A god-king on 1960s Italian TV. What could possibly go wrong?
First portrait of Negus Hailé Selassié made by Italian television. The descendant of the Solomonid lineage, the last emperor of Ethiopia, forced into exile by the fascist invasion between 1936 and 1941, when he returned to his country after the liberation of the Allied Forces. In 1965 Selassié, considered a new messiah for Rastafarianism, was still in office, the empire of Ethiopia ending in 1974, a year before his death. (1965)
Production
Bizarre 1965 Italian TV aesthetic meeting ancient imperial ritual
Direction
Tuzii's fawning gaze vs. Selassie's absolute unbothered energy
Director
Carlo Tuzii
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Selassie never actually claimed to be divine—Rastafarians declared him the Messiah despite his denials. This documentary captures him at peak reluctant-god status.
The 1965 broadcast aired while Selassie's actual power was already crumbling; the documentary's reverence feels almost satirical in hindsight. He would be overthrown by Marxist military officers nine years later.
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