Queen Lateefah - Box Office Around The World 2025

In the organizer's words:

On two weekends in August, the Schlüterhof becomes a meeting place for film enthusiasts from all over the world - with summery drinks and snacks. The open-air festival presents six current cinema productions that are box office hits in their countries of origin but have not yet been shown on the big screen in Germany. Before the screenings, we invite you to thematic spotlights to get you in the mood - with prominent guests!

The release of every major film production is accompanied by great anxiety and guesswork: will audiences buy into the story told, the star constellation and the film language and flock to the cinema in droves?

Box Office Around The World is a film festival that aims to unravel this mystery from the audience's perspective. Unlike Hollywood productions, which are designed for the global market, "box office hits" from other regions of the world often provide surprising insights into what moves people in Lagos, Buenos Aires or Bangkok. The Schlüterhof is located in the heart of Berlin - and surrounded by collections from many cultures around the world.

Over two weekends in August, the Box Office Around the World festival presents six current cinema productions that are audience successes and box office hits in their countries of origin, but have not yet been shown on the big screen in Germany.

Representatives of the Berlin communities from Thailand, Argentina, Nigeria, Vietnam, Brazil and India have selected the films together with curator Dorothee Wenner and developed an accompanying program: Before the open-air screenings, we will shine a thematic spotlight on each film with a line-up of stars.

Curator of the film program

Dorothee Wenner is a freelance filmmaker, curator and author based in Berlin.

Since 1990 she has worked in various positions for the Berlinale, the Berlin International Film Festival, currently as the festival's delegate for the Sub-Saharan Africa region. She has been a member of the board and jury of the African Movie Academy Awards in Lagos since its inception in 2005. Her latest work as a filmmaker is the web series Kinshasa Collection. Since 2020 she has been working as a consultant for film/cinema at the Humboldt Forum in Berlin and initiated the Cinema Spaces Network.

Dorothee Wenner curated the Box Office Around The World 2025 festival for the third time with representatives from the communities.

Queen Lateefah - Adeoluwa Owu / Nigeria 2024 / 129 min. / romantic drama

The license plates of the fat cars that QUEEN LATEEFAH "borrows" from her childhood friend's garage for business trips proudly display the motto of the megacity of Lagos: "Centre of Excellence", translated into the language of tech companies and service providers.

Lateefah more than lives up to this reputation: she is an up-and-comer who, thanks to her intelligence, self-confidence and quick-wittedness as a businesswoman, wants to make it from the bottom to the top. More precisely: from the slum where she lives with her mother and sister to the think tank of the advertising agency of Jide, the city's most sought-after bachelor.

Using business strategies that are not entirely legal, but all the smarter for it, she manages to make a spectacular entrance into his company. But Jide is surrounded by women who jealously watch over him and his fortune and immediately become suspicious...

This romantic comedy is perhaps also so successful in Nigeria because it bows to the quick humor and quick-witted wit for which Lagos is famous. The necessary accessories of everyday business life, such as spectacular fashions and extravagant furniture, are deliberately brought into the picture.

Program

- 20:00: Talk with Rahamatu Ibrahim Sadau (actress), Charles Inojie (actor), Omiagbo Alex Usifo (actor) and Olachi Opara (Nigerian Community in Berlin) & Dorothee Wenner (moderator)

- Welcome by Isaac Izoya (Head of Nollywood Film Festival Germany & Nollywood Europe Golden Awards) in English

- 21:00 Film screening

Further Information

- 10 EUR, reduced 5 EUR

- FSK 12

- Venue: Schlüterhof; Entrance: Portal 5

- languages: English, Pidgin, Yoruba with English subtitlesSchlüterhof

- Belongs to: Box Office Around The World 2025