Zeleke, Yared
Office: HN 477
Email: yared.zeleke84@login.cuny.edu
Yared Zeleke was born and raised in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, until he immigrated to the U.S. at age ten. Zeleke earned his MFA in Writing and Directing at New York University where his thesis short film, Lottery Boy, earned him an award from the Hollywood Foreign Press Agency in 2012.
Zeleke’s first feature, Lamb, premiered in the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival in 2015. It was the first Ethiopian film to be included in the “Official Selection”. The North American premier was at the Toronto International Film Festival. Lamb garnered much press with positive reviews, including from the New York Times, BBC, CNN, PBS, Guardian, Financial Times, Le Monde, and Der Spiegel. Variety magazine that year featured Zeleke among the “10 Screenwriters to Watch”.
Lamb made the shortlist for the 2016 Oscars Best Foreign Language Film Award. It has since been nominated as well as winning “Best Film” prizes in many worldwide festivals. Lamb has sold to over thirty territories, including the U.S. and China.
Zeleke is currently working on his second feature script, Sunbirds, which was awarded a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship as well as a grant from the San Francisco Film Society. The Sundance Institute through its FilmTwo Initiative and Realness Residency in South Africa are mentoring Zeleke on his script.
In addition to his own projects, Zeleke has taught Screenwriting and Directing at Wesleyan University and Columbia University’s graduate film program for the past three years.