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Zia Mohajerjasbi, the winner of the 2009 Stranger Genius Award for film and the director of a number of Macklemore's music videos, is presenting his first major work, Hagereseb. Lyrical, intimate, and filled with the solemn winter light of the Northwest, the 35-minute film is set in 1990s Yesler Terrace and concerns the small world and troubles of an Eritrean American boy. He wants to make music, he needs batteries for a synthesizer, he has cultural and generational conflicts with his traditional family, and also his neighborhood is a little rough. This small world within a world that was born from the noblest ideas of the New Deal era is now mostly gone (go to Yesler Way and Broadway and see for yourself). We are now living in a city that has become too expensive for many in the community portrayed in this short film. The end of Hagereseb will break your heart with its beauty.

Hagereseb plays Thurs July 23 at 7 pm at the Egyptian.