The series I've always wanted to see

He grew up in Hamburg, played theatre at an early age and was enthusiastic about the world of film. To turn his hobby into a career, he moved to the New School University in New York in 2014 to study film and acting. This is also where the first ideas for "Black Fruit" were born. "My time in New York really shaped me. It was inspiring to experience how Black Script Writers and actors realised projects there as a matter of course and also had a space to do so - which was rarely or never the case in Germany. At university, we were constantly encouraged to write our own plays. I also wrote my first feature film script during my studies," reveals the 30-year-old;

After returning to Germany in 2019, work on Black Fruit" slowly picked up speed and Gibba continued to develop the story. With the project folder, he approached the young production company Jünglinge Film, which quickly accepted the project. With funding from MOIN, the first Writers Room took place for around three weeks in 2021. In addition to Gibba, the team also included Lisa Tracy Michalik, Naomi Kelechi Odhiambo, Sarah Claire Wray and Sophia Ayissi. "Each of us has a different background and was able to incorporate this into the story. Thanks to the financial support of the MOIN Film Fund at this early stage, we had a lot of time to sharpen the vision of the series and work on the story," says Gibba. Studio Zentral as co-production company and ARD Degeto as client also joined the project early on. They also believed in the material and Gibba's vision for the series. "Black Fruit" is about Lalo (played by Lamin Leroy Gibba), who is in his mid-twenties and is thrown off course by the sudden death of his father. He tries to repress his loss by rushing into action - but not only does his own life fall apart, but also that of his closest friends. 

For filming in 2023, they decided to take an unusual approach: in order to find a large part of the film crew, the team launched corresponding calls on social media. "It was very important to us that the black, POC, queer and female perspectives in front of the camera are also significantly represented behind the camera. Due to structural discrimination against filmmakers with marginalised perspectives, you naturally have to look outside the circle of already established people in the film and television industry. For many of our team, like myself, "Black Fruit" was the first time they had held certain positions within a television series. There's a great energy created by their involvement. The perspective knowledge and passion of the individual trades has enriched the series so much," says Lamin Leroy Gibba;