When a massive Chinese industrial park lands in rural Ethiopia, a dusty farming town finds itself at the new frontier of globalization. The sprawling factory complex’s formidable Chinese director Motto now needs every bit of mettle and charm she can muster to push through a high-stakes expansion that promises 30,000 new jobs. Ethiopian farmer Workinesh and factory worker Beti have staked their futures on the prosperity the park promises. But as initial hope meets painful realities, they find themselves, like their country, at a pivotal crossroads.

Filmed over four years with singular access, Made in Ethiopia lifts the curtain on China’s historic but misunderstood impact on Africa, and explores contemporary Ethiopia at a moment of profound crisis. The film throws audiences into two colliding worlds: an industrial juggernaut fueled by profit and progress, and a vanishing countryside where life is still measured by the cycle of the seasons. Its nuance, complexity and multi-perspective approach go beyond black-and-white narratives of victims and villains. As the three women’s stories unfold, Made in Ethiopia challenges us to rethink the relationship between tradition and modernity, growth and welfare, the development of a country and the wellbeing of its people.

As part of China Week 2025, the Lau China Institute presents a one-off screening of ‘Made in Ethiopia’ - a film by Xinyan Yu and Max Duncan at The Garden Cinema on Wednesday 22 October. 

The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with one of the film's directors, Max Duncan, Dr Charlotte Goodburn, Reader in Chinese Politics and Development at King's College London, chaired by Linda Calabrese, PhD student, Lau China Institute.

Tickets are £12 for non-members and can be purchased via The Garden Cinema website. Please book early to avoid disappointment.

Running time: 91 minutes

Year: 2024

Co-presented with the The Garden Cinema's Chinese Cinema Project.

About the speakers

Max Duncan is an award-winning filmmaker, cinematographer and journalist whose work has appeared on platforms including the BBC, PBS, The Guardian, The New York Times and Al Jazeera. He worked for a decade in China, first as a video journalist for Reuters news agency in Beijing and then independently, exploring the country’s meteoric rise from many angles. He has since reported widely across Asia (including several times in North Korea), Africa, Europe and Latin America. Max has won a World Press Photo Award, been supported by organizations including Pulitzer, and is an alumnus of Yaddo and Logan Nonfiction programs. Made in Ethiopia is his feature documentary debut.

Charlotte Goodburn is Reader in Chinese Politics and Development and Deputy Director of the Lau China Institute, King’s College London. She is also attached to the Department of International Development at King’s. Before starting at King’s, she was a post-doctoral researcher in the Centre of Development Studies at the University of Cambridge. Dr Goodburn’s research and teaching engages with the politics of internal migration; urbanisation; the comparative development of India and China; and the movement of policies and “models” into and out of China. She completed her PhD in the Department of Land Economy at Cambridge and has a BA Hons (in History) and an MPhil (in Contemporary Chinese Studies), also from the University of Cambridge.

Linda Calabrese is a Senior Research Fellow at ODI Global and a Leverhulme Doctoral Fellow at the Lau China Institute. A development economist by training, her research focuses on China’s economic footprint in low- and middle-income countries, and Africa-China relations; and industrialisation and economic transformation. Linda works at the intersection between research and policy, and has spent years working in East Africa before moving to London. Linda has authored numerous journal articles and reports, and has recently edited a special issue on “The Belt and Road and dynamics of structural transformation” for the European Journal of Development Research.

Please contact lauchina@kcl.ac.uk if you have any questions or specific participatory requirements.