What do director Tom Tykwer („The International„) and Ubuntu have in common? Well, they seem to share the same passion for commitment in developing countries by focusing on media. This similarity came up when I read the schedule for the one day conference „Jour Fixe – media and development„.

While the first talk, held by Andrea Goetzke und Geraldine de Bastion from newthinking communications, titled „Ubuntu and the free toaster„, deals with free software and digital culture in Africa, the second talk, held by director Tom Tykwer and titled „The Making of Soulboy. A movie production in the slums of Nairobi„, deals with a movie project in Nairobi (and Tom Tykwers engagement in artistic education for youngsters in Africa with the ngo „one fine day“).

The „Jour Fixe“ is scheduled for this Friday, the 24th of April, and takes place at „Hamburger Bahnhof“ in Berlin/Germany. As I’m going to attend the conference, I’ll try to report back a short resume. Please note that there are more interesting talks besides Ubuntu/Tykwer – I just wanted to point out the interesting coincidence.