Bethelhem Molla, Animator
BY BETELHEM BEDLU
Bethelhem Molla was born and raised in Addis Ababa. She studied Industrial Design in Ale school of fine arts, Addis Ababa University. Learning in Art School was one of the best things that helped her grow her art skills.
While she was in school, she used to work part time jobs which have highly contributed for her to become an independent woman.
Before finding herself doing her childhood dream, she was working as a production assistant. However, her strong love for animation did not let her stay on the job for even a month. Somehow, she could not be in good terms with the work and got fired.
Being young and enthusiastic, Bethelhem took the opportunity to be on her own. Even though she knew that the road will not be full of bed of roses, she decided to take baby steps and opened her own studio. Currently, she is the founder and Managing Director of DedeStudios.
The Ethiopian Herald had a short stay with this young and self -taught animator to talk about her journey and life experience. Enjoy your reading!
When did you start your career in Animation?
My desire in 2d Animation started growing while I was a teenager. By the time, I was in high school and started researching about 2d animation.
Even with no access to computer and internet, I didn’t push myself to stop dreaming about being an animator. After joining Art school, I became more of a self-taught Animator. Besides my main course /design, I had also studied Animating. It was one of my best wishes to open my own company in the similar field.
After I graduated, I couldn’t generate income as an animator so I decided to get hired in another field and worked as a production assistant at a given company. But it was funny that I could not stay on the job for more than 19 days and I got fired.
I considered the situation as a wakeup call and that’s when I decided to open up my own company. It seemed really hard at the time but I was able to open my small company at age of 25 become my own boss about 4 years ago; I named it after my late mother, Dede. Currently, we make illustrations, animations and graphic design.
What is your inspiration or what motivates you to keep working in Animation?
I get inspired by the fact that as we Ethiopian has so many wonderful stories that can be shared in a beautiful form of art such as animation. I believe that our movie industry can also grow more if we try adding animation in it.
That is one of the reasons that we started working on an animated series named ‘Mender’. I think understanding the huge, positive impact that animation could place on the film industry as well as the development of the economy is significant.
Can you tell us more about your project Mender?
Mender is an animated sitcom, about six family members based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. These and other additional characters show us the real cultures and nature of Ethiopia.
Making its target audience of 15- 45 ages, the sitcom tell us stories of our lives in a funny way. It is created depending on our day to day routine.
What do you think are the major challenges that people face in making Animations?
Having almost no schools that teach 2d animation in Ethiopia is a major challenge. You have to do everything by yourself. You have to find tutorials and be committed to studying animation by your own. With the kind of internet access that we have, it makes it hard to study.
Buying the equipments for animation is the other challenge. Not only that they are very expensive, especially for someone who is young and just getting started, but they are also hard to find.
What is your say on people’s perception as Animation is only made for children?
I have heard many people say that Animation is only made for kids, but I believe that it doesn’t have age limits. It is just another form of storytelling with it’s a great form of expression and a better way to get a point across.
It can portray a story the way live action cannot. For one thing, the comedy is different. The way a character express emotions don’t have the same effect in a in real life character would. For references, you can check Adult animated movies/shows that are very famous in the world.
How hard was it to open your own company?
Starting a company is tough but also achievable. All we need is a little help at the beginning or maybe a little saving or loan for the startup.
I think that many youths have a problem when it comes to starting a business as their only desire is starting at a big level while starting small is only natural in the business world. What really matters is growing through hard work over time. It is very important to not be obsessed in growing your company in a blink of an eye and start taking baby steps.
What are you hoping to share with our readers?
Once we get in to business, the roads might not be smooth and we might think of giving up but it is essential to understand that quitting is not an option. As the saying goes, a positive attitude changes everything.
I want to share something that I carry throughout my entire journey, there are times when nobody believes in us, but I suppose that as long as we believe in ourselves, we are good to go.
The Ethiopian Herald January 2/2021
