TUMULT United States

Shot almost entirely in Los Angeles, Tumult
is set during the abortive 1960 attempt by
imperial guards to overthrow Ethiopian
ruler Haile Selassie. The fictional tale follows
the life of Yoseph, an aristrocatturned-
revolutionary who secretly masterminds
the coup d’etat. Yoseph is a
graduate of an American university.
Frustrated by the autocratic government of
his country, he returns home eager to
implement newly learned ideas of
Western-style democracy; it is not long
before he finds a cadre of young people
who feel the same. After the group’s badly
organized attempt to overthrow the monarchy
disintegrates abruptly, the once highbrow
Yoseph finds himself a fugitive. In
desperate flight for his life, he finds that his
last hope is Dejen, an impoverished gate
keeper who was once a servant and playmate
of Yoseph. Against the changingand
unchanging-face of political and
social realities, the two men must decide
where they each stand in the battle.