Jan 15, 2021
World Cinema Fund: WCF Days with “Director’s Talk”, “Decolonising Cinema” and “Can We Write Cinema? Script and Visual Language”

Since 2004, the Berlinale World Cinema Fund (WCF) has successfully supported film production in regions with poor film infrastructure with its increasingly differentiated funding programme (WCF, WCF Europe, WCF Africa, WCF ACP) and embarked on cultural diversity in German cinemas. The cooperation between production companies from these regions or countries and German / European production companies has also been promoted.

“In its film funding strategy, the WCF engages with film aesthetic, as well as cultural-political and economic issues. With the WCF Days we would like to advance the debate on cultural participation and diversity rather than just the specific film funding measures”, says WCF head Vincenzo Bugno.

Some of the currently funded film projects will be unveiled at the WCF Days 2021. Two main themes will play an important role in this. All events will be held in English.

“Decolonising Cinema”

Projects which apply for WCF funding derive from countries and regions that have to deal with colonialism and postcolonialism. To what extent has the history of the respective countries shaped these film cultures? In what way are colonialism and postcolonialism portrayed in older films in contrast to current film productions? Are filmmakers from the funding regions and from Europe aware of this dramatic historical legacy?
Directors of current funding projects and further guests will address this complex topic, as part of the events “Decolonising Cinema” 1 and 2.

“Can We Write Cinema? Script and Visual Language”

Additionally, the WCF Days focus on a central question that affects the artistic development of film projects: cinema is a language that is visually expressed and articulated. Can you even write cinema? How is the visual identity of the film projects taken into account when it comes to scripts? The event “Can We Write Cinema? Script and Visual Language” will connect guests from different industry fields in order to exchange experiences and perspectives.

“Director’s Talk”

Last, but not least, the WCF will present a WCF funded film (and its director) in a “Director’s Talk”, which will be part of the Berlinale film selection.

The detailed programme and the list of guests appearing at the WCF Days will be presented mid-February.

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.

Press Office
January 15, 2021