AFRIKAMERA 2025: WORKSHOP
Representation Meets Resources: Power to Self-Determination
Practical strategies for funding and authentic storytelling in film and art – an exchange of views
A workshop for female and queer filmmakers in cooperation with ProQuote Film and members of Schwarze Filmschaffende e.V.
DO 13 NOV 2025
14:00-17:00
HEINRICH-BÖLL-STIFTUNG
How can filmmakers and artists create authentic, self-determined work while navigating the realities of funding and production? In this workshop, Svenja Heinrichs shares practical insights on funding strategies and international co-producing. Together with Lena Whooo, participants will then explore questions of representation and self-determination through an interactive, hands-on session that combines reflection, dialogue, and creative journaling.
Part of the AFRIKAMERA Festival 2025, this workshop invites artists, filmmakers, and cultural practitioners to exchange experiences, challenge existing structures, and develop empowering approaches to storytelling and resource access.
Participation is by invitation only.
Svenja Heinrichs is an author, director, and producer from Mainz. She studied film directing at the Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF and has been working as a freelance director and author ever since. Her projects deal with overcoming fears, depicting interpersonal conflicts, emancipation, and the development of social beings in an antisocial society. She is involved with ProQuote Film, a film policy association that promotes gender equality, diversity, and inclusion in the film and television industry.
Lena WhooWhoo is an Afro-German actor, author, and activist who works between Berlin and New York. In 2025, Lena co-founded the media platform DRUCK and, together with the BIPOC Alliance, organized the community program and party for the BIPOC Alliance for Black Filmmakers e.V. at the Berlinale. Lena also curates the film program THE BLACK GAZE at the Interfilm Festival and hosts events such as TEDx Youth Munich, GEMSNEXTDOOR, various film festivals, and more. Lena’s debut book, un fulfilled (Novum Verlag, 2022), deals with themes of identity and freedom, while the “Write to Heal” workshops empower QTIBIPOC participants to initiate change and amplify the voices of the Black community.