Becoming Black

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Becoming Black (2019)

Directed by Ines Johnson-Spain

Documentary · 1h 31m

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.

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Cast

I
Ines Johnson-Spain Self
A
Armin Gundermann Self
M
Madeleine Papangou Johnson Self
G
Germaine Papangou Johnson Self
G
Geneviève Papangou Johnson Self
I
Irène Papangou Johnson Self
C
Christel Anders Self
W
Werner Anders Self
R
Rosi Judisch Self
C
Christophe Kuessi Johnson Self
M
Michael Gundermann Self
R
Raymond Johnson Self

Crew

Director
Ines Johnson-Spain
Writer
Ines Johnson-Spain
Editor
Yana Höhnerbach
Producer
Anahita Nazemi

Details

Release date
2019-10-09
Runtime
1h 31m
Genres
Documentary
Original language
DE
Spoken languages
German, French
Countries
Germany
Production
ZDF, Kobalt Productions