Gabriele C. Sindler, Tsitsi Dangarembga

INFILTRATING FILM BUSINESS WITH BOTHO & UBUNTU: Intercontinental & Intercultural Collaboration Between Africa & Europe –A Successful Model in Practice & Theory

DFK FILMS, Switzerland, Institute of Creative Arts for Progress in Africa, Zimbabwe

The world is in search of new ideas as to how we can progress as humanity. So far, African
films have contributed little to this discourse. Humanity and all that is associated with
humanity can only benefit from engaging with the knowledge of non-dominant imaginaries
presented in their narratives, which cinematic narratives. Every successful film is based on a
great script. The story, the characters and their universe, the topics/subjects and every other
aspect must be fully worked-out AND fully adapted to the specifications of the 7th art. The
result must have the potential to impress audiences on more than just one continent.
Gabriele C. Sindler – amongst Europe’s experienced script analysts and consultants – supports
Tstisi Dangarembga in her tireless work for female filmmakers on the African continent.
Dangarembga’s Harare-based ICAPA Trust launched a pan-African training program for
female-dominated creative teams: Script Analysis | Story & Script Writing | From Script to
Production & Distribution. Up to now the workshops were attended by participants from
Botswana, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Kenia, Ruanda, Nigeria, São Tomé und Príncipe, Côte
d’Ivoire, Egypt.

Tstisi Dangarembga and Gabriele Sindler reflect on their practical efforts in the development
of African scripts and films by systematically and methodically analyzing their intercultural
African-European cooperation. Artistically well presented, relevant content to broad
audiences all over the world will guarantee the survival of the 7th art.

COO of DFK FILMS LLC and manager of dfkscriptservice. Master of Political Science at the
Free University Berlin and diploma at the German Film & TV Academy Berlin (DFFB). Further
training and specialized in Story and Script Consulting.

Gabriele Sindler is a board member of the German Screenwriting Guild, experienced guest
lecturer at film schools, universities, masterclasses, and jury member.

The internationally operating Swiss-based DFK FILMS | dfkscriptservice has an expertise of
more than 3000 script analyses. Based on concrete needs in film production, domestic and
worldwide distribution, and financing DFK FILMS offers analysis, evaluation, and improvement
of scripts. The basic tool is the newly developed and approved technique: the Story-Step-Outline
(SSO) | *40-Steps-Method. The method is the basic step to a psychoanalytical approach to the
writer’s intentions. For many years, Gabriele Sindler worked with this highly objectifying method
for current film projects as well as for classics in teaching.

The author, director an activist Tsitsi Dangarembga lives and works in Zimbabwe, USA, and
Germany. She attended Cambridge University and Sidney Sussex College before studying
psychology at the University of Zimbabwe and screenwriting and directing at the German
Television Academy Berlin. She held several university chairs and residencies in Europe, Africa
and North America. Tsitsi Dangarembga co-founded the Institute of Creative Arts for Progress in
Africa (ICAPA) Trust in 2009. ICAPA Trust facilitates, produces, and trains in the production of
innovative products across a spectrum of narrative genres. In 2003, she founded the International
Film Festival for Women in Harare, Zimbabwe, a festival that screens films featuring female
protagonists and offers training programmes. Her film production company Nyerai Films was
established in 1992. Dangarembga has been on the juries of Africa’s and Europe’s most
prestigious film festivals. Currently, Dangarembga works on several of her film scripts and her
forthcoming young adult dystopian speculative fiction. Her literary works include the collection
of essays Black and Female, and the Tambudzai Trilogy comprising of Nervous Conditions, The
Book of Not and This Mournable Body, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2020. In 2021,
she was awarded the Pen Award for Freedom of Expression, the Pen Pinter Prize and the Peace
Prize of the German Book Trade. In 2022, she was awarded the Windham-Campbell Prize for
fiction.