Jul 21, 2020
Berlinale World Cinema Fund: 14 New Funding Recommendations, Start of WCF ACP and First WCF Europe - TFL Audience Design Award

In the 32nd jury meeting of the Berlinale World Cinema Fund (WCF), the juries made a total of 14 funding recommendations with respect to projects from Argentina, Burkina Faso, Colombia, Egypt, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, the Philippines, Senegal, Turkey and Venezuela. The funding totalled 395,000 Euros.

Since 2004, the Berlinale World Cinema Fund (WCF) has been successfully promoting and supporting world cinema, thereby enriching Germany’s film landscape with its cooperation model that supports international exchange. WCF films are also the result of funding measures which serve to democratise international co-production relationships. Moreover, as a European funding initiative, the fund is most conscious of the post-colonial legacy.

“As a result of the corona pandemic, the entire film industry is experiencing a dramatic, truly existential crisis. Some WCF funding regions are very adversely affected, and the artistically ambitious independent cinema, in particular, is most threatened. By virtue of its funding programme, the WCF currently also wishes to help provide filmmakers and producers with a perspective for the continuation of their work and to maintain the visibility of the cultural complexity of our world”, says Vincenzo Bugno, the head of the WCF.

WCF funding regions are Africa, Latin America, the Near and Middle East, Central and Southeast Asia, the Caucasus, the Pacific region and the countries of Bangladesh, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Cooperation between production companies from the funding regions or countries and German production companies is promoted, at WCF Europe co-productions between European producers and directors and producers from the WCF regions and countries are also promoted. The funding must be spent in the funding regions / countries, and the director of the film must come from a region or country eligible for WCF funding (see here).

The first results of two further initiatives launched by the WCF 2020 are also announced.
WCF ACP - with the support of the Organisation of the African, Caribbean and Pacific States and of the European Union - enables additional support for projects from regions that have already been recommended for funding within the framework of WCF / WCF Africa. This involves the optimisation of the respective projects funded by the WCF as well as the development of a targeted strategy that welcomes and enables internal cooperation within these regions.

The WCF Europe - TFL Audience Design Award, in cooperation with the TorinoFilmLab, enables participation in audience design workshops by film professionals who address the visibility of WCF funded films. The goal is to develop strategies that deal with the active inclusion of potential audiences and targeted groups inside and outside the various WCF regions, beginning with the production phase.

14 Current Funding Recommendations, July 2020

The WCF jury made its selection from among 153 submitted projects out of a total of 50 countries. The funding recommendations encompass funding in the amount of 395,000 Euros.

Among the funding recommendations are four projects by Berlinale Talents Alumni and two projects were presented at the Berlinale Co-Production Market.

The jury includes the director Teona Strugar Mitevska (North Macedonia), the documentary producer and documentary creative advisor Marta Andreu (Spain), the producer Alexander Wadouh (Germany) and the WCF director Vincenzo Bugno (Italy / Germany). Additionally, the producer, festival director of Afrikamera and artistic director of the Ouaga Film Lab Alex Moussa Sawadogo (Burkina Faso) and the Berlinale delegate for sub-Saharan Africa Dorothee Wenner (Germany) serve as jury members for WCF Africa.

Production Funding WCF

A Male, director: Fabián Hernández Alvarado (Colombia). Production: Medio de Contención Producciones (Colombia), Manuel Ruíz. Feature film. Funding: €30,000

Bomb Bay, director: Nantenaina Lova (Madagascar). Production: Endemika Films (Madagascar), Eva Lova and Niko Film (Germany), Nicole Gerhards. Documentary. Funding: €10,000
In cooperation with the Organisation of the ACP States and the European Union, WCF ACP was launched in February 2020.
Additional funding of Bomb Bay by WCF ACP: €20,000

New Dawn Fades, director: Gürkan Keltek (Turkey). Production: Vigo Films (Turkey), Arda Çiltepe and The Story Bay (Germany), Stephan Gieren. Feature film. Funding: €30,000

Souad, director: Ayten Amin (Egypt). Production: Vivid Reels (Egypt), Sameh Awad. Feature film. Funding: €25,000

Tiger Stripes, director: Amanda Nell Eu (Malaysia). Production: Ghost Grrrl Pictures (Malaysia), Fei Ling Foo and Weydemann Bros. (Germany), Jakob and Jonas Weydemann. Feature film. Funding: €30,000
Director Amanda Nell EU participated in Berlinale Talents in 2018.

Trenque Lauquen, director: Laura Citarella (Argentina). Production: El Pampero Cine (Argentina), Ingrid Pokropek and Grandfilm (Germany), Patrick Horn. Feature film. Funding: €35,000
Director Laura Citarella participated in Berlinale Talents in 2009.

WCF Europe

Love is a Dog from Hell, director: Khavn de la Cruz (The Philippines). Production: Kamias Overground (The Philippines), Khavn de la Cruz and Rapid Eye Movies (Germany), Stephan Holl. Feature film. Funding: €20,000
Director Khavn de la Cruz participated in Berlinale Talents in 2004.

Una jauría que se llama Ernesto, director: Everardo González Reyes (Mexico). Production: Jugo de Luna Films (Mexico), Inna Payan and Films Boutique (France), Jean-Christophe Simon. Documentary. Funding: €35,000

Zafari, director: Mariana Rondón (Venezuela). Production: Sudaca Films (Peru/Venezuela), Marité Ugas and Still Moving (France), Juliette Lepoutre. Feature film. Funding: €40,000
Zafari was a project at the 2020 Berlinale Co-Production Market.

WCF Africa

Night Nursery, director: Moumouni Sanou (Burkina Faso). Production: Les Films du Djabadjah (Burkina Faso), Berni Goldblat. Documentary. Funding: €25,000

No U-Turn, director: Ike Nnaebue (Nigeria). Production: Passion 8 Communications (Nigeria), Ike Nnaebue and Steps (South Africa), Don Edkins. Documentary. Funding: €25,000
In cooperation with the Organisation of the ACP States and the European Union, WCF ACP was launched in February 2020.
Additional funding of No U-Turn by WCF ACP: €25,000

Une histoire du Franc CFA, director: Katy Léna Ndiaye (Senegal). Production: Indigo Mood Films (Senegal), Katy Léna Ndiaye and Film Five GmbH (Germany), Florian Schewe. Documentary. Funding: €25,000
Director Katy Léna Ndiaye participated in Berlinale Talents in 2004.

Distribution Funding WCF

Monos, director: Alejandro Landes (Colombia). Distributor: DCM Film (Germany). Feature film. Funding: €10,000. German release: June 4, 2020

Rojo, director: Benjamín Naishtat (Argentina). Distributor: Cine Global (Germany). Feature film. Funding: €10,000. German release: September 20, 2020
Rojo was a project at the 2015 Berlinale Co-Production Market.

WCF Europe - TFL Audience Design Award

Zafari, director: Mariana Rondón (Venezuela). Production: Sudaca Films (Venezuela), Marité Ugas and Still Moving (France), Juliette Lepoutre. Feature film.
Zafari was a project at the 2020 Berlinale Co-Production Market and is a WCF Europe funding project.

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.

The supplementary programme WCF ACP 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
July 21, 2020