Berlinale’s EFM launches Toolbox Distribution Academy for African distributors

The Berlinale’s European Film Market (EFM) has launched a three-year training and networking programme for film distributors from Africa.

The EFM said th Toolbox Distribution Academy is designed to empower a generation of film distributors across Africa.

The programme will train seven to 10 African professionals annually through a five-week residency in Europe culminating in participation in the Berlinale’s EFM.

Participating in the Toolbox Distribution Academy 2026 are: Eden Tigabu, Ethiopa; Ivy Wangui Muiruri, Kenya; Julie Nguyo, Kenya; Kelvin Osoo, Kenya; Inès Girihirwe, Rwanda; Everbright Everready, Tanzania; Semulema Daniel, Uganda.

The trainees will also participate in several B2B events, including the international Film Distribution Summit IFDS during Filmfest Hamburg and DOK Leipzig in the first year with potentially other events in the second year.

Joint initiative 

The EFM Toolbox Distribution Academy is a joint initiative designed with Torsten Frehse and Fabian Massah, building on their 2024 pilot project AEDA (the African-European Distribution Academy).

The academy will expand on the EFM Toolbox Producers Programme, which will continue to offer training to German and international film producers from underrepresented groups.

Massah, Frehse and newly-appointed Toolbox Programme head Sata Cissokho will co-curate the programme together, which will in future operate under the umbrella of the European Film Market (EFM).

 “While significant resources and initiatives are already dedicated to the production of films in the Global South – often as co-productions with European partners – there remains a critical lack of continuous distribution infrastructures in many African markets,” said Cissokho. 

”This gap limits local audiences’ access to stories that reflect their own realities, and reduces the potential for European films to find new audiences in Africa. More than a one-size-fits-all approach, our ambition with the Toolbox Distribution Academy is to provide the participants with result oriented practical tools and share knowledge that they will then be able to adapt to their local realities.”

The initiative is mainly supported through the Creative Europe Media 360° funding scheme, but also through Medienboard Berlin Brandenburg, MOIN Filmförderung Hamburg, Neue Visionen Filmverleih, GIZ – German Agency for International Cooperation, FilmfestHamburg, European Work in Progress (EWIP), DOK Leipzig and the Goethe Institute Addis Abeba, as well as by many local independent distributors and world sales companies.

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