The film Alles wird gut was groundbreaking when it was first broadcast on German television in 1998 in that it was the first German comedy film to feature non-white protagonists; that the plot is driven by a lesbian love story between two Afro-German women makes the film even more remarkable. Directed by Angelina Maccarone and co-written with Fatima El-Tayeb, the film was commissioned by NDR for television broadcast as part of its ‘Wilde Herzen’ series and was premiered at the New York Lesbian and Gay Film Festival in 1997. (Source: Leila Mukhida)
Germany in the early 1990s: Racist caricatures, picture books and advertisements circulate within popular culture and are consumed by white audiences without second thought. In school playgrounds and classrooms, racist games and songs are part of everyday life. Filmmaker Wanjiru Kinyanjui and her interviewee Tsitsi Dangarembga analyse these supposed gags in a cool, detached fashion despite the traumatising violence of the images they contain. These scenes are cross-cut with others showing two men from Malawi and Namibia discussing right-wing extremism in Germany and encouraging Black people in Europe to fight against racism and neocolonialism. The film also examines Eurocentric ignorance about African art or the dark chapter of Germany’s colonial period. Back in the spotlight after an extended slumber in the archives, BLACK IN THE WESTERN WORLD uses interviews to deliver a sharp critique of racist as well as capitalist structures. Made while Kinyanjui was studying at the German Film and Television Academy (DFFB), the film raises awareness, strengthens and emboldens. (Can Sungu)
