Becoming Black
Becoming Black

Movie·2019·1h 31m

Becoming Black

Country

Germany

Language

German

CineAI Pitch

Why watch this?

Tap below for a spoiler-free 3-bullet take.

// overview

The Story

In the 1960s, a white couple living in East Germany tells their dark-skinned child that her skin color is merely a coincidence. As a teenager, she accidentally discovers the truth. Years before, a group of African men came to study in a village nearby. Sigrid, an East German woman, fell in love with Lucien from Togo and became pregnant. But she was already married to Armin. The child is Togolese-East German filmmaker Ines Johnson-Spain. In interviews with Armin and others from her childhood years, she tracks the astonishing strategies of denial her parents, striving for normality, developed following her birth. What sounds like fieldwork about social dislocation becomes an autobiographical essay film and a reflection on themes such as identity, social norms and family ties, viewed from a very personal perspective.

Producer

Anahita Nazemi, Katrin Sandmann

Editor

Yana Höhnerbach

Themes

berlin, germanybiographyafro-germantogoblack perspectivegdr

Production House

ZDF
Kobalt Productions

Audience Score

60%

2 votes

Skip14%
Timepass32%
Go for it36%
Perfection18%

Where to watch

Region: US

Streaming data via JustWatch / TMDB. Click a provider to open in TMDB.

// cast

Cast

Ines Johnson-Spain

Self

Armin Gundermann

Self

Madeleine Papangou Johnson

Self

Germaine Papangou Johnson

Self

Geneviève Papangou Johnson

Self

Irène Papangou Johnson

Self

Christel Anders

Self

Werner Anders

Self

Rosi Judisch

Self

Christophe Kuessi Johnson

Self

Michael Gundermann

Self

Raymond Johnson

Self

Perpétue Johnson

Self

Asiaba Johnson

Self

Gisela Mwaungulu

Self

Ernst Hoffmann

Self

Robert Kuessi Johnson

Self

Ruben Kweku Dabam Johnson

Self

// crew

Crew

Ines Johnson-Spain

Director, Writer

Anahita Nazemi

Producer

Yana Höhnerbach

Editor

Katrin Sandmann

Executive Producer

Stefan Mathieu

Executive Producer

// more like this

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