A white couple living in the German Democratic Republic, tells their Black child that its skin color is purely by chance and has no meaning. This is what happened to a girl in East Berlin in the 1960s.
Years before, a group of African men came to study in a village nearby. Here the East German woman Sigrid falls in love with Lucien from Togo and gets pregnant. But she is already married to Armin.
The child is filmmaker Ines Johnson-Spain.
BECOMING BLACK tells the true story of a dark-skinned child living in East-Germany that has been told by its white parents that her skin color is a mere coincidence and that it's of no importance. Until one day as a teenager, the daughter accidentally finds out the truth.
The child is filmmaker Ines Johnson-Spain. Meeting her stepfather Armin and others from her childhood years, she tracks the astonishing strategies of denial her parents and the surroundings had developed. In an intimate portrayal but also critical exploration she brings together painful and confusing childhood memories with matter-of-fact accounts that testify a culture of rejection and tight-lipped denial. Yet, the movingly warm encounters with her Togolese family develop BECOMING BLACK also into a reflection on themes such as identity, social norms and family ties, seen from a very personal perspective.
A film by Ines JOHNSON-SPAIN
Germany, 2019, Documentary, 1h31 min., Portrait, French, English
ORIGINAL TITLE
Becoming Black
YEAR
2019
GENRE
Documentary, Portrait
DURATION
91 min.
ORIGINAL LANGUAGE
French, English
COUNTRY
Germany
DIRECTOR
Ines Johnson-Spain
SCREENWRITER
Ines Johnson-Spain
PRODUCTION
Kobalt Documentaries GmbH
DISTRIBUTION
Rushlake Media GmbH
Breite Str. 48-50
50667 Cologne, Germany
Available Rights
VOD Rights
Cinema Rights Comprehensive
Book a Screening
https://rushlake-africa.com/portfolio-items/becoming-black/
Festivals & Awards
IDFA Official Selection 2019 (Netherland)
International Womens Film Festival Cologne/ Dortmund 2020 (Germany)
won: The jury Award (The Diaspora Competition), at Luxor African Film Festival 2021 (Egypt)
Screening dates | Festivals | Awards
SCREENINGDATES
TV
ZDF - Kleines Fernsehspiel / Mediathek
3SAT + Phönix
AL Jazeera "Witness" - short version
festivals
WORLD PREMIERE - INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FILMFESTIVAL AMSTERDAM - IDFA - November 2019
GERMAN PREMIERE - INTERNATIONALES FRAUENFILMFESTIVAL DORTMUND/KÖLN - September 2020
BERLIN PREMIERE - ACHTUNG BERLIN - NEW BERLIN FILM AWARD - September 2020
cinema (recent - canceled due to Covid)
08.06. - 19:30 KOMMUNALES KINO Freiburg - mit Filmgespräch
13.06. - 19:30 KOMMUNALES KINO Freiburg
More FESTIVALS
March 2020 - Festival International de Films de Femmes de Créteil, France - cancelled
14.9. - 18.9. Quibdo Africa Film Festival, Colombia online
01.10. - 02.10. Human Rights Film Festival Nürnberg, Germany
07.10. - 13.10. Festival du Cinéallemand France, Goethe Institut Paris
07.10. - 10.10. EINS ZU EINS - Festival für Theater, Performance, Fine Arts, Film... Berlin
08.10. - 10.10. iAfrica Film Festival The Hague, Netherland
11.10. - 27.10. Institut de l'image Aix-en-provence, France
18.10. - 23.10. PRIX - European Broadcasting Festival, Germany
30.10. - 08.11. Royal African Society's FILM AFRICA /BFI Southbank Theatre London
20.11. -29.11. The No Direct Flight Nairobi film season, Kenya - online
23. 11. German Cinema Now! Seattle, Goethe Institut, USA - online
24.11. Out of Africa International Film Festival Nairobi, Kenya - online
25.11. - 5.12. Aux Écrans du Réel - Asso Chroma, Le Mans, France cancelled
29.11. Crocevia di Sguardi, Italy - online
05.12. - 11.12. Film Festival LagunImages, Cotonou (Benin)
20.01. - 26.01. KINO-Mostra de Cinema de Expressão Alemã, Portugal, hybrid
25.03. - 31.03. Luxor African Film Festival, Egypt
01.04. -18.04. AFI New African Film Festival at Silver Theatre, USA - online
02.06. -05.06. Ramsgate International Film & TV Festival, UK
AWARDS / NOMINATIONS
NOMINATION at AFRICA MOVIE ACADEMY AWARDs (AMAA, Nigeria) 2020 for BEST DOCUMENTARY
NOMINATION at AFRICA MOVIE ACADEMY AWARDs 2020 for BEST DOCUMENTARY DIASPORA
WINNER at AFRICA MOVIE ACADEMY AWARDs 2020 BEST DOCUMENTARY DIASPORA (AMAA, Nigeria)
NOMINATION for PRIX EUROPA 2020 BEST DOCUMENTARY - TV
NOMINATION AUDIENCE AWARD at MOSTRA DE CINEMA DE EXPRESSÃO ALEMÃ, Portugal
NOMINATION BEST DOCUMENTARY 2020 by ASSOCIATION of GERMAN FILM CRITICS
WINNER at COMPETITION BEST DOCUMENTARY DIASPORA, at LUXOR AFRICAN FILM FESTIVAL 2021 (Egypt)
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