Dec 10, 2024
Current Funding Recommendations / TFL Audience Design Award and First TUI Care Foundation Award

At the 41st jury session of the Berlinale World Cinema Fund (WCF), the juries made seven funding recommendations for projects from Argentina, Bangladesh, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Indonesia and Rwanda. The current funding of seven production grants amounts to a total of 260,000 euros.

The jury also decided on the first TUI Care Foundation Award. By creating an annual award of the TUI Colourful Cultures Programme of the TUI Care Foundation, in cooperation with the WCF, film projects from African countries can receive financial support over the next three years.

The WCF also awarded the WCF Europe-TFL Audience Design Award together with the TorinoFilmLab (TFL).

20 Years of WCF

The WCF was founded in November 2004 with the aim of developing strategies to democratise international film production. 20 years ago, a substantial presence of works from the WCF regions in the global North was rare and the connection to the audience was not guaranteed. The increasing success of WCF films with critics and audiences is particularly evident when looking at the current programmes of renowned international film festivals.

“The increasing participation of directors from the WCF regions in the global film industry and the diverse collaborations that have emerged have enriched our film culture. These are artistically very diverse films with strong narratives and cultural identities which connect with us emotionally and help us to decipher our complex world. The WCF aims to further develop global visibility and audience strategies, provide impulses for the film industry and continues to focus on exchange and dialogue. We are delighted that our partners – above all the German Federal Cultural Foundation – are supporting us with great commitment and that we can expand our network with new collaborations,” says Vincenzo Bugno, head of the WCF.

The Funding Recommendations of the 41st Jury Session

The WCF jury made its selection from 199 submitted projects from a total of 67 countries. The funding recommendations encompass funding in the amount of 260,000 euros.

The members of the jury are the documentary film producer and creative advisor Marta Andreu (Spain), the 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.

Production Funding

WCF

Sleep No More, director: Edwin (Indonesia). Production: Palari Films (Indonesia), Meiske Taurisia. Feature film.
Funding: €50,000
The director Edwin participated in Berlinale Talents in 2005.

Ghost Boat, director: Tanim Yousuf & Kauser Haider (Bangladesh). Production: Mastul Productions (Bangladesh), Tanim Yousuf; Bulldog Agenda GmbH (Germany), Patrick Hamm. Documentary form.
Funding: €35,000

La Reserva, director: Ezequiel Yanco (Argentina). Production: ISOI Cine (Argentina), Ezequiel Yanco; No Ficción (Mexico), Elena Fortes; LaCima Producciones (Spain), Ricard Sales. Documentary form.
Funding: €35,000

Scarlet Girls, director: Paula Cury (Dominican Republic). Production: Cristal Cine (Dominican Republic), Paula Cury; Disruptiva Films (Mexico), Omar Lara; Parabellum Films (Germany), Natalia Imaz. Documentary form.
Funding: €30,000
The director Paula Cury participated in Berlinale Talents in 2022.

Las locas de la Praviana, director: Brenda Vanegas (El Salvador). Production: Encantada por la Vida (El Salvador), Brenda Vanegas; Salón Indien Films (Spain), Pablo de la Chica. Feature film.
Funding: €35,000

WCF Europe

The Message, director: Iván Fund (Argentina). Production: Rita Cine (Argentina), Laura Mara Tablón; Insomnia Films (Argentina), Gustavo Schiaffino; Amore Cine SL (Spain), Paz Lázaro. Feature film.
Funding: €35,000

WCF Europe-TFL Audience Design Award

The WCF also awarded the WCF Europe-TFL Audience Design Award, in cooperation with the TorinoFilmLab (TFL) which is organised by The National Museum of Cinema. The award consists of a special programme of consultancy on audience design, provided by internationally recognised experts chosen by TorinoFilmLab.

The award goes to:
A Margem do Rio, director: Matheus Farias & Enock Carvalho (Brazil). Production: Gatopardo Filmes (Brazil), Enock Carvalho. Feature film.
The director Matheus Farias participated in Berlinale Talents in 2024.

New Grant: TUI Care Foundation Award

From 2024, the TUI Colourful Cultures programme of the TUI Care Foundation will endow an annual award to financially support outstanding film projects from Africa. The jury of the World Cinema Fund has decided in favour of the project Benimana from Rwanda as this year's winner of the TUI Care Foundation Award.

Benimana, director: Marie Clémentine Dusabejambo (Rwanda). Production: EJO-CINE (Rwanda), Marie Epiphanie Uwayezu; Ogweli Productions (Cote d'Ivoire), Samantha Biffot. Feature film.
Funding: €40.000 by TUI Care Foundation
The director Marie Clémentine Dusabejambo participated in Berlinale Talents in 2021.

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) 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 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.

Press Office
December 10, 2024