Opened at the cusp of Africa’s defining 1960s by the controversial Emperor Haile Selassie, the Hilton Addis Ababa today stands as a grand hotel much like any other. Staying in the hotel in Ethiopia’s sprawling capital, Ruth Beckermann delves into the country’s thorny past and present, navigating between the familiar and the foreign, fact and fiction. As her search for historical truth unfolds—layered with contradictions—she blends archival footage featuring the Emperor with present-day conversations inside the hotel and her own reflections as a European woman. Outside, meanwhile, the hotel’s opulence starkly contrasts with the city’s unvarnished reality: queues of workers stretch for metres at bus stops, while the skeletons of high-rises await future development.