Fiche Film
Cinéma/TV
LONG Métrage | 2019
Becoming Black
Pays concerné : Togo
Durée : 91 minutes
Genre : portrait
Type : documentaire
Site web : becomingblack.de

Français

Un couple blanc vivant en RDA (République Démocratique Allemande) raconte à leur enfant noir que sa couleur de peau est purement fortuite et n’a aucun sens. C’est ce qui est arrivé à une fille de Berlin-Est dans les années 1960.
Des années auparavant, un groupe d’hommes africains est venu étudier dans un village voisin. Ici, la femme est-allemande Sigrid tombe amoureuse de Lucien du Togo et tombe enceinte. Mais elle est déjà mariée à Armin.
L’enfant est la cinéaste Ines Johnson-Spain.

BECOMING BLACK (« Devenir Noire ») raconte l’histoire vraie d’une enfant à la peau sombre vivant en Allemagne de l’Est à laquelle ses parents blancs ont dit que sa couleur de peau était une simple coïncidence et que cette couleur n’avait aucune importance. Jusqu’au jour où, adolescente, la fille découvre accidentellement la vérité.

L’enfant est la cinéaste Ines Johnson-Spain. Rencontrant son beau-père Armin et d’autres personnes de son enfance, elle retrace les étonnantes stratégies de déni que ses parents et l’environnement avaient développées. Dans un portrait intime mais aussi une exploration critique, elle associe des souvenirs d’enfance douloureux et déroutants à des récits concrets qui témoignent d’une culture de rejet et de ferme déni. Pourtant, les rencontres chaleureuses et émouvantes avec sa famille togolaise transforment BECOMING BLACK aussi en une réflexion sur des thèmes tels que l’identité, les normes sociales et les liens familiaux, vus d’un point de vue très personnel.

Un film d’Ines JOHNSON-ESPAGNE

Allemagne / Togo, 2019, Documentaire, 1h31 min., Portrait, français / anglais



TITRE ORIGINAL :
BECOMING BLACK

ANNÉE :
2019

TYPE :
Documentaire

GENRE :
Portrait

DURÉE :
91 min.

LANGUES ORIGINALES :
Français & anglais

PAYS :
Allemagne

RÉALISATRICE :
Ines Johnson-Spain

SCÉNARISTE :
Ines Johnson-Espagne

PRODUCTION :
Kobalt Documentaries GmbH

DISTRIBUTION :
Rushlake Media GmbH
Breite Str. 48-50
50667 Cologne, Allemagne

Droits disponibles :
Droits VOD
Droits cinématographiques complets

Réserver une projection
https://rushlake-africa.com/portfolio-items/becoming-black/

Festivals et récompenses
Sélection officielle IDFA 2019 (Pays-Bas)
International Womens Film Festival Cologne / Dortmund 2020 (Allemagne)
Gagnant : Prix du jury (The Diaspora Competition), au Luxor African Film Festival 2021 (Egypte)

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)

English

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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