Aug 07, 2023
Berlinale World Cinema Fund: Current Funding Recommendations for Production and Distribution

At the 38th jury session of the Berlinale World Cinema Fund (WCF), the juries made 13 recommendations of funding to projects or films from Bhutan, Brazil, Indonesia, Israel, Madagascar, Nepal, Palestine, Somalia, Sudan, Turkey, Uruguay and Venezuela. This current funding comprising ten production and three distribution grants totals 345,000 euros. 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.

“Time and again, we are thrilled by the versatility of the projects submitted, artistically and in terms of content. Diversity at all levels is now a matter of course; it has characterised the WCF’s identity since its foundation. Especially in times of crisis, which increasingly define normality as a state of chronic global conflict, it is important to emphasise the importance of international cooperation, the basis of WCF activity. It is about cooperation as cultural enrichment, beyond any exoticism, in the sense of the decolonisation and democratisation of the international film industry,” says the head of the WCF, Vincenzo Bugno.

Funding Recommendations Made at the 38th Jury Session

The WCF jury made its selection from 140 submitted projects from a total of 50 countries. The funding recommendations comprise funds totalling 345,000 euros.

The members of the jury are documentary film producer and documentary creative advisor Marta Andreu (Spain), director, screenwriter and producer Ayşe Polat (Germany), film scholar and curator Viola Shafik (Germany / Egypt) and Vincenzo Bugno (Italy / Germany), the head of the WCF. In addition, the producer and director of the pan-African film festival FESPACO and the Berlin festival Afrikamera, Alex Moussa Sawadogo (Burkina Faso), and filmmaker and curator Dorothee Wenner (Germany) serve as jurors for WCF Africa.

Production Funding

WCF

A Bright Future, director: Lucía Garibaldi (Uruguay). Production: Montelona (Uruguay), Francisco Magnou Arnabal; Achtung Panda! (Germany), Jamila Wenske. Feature film.
Funding: €35,000

Athlete, directors: Semih Gülen and Mustafa Emin Büyükcoşkun (Turkey). Production: Amok Film (Turkey); Amok Film UG (Germany), Arda Çiltepe. Feature film.
Funding: €25,000

Nothing in its Place, director: Burak Çevik (Turkey). Production: Fol Film (Turkey), Burak Çevik; Flaneur Films (Germany), Zsuzsanna Kiràly. Feature film.
Funding: €33,000

The Village next to Paradise, director: Mo Harawe (Somalia). Production: Koor Films (Somalia), Nuh Musse Berjeeb; NiKo Film (Germany), Nicole Gerhards. Feature film.
Funding: €45,000
The director participated in Berlinale Talents in 2022.

Elephants in the Fog, director: Abinash Bikram Shah (Nepal). Production: Underground Talkies (Nepal), Anup Poudel; Die Gesellschaft DGS (Germany), Michael Henrichs. Feature film.
Funding: €40,000
The director participated in Berlinale Talents in 2010.

WCF Europe

Sem Coração (Heartless), directors: Nara Normande and Tião (Brazil). Production: Cinemascópio Produções Cinematográficas e Artísticas Ltda (Brazil), Emilie Lesclaux; Les Valseurs (France), Justin Pechberty. Feature film.
Funding: €25,000
Director Nara Normande participated in Berlinale Talents in 2020, director Tião participated in Berlinale Talents in 2009.

I the Song, director: Dechen Roder (Bhutan). Production: Dakinny Productions (Bhutan), Dechen Roder; Girelle Production (France), Johann Chapelan. Feature film.
Funding: €30,000

Muchachos bañándose en el lago, director: Michael Labarca (Venezuela). Production: Todos los Ríos (Venezuela), Patricia Ramírez-Arévalo; Ticket Shoot Films (France), René Osi. Feature film.
Funding: €35,000

WCF Africa

Disco Afrika, director: Luck Razanajaona (Madagascar). Production: Africamadavibe Production (Madagascar), Herizo Rabary; NiKo Film (Germany), Nicole Gerhards; We Film (France, Réunion), Jonathan Rubin. Feature film.
Funding: €35,000
The director participated in Berlinale Talents in 2012.

Khartoum Bites, directors: Mohamed Subahi and Areej Ezz’el’din Zarroug (Sudan). Production: Sudan Film Factory (Sudan), Talal Afifi; Light Echo Pictures GbR (Germany), Frank Albers. Documentary form.
Funding: €20,000

Distribution Funding for Cinema Launches in Germany

Mediterranean Fever, director: Maha Haj (Palestine). Distribution: Pallas Film GmbH. Feature film.
Funding: €8,000

Valeria is Getting Married, director: Michal Vinik (Israel). Distribution: W-FILM Distribution. Feature film.
Funding: €8,000

Before, Now and Then, director: Kamila Andini (Indonesia). Distribution: One Filmverleih GmbH. Feature film.
Funding: €6,000

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.

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
August 7, 2023