Feb 08, 2023
World Cinema Fund at the Berlinale 2023: Focus on Iran / Cinema and Culture in Times of Growing Crises

Since 2004, the Berlinale World Cinema Fund (WCF) has successfully supported film production in regions with weak film infrastructures through its increasingly differentiated funding programme (WCF, WCF Europe, WCF Africa, WCF ACP), while also promoting cultural diversity in German cinemas. In addition, it encourages cooperation between production companies from the assisted regions and countries and German/European production companies.

World Cinema Fund Day (WCF Day) is the think tank of the WCF (see also Archive WCF Days). Panels and discussions focus on film culture, production conditions in the funded regions, structural changes and funding strategies.

World Cinema Fund Day on February 22, 2023
In cooperation with Berlinale Talents
This year, World Cinema Fund Day will also focus on the realities of making films in Iran today, and the struggles that Iranian filmmakers face inside and out of the country. But the WCF Day will also deal with a crucial and essential question, involving representatives from international funding institutions, discussing funding cinema and culture during increasing crisis and war times.

Wednesday, February 22, 2023
2.00 – 6.00 pm
HAU Hebbel am Ufer (HAU2), Hallesches Ufer 34, 10963 Berlin
(Limited capacity. RSVP to )

WCF Day: Funding Cinema Cultures During Crises and War Time
(in english)

Welcome and Introduction / Focus on Iran / The State of Things
Cultural-political, artistic, empathetic point of views

Claudia Roth, Minister of State for Culture and the Media
Mariette Rissenbeek, Executive Director Berlinale
Florian Weghorn, Programme Manager Berlinale Talents
Vincenzo Bugno, Head of the World Cinema Fund

Talk 1 / 2.20 pm Focus on Iran / The Spirit of The Age
Filming in Iran, telling Iranian stories
A conversation with female directors from inside and outside of Iran who have recently been supported by the WCF (and other funding institutions).
With: Farahnaz Sharifi (Director, WCF-funded project Letters from Iran), Steffi Niederzoll (Director, Sieben Winter in Teheran, Perspektive Deutsches Kino 2023), Dornaz Hajiha (Director, Berlinale Talents 2023), Sahand Sarhaddi (Director, Berlinale Talents 2023)
Host: Vincenzo Bugno, Head of the World Cinema Fund

Talk 2 / 3.45 pm
Funding in Good and Bad Times / The Challenge
The role of funding institutions and how to develop sustainable strategies during times of crises and war.
With: Enrico Chiesa (Responsible for Cinema, Organisation international de la Francophonie, OIF), Olga Sievers (Goethe-Institut im Exil), Ziad Khaltoum (Director, Syria/Germany)
Host: Viola Shafik (Filmmaker, Filmscholar)

Talk 3 / 4.45 pm
Contextualising Cinema / WCF Directors
Klezmer & More: A presentation of Adentro mío estoy bailando (Argentina/Austria), a WCF-supported film made in 2022 and selected for Berlinale Encounters 2023.
With: Paloma Schachmann and Leandro Koch (Directors)
Host: Vincenzo Bugno, Head of the World Cinema Fund

A film recording of WCF Day 2023 will be made available on demand via the Berlinale Talents website in the near future.

WCF at the 2023 Berlinale

WCF Europe TFL Audience Design Award
The award was presented to the WCF funded project Crocodile Tears (director: Tumpal Tampubolon, Indonesia) and is in the form of a workshop in Berlin from February 13 to 17, exploring audience engagement strategies for the fiction film project’s various stages of development. (Event by invitation only).

Berlinale Co-Production Market: World Cinema Market
A WCF funded project still in search of more co-producers and funding partners will take part in the Berlinale Co-Production Market: The Chilean project Los Ángeles by directors and artists Cristóbal León and Joaquín Cociña was selected for presentation in Berlin. The project will be presented by its Chilean producers Catalina Vergara of Globo Rojo Films. The German company Autentika Films is already a co-producer, and the film is seeking other partners to complete its financial structure.

The WCF Audience Strategies Award will also be presented to a Berlinale Co-Production Market project from a WCF supported region: The award is a consultation by experts on developing specific communication strategies for this project to reach new target groups, thereby increasing audience perception of and interest in the film – locally, regionally and internationally.

EFM
The WCF will be working together with the European Film Market (EFM) and the TorinoFilmLab (TFL) at the Think Tank Sessions on Audience Strategies for a Sustainable, Diverse and Independent Future. These sessions will explore various aspects of audiences’ changing demands and advancements in the audiovisual ecosystem. The goal is the articulation of ecologically, culturally and socially sustainable ideas and results.

WCF Market Screenings
The WCF EFM Market Screenings are back, supporting the visibility of WCF funded films and generating synergies with other Berlinale projects: Accredited industry visitors can see the current premieres of ten films that received financial support from the WCF – including the three WCF films that are celebrating their world premieres at the festival.
(Accessible for Market Badge, Buyers Badge holders, and by invitation)

WCF funded films: Strong Presence in the Berlinale 2023 Programme
Adentro mío estoy bailando (The Klezmer Project) by Paloma Schachmann and Leandro Koch (Argentina/Austria) is screened in the Encounters section, Sira by Apolline Traoré (Burkina Faso/France) and El Castillo by Martín Benchimol (Argentina) in Panorama.

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 and 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 was started in 2016.

The complementary programme WCF ACP is funded with the financial contribution of the European Union and the support of the Organisation of the African, Caribbean and Pacific States through the ACP-EU Culture Programme.

Press Office
February 8, 2023