Dec 11, 2020
Berlinale World Cinema Fund: Twelve New Funding Recommendations

In the 33rd jury session of the Berlinale World Cinema Fund (WCF), the juries made twelve funding recommendations for projects from Brazil, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominican Republic, Guinea, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Kyrgyzstan, Mozambique, Senegal and Turkey. The current funding amounts to a total of 592,000 Euros. This means that the funding volume has increased by 49.85% since the last funding round. The WCF is pleased to be able to support independent cinema even more strongly in times of crisis and to promote the visibility of the cultural complexity of our world.

“Versatile documentary forms and feature films that also innovatively deal with genre elements stood out in the current funding round. The directors tackle political and social realities with strong film aesthetics. You can also discover projects that arise from unusual co-production structures and thus pave the way for further new cooperation opportunities”, comments Vincenzo Bugno, the head of the WCF.

Since 2004, the Berlinale World Cinema Fund (WCF) has been successfully supporting film production in regions characterised by an insufficient film infrastructure by virtue of its increasingly differentiated funding programme (WCF, WCF Europe, WCF Africa, WCF ACP) and advocating cultural diversity in German cinemas. The cooperation between production companies from the production regions or countries and German / European production companies is supported as well: berlinale.de/en/world-cinema-fund

Currently, the WCF has also awarded two prizes together with its partners:

• Doc Award World Cinema Fund / Goethe-Institut at the Ouaga Film Lab in Burkina Faso: And Who Will Cook? Director: Samira Vera-Cruz, Production: Kriolscope Film (Cape Verde Islands). Advising on project development and production of a documentary film in 2021.
• WCF Audience Design Award at the international co-production meeting “Brasil CineMundi”: Casa no campo, director: Davi Pretto (Brazil). Production: Tokyo Filmes (Brazil), Paola Wink and Dublin Films (France), David Hurst. The award consists of consultation and mentoring for the development of an audience design strategy.

The new application deadline for future productions has been brought forward by one month and is therefore ending on February 1, 2021.

Twelve Funding Recommendations in the 33rd jury session

The WCF jury made its selection from 163 submitted projects from a total of 48 countries. The funding recommendations encompass funding in the amount of 592,000 Euros.

Five directors have participated in Berlinale Talents in the past, one project was presented at the Berlinale Co-Production Market in 2020.

The members of the jury are the director Teona Strugar Mitevska (North Macedonia), the documentary film producer and documentary creative advisor Marta Andreu (Spain), the producer Zsuzsanna Kiràly (Germany / Austria) and Vincenzo Bugno (Italy / Germany), the head of the WCF. Additionally, the jurors for WCF Africa are the producer, festival director of the pan-African film festival FESPACO and the Berlin festival Afrikamera, Alex Moussa Sawadogo (Burkina Faso) and the Berlinale delegate for Sub-Saharan Africa Dorothee Wenner (Germany).

Production Funding WCF

Aniden, director: Melisa Önel (Turkey). Production: Vigo Films (Turkey), Alara Hamamcıoğlu. Feature film. Funding: €35,000
Director Melisa Önel participated in Berlinale Talents in 2008.

Pepe, the Imagination of the Third Cinema, director: Nelson Carlos de los Santos (Dominican Republic). Production: Monte y Culebra (Dominican Republic), Pablo Lozano, Nobis Filmgroup (Germany), Lukas Valenta Rinner and Joe Vision (Namibia), Joel Haikali. Feature film. Funding: €40,000
Intended additional funding by WCF ACP: €80,000

Rising up at Night, director: Nelson Makengo (Democratic Republic of the Congo). Production: Mutotu Productions (Democratic Republic of the Congo), Dada Kahindo, Film Five GmbH (Germany), Florian Schewe and Twenty Nine Studio & Production (Belgium), Rosa Spaliviero. Feature film. Funding: €20,000
Intended additional funding by WCF ACP: €20,000
Director Nelson Makengo participated in Berlinale Talents in 2020.

Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash, director: Edwin (Indonesia). Production: Palari Films (Indonesia), Meiske Taurisia. Feature film. Funding: €25,000
Director Edwin participated in Berlinale Talents in 2005.

The First 54 Years, director: Avi Mograbi (Israel). Production: Avi Mograbi Films (Israel), Avi Mograbi. Documentary. Funding: €25,000

Les enfants terribles, director: Ahmet Necdet Cupur (Turkey). Production: Liman Film (Turkey), Nadir Öperli and Jyoti Film UG (Germany), Anke Petersen. Documentary. Funding: €25,000

WCF Europe

Casa no campo, director: Davi Pretto (Brazil). Production: Tokyo Filmes (Brazil), Paola Wink and Dublin Films (France), David Hurst. Feature film. Funding: €40,000
Casa no campo was a project at the Berlinale Co-Production Market in 2020. Director Davi Pretto participated in Berlinale Talents in 2015.

The Things That You Kill, director: Alireza Khatami (Iran). Production: Payman Maadi (Iran), Payman Maadi and Fulgurance (France), Elisa Sepúlveda. Feature film. Funding: €30,000
Director Alireza Khatami participated in Berlinale Talents in 2015.

Esimde, Director: Aktan Arym Koubat (Kyrgyzstan). Production: Oy Films (Kyrgyzstan), Altynai Koichumanova and A.S.A.P Films (France), Čedomir Kolar. Feature film. Funding: €30,000

WCF Africa

O ancoradouro do tempo, director: Sol de Carvalho (Mozambique). Production: Promarte (Mozambique), Sol de Carvalho, Gamboa & Gamboa Produções (Angola), José Augusto Octávio Gamboa dos Passos and Caméléon Production (Mauritius), David Constantin. Feature film. Funding: €30,000
Intended additional funding by WCF ACP: €60,000

Le tueur qui me redonna la vie, director: Mama Keïta (Guinea). Production: KIF Productions (Senegal), Rone Camara. Documentary Film. Funding: €19,000
Intended additional funding by WCF ACP: €38,000

Augure, director: Baloji Tshiani (Democratic Republic of the Congo). Production: Tosala Films (Democratic Republic of the Congo), Emmanuel Lupia and Wrong Men (Belgium), Benoit Roland and Radical Media (Germany), Emily Rudge. Feature film. Funding: €25,000
Intended additional funding by WCF ACP: €50,000

The World Cinema Fund is an initiative of the German Federal Cultural Foundation and the Berlin International Film Festival, in cooperation with the German Federal Foreign Office, with further support by the Goethe-Institut.
The special WCF Europe programme was launched with the support of the European Union’s Creative Europe MEDIA programme.
Thanks to additional funding from the German Federal Foreign Office, the special programme WCF Africa started in 2016.

In 2020 the WCF started the supplementary programme WCF ACP which applies to projects recommended by WCF/WCF Africa and is financed by the European Union with the support of the Organisation of the African, Caribbean and Pacific States through the ACP-EU Culture Programme.