Aug 16, 2022
Berlinale World Cinema Fund: Seven New Funding Recommendations / Congratulations to Four Productions Funded by the WCF on Their Invitation to the Venice Film Festival Programme

During the 36th jury session of the Berlinale World Cinema Fund (WCF), six funding recommendations were made for projects from Burkina Faso, Chile, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt and Iran, as well as one recommendation for distribution funding for the German release of a film from Sudan.

The funding recommendations for the WCF Europe programme will be announced in early September.

“Right now, in times of war and global conflicts, the WCF’s work seems especially important. The WCF actively promotes the democratisation of international collaborations. Additionally, it focuses on films that connect people instead of confining them — films that convince with their artistic identity,” says Vincenzo Bugno, head of the WCF.

The WCF is also very pleased about the invitation of four WCF funded films to the Venice International Film Festival (August 31 to September 10, 2022): Autobiography (dir.: Makbul Mubarak), Kapag wala nang mga alon (When The Waves Are Gone, dir.: Lav Diaz) and Trenque Lauquen (dir.: Laura Citarella) will be shown in the Orizzonti section; Anhell 69 (dir.: Theo Montoya) will be presented in the Settimana della Critica (Critic’s Week).

WCF Production Funding

Al Djanat, directed by Aïcha Boro (Burkina Faso). Production: Les Productions Metisées (Burkina Faso), Aïcha Boro and Merveilles Productions (Benin), Faissol Gnonlonfin. Documentary form.
Funding: €30,000
Intended additional funding by WCF ACP: €60,000

Los Ángeles, directed by Joaquín Cociña and Cristóbal León (Chile). Production: Globo Rojo Films (Chile), Catalina Vergara.
Feature film. Funding: €30,000

The Settlement, directed by Mohamed Rashad (Egypt). Production: Hassala Films (Egypt), Hala Lotfy. Feature film.
Funding: €30,000

Un reptile par habitant, directed by Zeka Laplaine (Democratic Republic of the Congo). Production: Bakia Films (Democratic Republic of the Congo), Zeka Laplaine and Set Bet Productions (Senegal), Sokhna Sene. Feature film.
Funding: €40,000
Intended additional funding by WCF ACP: €80,000

Yo vi tres luces negras, directed by Santiago Lozano (Colombia). Production: Contravía Films (Colombia), Óscar and Ana María Ruíz Navia and Autentika Films (Germany), Paulo Roberto de Carvalho and Gudula Meinzolt. Feature film.
Funding: €36,000

My Favourite Cake, directed by Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha (Iran). Production: Honare Khiyal (Iran), Behtash Sanaeeha and Watchmen Productions (Germany), Christopher Zitterbart. Feature film.
Funding: €30,000
The project also participated in the Berlinale Co-Production Market in 2022.

Distribution Funding

You Will Die At Twenty (Mit 20 wirst du sterben), directed by Amjad Abu Alala (Sudan). Distribution: missingFILMs Acrivulis & Severin (Germany), Christos Acrivulis. Feature film.
Funding: €8,000
German release date: August 25, 2022

With its increasingly differentiated funding programme (WCF, WCF Europe, WCF Africa, WCF ACP), the Berlinale World Cinema Fund has been successfully supporting film production in regions with weaker filmmaking infrastructures since 2004, as well as advocating cultural diversity in German cinemas. Cooperation between production companies from the disadvantaged regions and European production companies is supported as well. General information on WCF funding.

Since 2004, the Berlinale World Cinema Fund 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: General information on the WCF funding.

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
August 16, 2022