Becoming Black (2019)

10/09/2019 (DE) • 1h 31m

Documentary

Overview

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.


Recommendations

Succubus

94%

Star Trek Into Darkness

73%

Scooby-Doo's Spookiest Tales

99%

Hero

64%

The Way to the Heart

99%

Scooby-Doo: Agence toutou risques, vol. 2 : Le fantôme de la télé

98%

Sonic Youth: Koncertas Stan Brakhage Prisiminimui (April 12, 2003)

50%

Fantozzi Against the Wind

67%

Marvel Studios: Assembling a Universe

69%

Kill Shot

87%

But Muzeyyen That's the Deepest Desire

65%

American Pie: Revealed

60%

Allegiant

61%

Jack the Giant Slayer

59%

Six: Inside

85%

Frontera

58%

The Crow: Salvation

55%

Max Payne

54%

X-Men: The Last Stand

64%

The Wolf of Wall Street

80%

Status

Released

Original Language

German

Budget

-

Revenue

-

Keywords

berlin, germany

biography

afro-german

togo

black perspective

ddr

© All Rights Reserved 2025