Since its debut in 2022 at the Seattle International Film Festival, Know Your Place has won over a dozen awards in 5 countries, and has been embraced by the members of the Garfield Community. The film follows two teenage boys and a suitcase on a stirring journey across Seattle’s Habesha community, a group of Eritrean and Ethiopian-Americans. Their adventure is surrounded by beautifully rendered scenes that show the city from all angles, embracing Seattle but not idealizing it. The larger story is about people finding their places in a rapidly changing city in the midst of gentrification.
Award winning short film director, Zia Mohajerjasbi has also previously directed music videos for celebrities like Macklemore and Jake One. Know Your Place, however, is Mohajerjasbi’s first full-length feature film, a big step forward in his career. Its subject matter allowed him to use elements of his experience growing up in Seattle in an immigrant community. His own Persian-American heritage–rather than making him an outsider–helped him relate to the Habesha community.
Mohajerjasbi created a narrative that celebrates real people he has made connections with. He made that narrative truly authentic by going out and recruiting real members of the community to appear in the movie. For several of the actors, including both of the leads, this was their first on screen experience, playing characters with lives like their own. Selamawit Gebresus was initially hesitant to play Amuna, the mother of one of the leads, because Mohajerjasbi had unintentionally created someone so uncannily similar to herself. On its lengthy international festival tour, Know Your Place demonstrated that this story has a universal appeal able to connect with first-generation peoples from many different immigrant backgrounds.
Garfield English teacher Mark Lovre recommends Know Your Place to bulldogs. “It’s totally worth the watch because the people in it are like people you go to school with.” Lovre said. At one point he was almost able to convince himself that one of the actors was a student he had taught several years ago. The connections the movie has to GHS are not just emotional but physical too. The two main characters are played by Garfield graduates, and the Garfield building itself makes a background appearance. Perhaps more importantly, Know Your Place has a strong focus on gentrification and race, as well as taking its time to appreciate Seattle’s many neighborhoods. That is what makes it a real Seattle movie, a story that we all know ourselves to be a part of.
Visit knowyourplacefilm.com for information about showtimes, and the film’s upcoming digital release.
Graphics by Seán Kelleher
