Trivia

Although called Haile, his formal given name is Mypheduh, which was given to him by his father; the name Mypheduh in the Ge'ez language means "sacred shield of culture."

When no major film distribution company would distribute his film Sankofa (1993), he literally took his film to thirty-five different cities--one at a time--and ended up grossing nearly US$3 million; his company Mypheduh Films was created to distribute his films on all media and the films of other Black filmmakers who have difficulty finding distributors.

Gerima's native tongue is Ge'ez, one of the more than 70 languages found in Ethiopia.

His father was a director of a theater group, of which young Haile was a member, in Ethiopia; and his mother was a schoolteacher.