Marie-Hélène Gutberlet grew up in Germany, Benin and Switzerland. She graduated in history of art, philosophy and film studies at the Frankfurt University. In 2004, she published her dissertation, Auf Reisen, Afrikanisches Kino (African Cinema on the Road), which focuses on intercultural aspects of perception in African cinemas. She has largely published on, organised conferences about and programmed African and black cinema, and experimental and documentary film. After many years in academia, she is now working as a freelance writer and curator. (from http://shoeshopproject.co.za/participants/)
Gutberlet was artistic director of the film archival project Visionary Archive together with Tobias Hering from 2013-2015, with public stations in Berlin, Bissau/Guinea-Bissau, Johannesburg, Cairo/Egypt and Khartoum/Sudan. Furthermore, in 2017 she co-initiated the festival Cours, cours, camarade, le vieux Monde est derrière toi - The Cinema of Med Hondo in Berlin and is co-editor of the forthcoming two-volume publication. Since 2017, she has been developing the project Women on Aeroplanes with Annett Busch, with stops in Berlin, Lagos/Nigeria, Bayreuth/Germany, London/UK, Warsaw/Poland and Frankfurt am Main. Here, different formats emerge that address the disproportion of engagement and visibility of women in African independence movements - not to highlight individual achievements, but out of interest for the processes, methods and economies of a long history of transcontinental, transcultural practice.