Backdrop image for movie Becoming Black

Becoming Black (2019)

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.

  • Documentary

Top billed cast

  • Photo of Ines Johnson-SpainInes Johnson-SpainSelf
  • Photo of Armin GundermannArmin GundermannSelf
  • Photo of Madeleine Papangou JohnsonMadeleine Papangou JohnsonSelf
  • Photo of Germaine Papangou JohnsonGermaine Papangou JohnsonSelf
  • Photo of Geneviève Papangou JohnsonGeneviève Papangou JohnsonSelf
  • Photo of Irène Papangou JohnsonIrène Papangou JohnsonSelf
  • Photo of Christel AndersChristel AndersSelf
  • Photo of Werner AndersWerner AndersSelf
  • Photo of Rosi JudischRosi JudischSelf
  • Photo of Christophe Kuessi JohnsonChristophe Kuessi JohnsonSelf

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