Philemon’s Photographs or Through an African Lens, Laura Horelli, Philemon Sheya Kaluwapa, Germany, Finland 2023, 29', German, English, Oshiwambo with English subtitles

Followed by a conversation in English with Laura Horelli, Philemon Sheya Kaluwapa and Paz Guevara

Philemon Sheya Kaluwapa was trained as a photo technician at Foto DEWAG in Berlin in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). He received a scholarship from the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), which supported the South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO) in its struggle against the South African apartheid regime. The artist Laura Horelli and Philemon Sheya Kaluwapa initially met through Horelli’s previous work Namibia Today and have continued discussions ever since. Kaluwapa asked Horelli whether she could help him write his memoir. Horelli answered that she could not write a classical book, but she could try to develop biographical fragments into a film. From here, the authors developed a film, set in a photo studio to mirror the original setting of the photographs that Kaluwapa shot in Berlin. The film takes on several narrative strands, including Kaluwapa’s interest in how he could best use the medium to portray different people and his experiences in the African diaspora and the Cold War—particularly his pivotal decision to flee from East to West Berlin.