Fortune News | Dec 20,2025
The narrow hallway outside Video Bet’s screening room had begun to fill by 6:00pm. A few early arrivals sat near the ticket office, drinking coffee or soft drinks and checking their phones. Soon, students, office workers and film enthusiasts arrived, lining up for tickets and talking.
The scene recalled an older Addis Abeba. Strangers compared films, discussed directors and traded opinions about releases. For those raised around neighbourhood video shops, the atmosphere was familiar. Cinema was again becoming a shared experience rather than something watched alone on a phone or laptop.
Video Bet was founded by filmmaker Beza Hailu and Banda'mlak Yimenu, a film critic and co-founder of Video Bet. The initiative began in 2025 as a Friday gathering for film enthusiasts at Century Mall. What started as an effort to bring people together around cinema became its own screening venue within the compound of the Red Terror Martyrs Museum, on Africa Avenue (Bole Road), at Mesqel Square. The project takes its name from the small video houses that were once very common across Addis Abeba.
Around Shola Market, where I grew up, several shops rented films of every kind. Their shelves carried local productions, Hollywood blockbusters, Bollywood musicals and, in some cases, Nollywood films. Solomon’s Video Bet was my regular stop. On weekends, customers sometimes formed long lines outside, waiting for newly released movies. The shop was small, with hundreds of DVDs stacked behind the counter. Posters covered the walls. A television and DVD player sat behind the counter, where Solomon tested each disc before handing it to a customer.
Elsewhere in the city, especially around Qirqos and Mercato, informal screenings were also common. People gathered in small rooms around a single television to watch films together. These spaces brought neighbours, friends and strangers into the same room and turned movie watching into a social event.
That culture weakened as DVDs gave way to digital distribution and streaming. DVDs offered viewers a sense of ownership. People built collections and returned to films whenever they wished. Many discs also included deleted scenes, director commentaries, behind-the-scenes footage and other bonus material. Streaming made films easier to access, but much of that ownership and physical connection disappeared.
DVDs have largely given way to digital platforms, even though internet penetration was only 21.3pc of the population in 2025. Millions of users now access movies, television programs, and music through the social media platform Telegram. Services such as Sodere, HabeshaView, YouTube Movies and Satellite have become channels for Amharic content. The kiosks that once filled the city have steadily faded.
For Beza and Banda'mlak, the name Video Bet recalls that earlier culture adapted to a different era. Their venue has a small ticket office at the entrance. Behind it is a popcorn machine, with soft drinks arranged nearby. A coffee machine stands across from the popcorn counter. Framed film posters hang on the walls, and old DVDs are displayed on shelves. The setting links neighbourhood rental shops with a space for collective viewing.
Video Bet selects a theme each month and curates films around it. The program includes international and local productions, offering different styles, cultures and viewpoints. Each Friday screening is followed by a discussion where viewers can question and debate what they watched.
This month’s program was titled, “Studies in Humanity: The Films of Sewmehon Yismaw.” Over three consecutive Fridays, audiences watched "Sewnetwa", "Sons of Sunrise", and "Ewir Amora Kelabi". After each screening, the director, Sewmehon, joined a question-and-answer session with fans, aspiring filmmakers, film students and other audience members.
Among those waiting outside was Adonias Zemenaye, a regular attendee and movie enthusiast. He called Video Bet his favourite place in the city and encouraged friends to come with him, one Friday at a time. One of these friends was Atnatiyos Gizachew, a medical student attending for the second time. He was not passionate about movies, but the atmosphere had brought him back. For him, the attraction was not limited to the film, since the sense of belonging created there.
When the doors opened, the audience walked through the Museum grounds and entered the screening hall. The month’s theme focused heavily on migration and displacement, central to "Ewir Amora Kelabi." The hybrid documentary follows the real-life story of Zekarias Tibebu, from his experiences under the Derg regime to his dangerous journey to Canada and back to Ethiopia to see his the graves of his mother and uncle. Parts of the film were recorded on phone cameras as events unfolded, while other scenes were captured in real time. No professional actors were used, preserving its documentary character.
Zekarias’s journey and Sewmehon’s storytelling gave the film emotional force, making the audience wipe away tears halfway through the screening. Although the events took place years ago, many of the issues raised in the film remain part of Ethiopia’s reality.
The film did not end when the screen went dark. It continued in the questions, disagreements and reflections that followed. Sewmehon was invited to the front and greeted with applause. Much of the discussion focused on his views about illegal migration, a subject he has now explored in three films. Others wondered about the dialogue, casting choices, locations, and the film's cultural representation. The exchange demonstrated what Video Bet is trying to preserve.
“We don’t have much space to talk about movies or learn about them," Beza said. "That’s what we wanted to build.”
That purpose is evident in how the venue operates. More than a place to screen films, Video Bet is a meeting point where audiences watch, discuss and learn. In a city with few regular spaces for film criticism and public conversation, the project has recreated the communal culture that once surrounded neighbourhood video houses. The difference is that the old shops were built around renting physical copies, while the new Video Bet is built around time spent together. It draws on the memory of crowded counters, DVDs and conversations with shop owners, but gives that memory a new form.
The rise of streaming has made film more available, but it has also made viewing more private. The growing interest in Video Bet’s demonstrated that access alone is not enough. Audiences may watch films online, but many still want a place where they can respond to what they have seen and hear how others understood it.
PUBLISHED ON
Jun 20,2026 [ VOL
27 , NO
1364]
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