PANEL RETHINKING HEROINES – VISIBILITY, BEAUTY AND POWER IN AFRICAN AND DIASPORIC CINEMA
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PANEL RETHINKING HEROINES – VISIBILITY, BEAUTY AND POWER IN AFRICAN AND DIASPORIC CINEMA
For a long time, heroic figures in global cinema were constructed according to Western, often white, cis-heteronormative and physically normalized standards. In African and Afro-diasporic cinema, however, a new generation of filmmakers is focusing on marginalized identities: Black queer bodies, non-normative beauty, resistant narratives. This panel is dedicated to the questions of visibility, representation and power: Which beauty norms are also at work within African cinema – and how can they be broken down? Who is allowed to be a hero on screen – and who remains invisible? Which forgotten heroes deserve visibility? Together we will discuss how African cinema is redefining heroines today–- beyond colonial narratives and patriarchal ideals.
Cooperation: Kunsthochschule für Medien Köln (KHM), DW Akademie, KIOSK – Arts Exchange e. V.
Language: English
PANEL RETHINKING HEROINES – VISIBILITY, BEAUTY AND POWER IN AFRICAN AND DIASPORIC CINEMA , ,
Guests
Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor is a London based producer and writer-director born in Nigeria. She founded Joi Productions in 2016. In 2019, she produced BLUE STORY, which became the highest-grossing film of its genre. That same year, she was recognised as a Screen International Star of Tomorrow and a BAFTA Breakthrough. In 2021, she produced Aml Ameen’s rom-com debut BOXING DAY, the UK’s first all-Black Christmas film. In 2022 Joy produced CHAMPION for BBC and Netflix. In 2024, she made her debut as a writer-director with DREAMERS, backed by BBC Film. The film premiered at the 75th Berlinale Film Festival in 2025, earning a Teddy Award nomination for Best Feature Film.
Based in Kisangani in the DR Congo, the city where he grew up, Derhwa Kasunzu tells stories from home, with words and for the past few years with images. As versatility is a necessity in the precarious context of the DRC, he trained at Kabako Studios in documentary writing but also in sound and image cinematographic technics, as well as in post-production. His path is shaped through encounters, with Faustin Linyekula, artistic director of Studios Kabako, with Gaël Teicher, producer and scriptwriter, the filmmaker Miguel Munha, and the Congolese filmmakers Franck Moka and Dieudo Hamadi. In 2018 he directed his first film INKERSON. His first documentary CATCHER (2024) won the Samba Félix N'Diaye Award for Best First Documentary at Fespaco 2025.
Adama Bineta Sow holds an MBA in project management and is fascinated by cinema. In 2015, she directed her first short film AVEUGLÉ PAR UNE AVEUGLE, which was part of the official selection of the Espace Junior du FESPACO 2017. In 2019, she made her second short film À NOUS LA TABASKI, which was screened and awarded at various festivals: It won the prize for best short film at the Fontenay-le-Fleury Women's Film Festival and a special mention from the jury at the NouakShort Film Festival. At FESPACO 2025, she presented her feature film debut TIMPA TAMPA and received an honorable mention in the “Perspectives” section and is one of a number of Afro-feminist filmmakers who are asking a fundamental question: Who has the right to tell our stories?