The Berlinale’s World Cinema Fund jury has selected five new film projects for production funding and two for distribution funding.

The recipients were selected at the 10th session of the WCF jury on June 26-27. The WCF also announced that the German Federal Cultural Foundation, under culture minister Bernd Neumann, has extended the WCF’s funding until the end of 2011. The World Cinema Fund is an initiative of the German Federal Cultural Foundation and the Berlin International Film Festival in cooperation with the Goethe Institute.

The WCF was established in October 2004 and has previously supported a total of 63 projects from Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, the Caucasus, and Central and South East Asia.

The jury was comprised of film scholar and curator Viola Shafik (Germany/Egypt), programme coordinator of Swiss Television Alberto Chollet (Switzerland), writer Alby James (UK), as well as WCF project managers Sonja Heinen and Vincenzo Bugno. They selected from 107 submissions from 40 countries. The submission deadline for the next round of funding is August 3.

The total $315,000 (Euros 222,400) funding round went to:

The Bad Intentions, director: Rosario Garcia-Montero (Peru); producer: Garmont Films, Lima. German co-producer: Barry Films, Berlin. Feature film, funding: 50,000 euros

Post Mortem, director: Pablo Larraín (Chile); producer: Fabula, Santiago de Chile. Feature film, funding: 50,000 euros

3 (TRES), director: Pablo Stoll (Uruguay); producer: ControlZ Films, Montevideo. German co-producer: Pandora Film Produktions GmbH, Cologne. Feature film, funding: 40,000 euros

Jean Gentil, director: Laura Amelia Guzmán (Dominican Republic); producer: Aurora Dominicana, Santo Domingo. German co-producer: Bärbel Mauch Film, Berlin. Feature film, funding: 40,000 euros

Shirley Adams, director: Oliver Hermanus (South Africa); producer: DV8 Films, Johannesburg. Feature film, funding: 25,000 euros (provided by the Federal Foreign Office)

Gigante, director: Adrián Biniez (Argentina); producer: ControlZ Films (Montevideo). German distributor: Neue Visionen Filmverleih GmbH, Berlin. Feature film, funding: 10,000 euros [distribution, for November 2009 release in Germany]

The One Man Village, director: Simon El Habre (Lebanon); producer: Beirut DC, Beirut and Mec Film, Münster. German distributor: Mec Film, Münster. Documentary, funding: 7,500 euros [distribution, for September 2009 release in Germany] funds will be provided by the Federal Foreign Office)

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