Distribution executives from Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Ghana and Zambia are the latest cohort of African professionals to participate in the EFM Toolbox Distribution Academy, which is taking place this week at FilmFest Hamburg Industry Days from September 29-October 1.
The EFM Toolbox Distribution Academy is a training and networking programme aimed at empowering a generation of film distributors across Africa.
The nine participants in this year’s training and networking programme are:
- Emmanuel Mwape, Zambian writer-director, founder of Delicama Film Productions and Chawama Theatre Club, and director of the Zambia Short Film Festival
- Gloria Nkatha, Kenyan film marketing strategist, distributor and film critic with her podcast Talk Film To Me
- Habibi Diliwa (aka Ha Bib), Tanzanian filmmaker, author and poet, festival director of the Kilimanjaro Film Festival and curator at the Ajabu Ajabu Audiovisual House
- Dancurf Brown, Kenyan writer-director whose credits include the feature films Terrorists (2025) and A Family Portrait (2024)
- Ivan Tusabe, Ugandan writer-director-producer who founded Ewaka Cine Films and made his breakthrough in the Ugandan film industry as part of the writing team of the TV series Kyaddala.
- Mihiret Worede Woldeeyesus, Ethiopian producer also active in sales and distribution and selected as one of the participants of this year’s Cannes Makers programme.
- Michelle Abuti, Nairobi-based founder of Singano, aimed at increasing the visibility and access to African cinema.
- Najilau Dramundu Atta Abdul Karim, Ghanaian filmmaker, creative director of 9th March Studios, and computer programmer for film tech platform DramunduOS.
- Hiwot Muluneh, from Videobet Cinema, Ethiopia’s first arthouse cinema and film centre, which opened its doors last February in Addis Abeba
During their week’s stay in Hamburg, the nine participants have attended the European Work in Progress (EWIP), which wrapped yesterday (September 29), and are at the International Film Distribution Summit (IFDS), which runs until October 1.
They are also meeting FilmFest director Malika Rabahallah and MOIN CEO Helge Albers.
The programme’s five-week residency in Germany then continues in Berlin, where they will have opportunities to learn the nuts and bolts of film distribution from representatives of companies such as Neue Visionen, Pluto Film and Films Boutique before making a final stop at DOK Leipzig at the end of October to get a taste of the workings of an international film festival.
Next February will see the delegation returning to Germany to also take part in a programme of activities offered by the Berlinale’s European Film Market (EFM).
Gloria Nkatha said the Toolbox Academy is a chance to learn more about audience development and audience design and “then see what we can implement back in our own market,” which she said only has 45 screens across the country.
“It’s already been an incredibly eye-opening experience during our time in Hamburg to see the diverse ways distributors follow in their work. We’re here to learn best practices from Germany and the rest of Europe,” said Hiwot Muluneh, pointing out that it would be “a natural progression” for Ethiopia’s Videobet Cinema to also move into distribution in the future.
Initially launched as a pilot project in 2024 as the African-European Distribution Academy (AEDA), the initiative was renamed at the end of last year as EFM Toolbox Distribution Academy and brought under the umbrella of the Berlinale’s EFM.
It has support from Creative Europe MEDIA, the German regional funds MBB and MOIN, Neue Visionen, German Agency for International Cooperation, FilmFest Hamburg, DOK Leipzig, and the Goethe-Institut.
The first cohort to take part in the programme in 2024 subsequently banded together to release Damien Hauser’s Kenyan-Swiss sci-fi mockumentary film Memories Of Princess Mumbi in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia and Rwanda.
A further 2024 alumnus, Semagngeta Aychiluhem, was in Hamburg this week as the Ethiopian producer of Josh Leong and Abel Engedayehu’s drama Lost Boys, which was presented as one of the EWIP works in progress.
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