok as a top-notch professional partner.
Henok Mebratu delivered fast, thoughtful, international-standard quality work within a tight timeframe and on budget, across continents.
Henok and his team were a vital part of our production team while filming in Ethiopia this year. He is professional, efficient, and was also great company during a challenging shoot.
Henok Mebratu is professional, resourceful, efficient, reliable, creative and calm under pressure.
Producer guides
Permits, customs, seasons, festivals and costs — written for producers who need to build a schedule, not for tourists.
To film professionally in Ethiopia you need permission at three levels: federal authorisation for media and filming, regional approval from the bureau of culture and…
6 min readProfessional film equipment must be declared and temporarily imported into Ethiopia, and it must leave with the crew that brought it. You need a serial-numbered mani…
5 min readThe best time to film in Ethiopia is October to March, after the main rains and before the hot pre-rain months. The main rainy season, kiremt, runs roughly June to S…
5 min readThere is no single day rate for a film fixer in Ethiopia, because the same word covers a translator with a car and a full line producer carrying a six-figure budget.…
5 min readEthiopia offers international productions four things few other countries have together: living heritage that has been continuously practised for over a thousand yea…
6 min readA good film fixer in Ethiopia should be able to show you named productions they have delivered, break a quote into government fees, third-party costs and their own f…
4 min readStart a production
Send dates, regions, crew size and a paragraph about the film. You will get an itemised, honest answer within one working day — and we will tell you if something is not going to work.