PRINCE CLAUS FUND MOBILE LABS

Co-curated in collaboration with our Impact Awardees, the Mobile Labs respond to the necessities of their specific community, serving needs on the ground while enabling knowledge to be collaboratively shared through lectures, workshops, discussions, and field trips. Each Mobile Lab adapts itself to local thematic developments, serving as a responsive measure to specific opportunities and needs on the ground.  

Each Mobile Lab features our Impact Awardees, alongside our Seed and Mentorship Awardees, as well as changemakers from the Fund's Network, local artists and cultural practitioners, catalyzing global, dynamic and long-lasting connections. 

Films have a profound impact on culture and society. They shape attitudes, influence values, and catalyze social transformation. Films can also serve as a potent medium for communication, effectively conveying messages in a captivating and distinctive manner. In turn, it is essential that filmmakers can tell the stories of their own lives and communities in a way that is unobstructed by dominant film structures, instead centring diverse narratives. 

Our second Mobile Lab in 2024 takes us to Senegal, where film director, screenwriter, and 2022 Impact Awardee, Alain Gomis, curates a programme of screenings, workshops, a concert, and various public events, together with the Prince Claus Fund. 

The 2024 Mobile Lab Senegal centres film as a medium to address the complexities of identity, foreignness, and agency, drawn from Alain Gomis’ personal experiences dealing with a dual French-Senegalese nationality and his own search of belonging. Through showcasing the work of inspiring filmmakers and facilitating workshops, the Lab aims to advocate for the urgency of nurturing local talents in film creation, broadcasting, and technical skills, to make African film heritage accessible to a community of filmmakers and to encourage a new generation of artists to narrate their unique stories.