David Bakum, Germany

Laura Della Corte interviews David Bakum, German ambassador at the 2024 edition of 27 Times Cinema at Venezia 81.

Over the past years this project gave the opportunity to 27 young film-lovers, selected through the cinemas of the Europa Cinemas Network, to represent each of the 27 European Countries at the Mostra Internazionale d’Arte Cinematografica.

After the project’s cancellation it’s been decided to form a smaller group of 10 young professionals of cinema chosen among the participants of the previous years, to act as jurors for Giornate degli Autori.

Since October 2022, David Bakum have built up the “Narrative Change Academy” for the Young Islam Conference in Germany, crafting a social media campaign that highlights positive narratives about Islam in Europe and conducted workshops on narratology in film, with a focus on Afro-Futurism and queer cinema.
Since October 2023, David has been curating and organising the short and feature film programme for the XPOSED Queer Film Festival in Berlin. Next to the international and local queer and experimental film programme, David is also in charge of several special events, including an event on queer-Palestinian poetry films and a screening and panel about films by queer-Russian activists.
In December 2023 David co-founded a Jewish-Muslim film collective, based in Berlin, organising exchanges between film creatives from Jewish and Muslim communities, and curating film screenings about Jewish-Muslim topics.
At the European Film Awards 2023, David worked in the Guest Coordination Team, taking care of the nominees and winners of the Best Animated Features and Shorts. Currently, and David co-founding an organisation that promote a cultural exchange between Eastern and Western Europe, by first establishing a community cinema and hub in Budapest. Consequently, they will develop a production company with a focus on enabling collaborations specifically between Western and Eastern European countries. Moreover, David volunteering at the Palestinian Film Festival in Edinburgh, creating a European Film Podcast for master thesis, delving into the history and impact of European cinema while providing a platform for interviews with diverse voices in the European film industry.

Listen to the interview in german: