Last week the ninth European Conference on African Studies took place at the University of Cologne and thematised the prospect of African Futures. Emphasing the concept of more than one future, the conference introduced the idea of ‘futuring’ to stress the ability to shape and modify any future. In the panel »Transmedia Storytelling and African Futures – connecting past and present, defining the future« Dr. Ezinne Ezepue (University of Nigeria, Humboldt-Scholar at the ifs) questioned the notion of Africa as a ‘laboratory of the future’ and in what ways the African environment is able to tackle the issue of operating in a globalized world. For filmmakers especially, connecting past and present is crucial for manufacturing the future. ifs-student Lemba de Miranda (MA Serial Storytelling) presented the paper »Women of the future: female representation in Afrofuturistic storytelling« to interrogate the manifold struggles and inequalities Afrofuturism tackles.