The Berlinale’s World Cinema Fund (WCF) is to provide a total of €360,000 in funding for 14 international projects.
In its latest funding round, the WCF has recommended production funding for 11 projects and distribution grants for three films.
The 14 independent projects hail from Argentina, Chile, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ecuador, Egypt, Iran, Israel, Mozambique, Nigeria, the Republic of Belarus, Rwanda, Senegal and Thailand.
The production funding recipients include Demba by Senegalese writer-director Mamadou Dia, whose feature debut Nafi’s Father won the best first feature prize Locarno in 2019, as well as Thai director Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke’s A Useful Ghost, which earlier this year received support from the Hubert Bals Fund. Boonbunchachoke participated in Berlinale Talents in 2021.
Also supported is Chilean director Diego Céspedes’ feature debut The Mysterious Gaze Of The Flamingo which was presented at the Venice Film Festival’s Gap-Financing Market in 2022 and at the 2021 Sundance Producers Summit.
The WCF jury made its selection from 194 submitted projects from a total of 62 countries. The members of its 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. Additionally, the jurors for WCF Africa are the producer, festival director of the pan-African film festival FESPACO and the Berlin festival Afrikamera, Alex Moussa Sawadogo (Burkina Faso) and the filmmaker and curator Dorothee Wenner (Germany).
Production Funding WCF
Demba (Senegal)
Dir. Mamadou Dia
Prod. Joyeddi Sarl (Senegal), Maba Ba, NiKo Film (Ger), Nicole Gerhards
Funding €35,000
The Misterious Gaze of the Flamingo (Chile)
Dir. Diego Céspedes
Prod. Quijote Films & Rampante (Chile), Giancarlo Nasi
Funding €34,000
Nunkui (Ecuador)
Dir. Verenice Benítez
Prod. Caleidoscopio Cine (Ecuador), Isabela Parra
Funding €30,000
Talitha Kumi (Isr)
Dir. Hadar Morag
Prod. Medalia Productions (Isr), Hilla Medalia; Maze Pictures (Ger), Caroline Daube
Funding €40,000
A Useful Ghost (Thai)
Dir. Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke
Prod. 185 Films Co (Thai), Cattleya Paosrijaroen
Funding €35,000
Zone|Myth (Belarus)
Dir. Darya Yurkevich
Prod. AN|DA Film (Belarus), Darya Yurkevich; Doppelplusultra (Ger), Frank Müller. Documentary
Funding €35,000
WCF Europe
Boomerang (Iran)
Dir. Shahab Fotouhi
Prod. Rainy Pictures (Iran), Majib Barzegar; New Matter Films (Ger), Mariam Shatberashvili
Funding €30,000
Inside the Noise (Arg)
Dir. Martina Juncadella
Prod. Una Presencia (Arg), Julieta Juncadella; House on Fire (Fr), Vincent Wang
Funding €30,000
WCF Africa
Minimals in a Titanic World (Rwanda)
Dir. Philbert Aime Mbabazi Sharangabo
Prod. Imitana Productions (Rwanda), Philbert Aime Mbabazi Sharangabo
Funding €25,000
The Nights Still Smell of Gunpowder (Mozambique)
Dir. Inadelso Cossa
Prod. 16mm Filmes (Mozambique), Inadelso Cossa; Kaske Films (Ger), Thomas Kaske. Documentary
Funding €25,000
Distribution Funding for Cinema Release in Germany
Augure (Omen) (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Dir. Baloji
Distribution: Grandfilm.
Funding €8,000
Mami Wata (Nigeria)
Dir. C.J. “Fiery” Obasi
Distribution: Cinemalovers e.V.
Funding €3,000
Distribution Funding WCF Europe
Eureka (Arg)
Dir. Lisandro Alonso
World Sales: Filmgarten (Austria)
Distribution: Filmgarten (Austria); Grandfilm (Ger) und LAT-E (Arg)
Funding €30,000
WCF Europe–TFL Audience Design Award
Muchachos Bañándose En El Lago (Venezuela)
Dir. Michael Labarca
Prod. Todos los Ríos (Venezuela), Patricia Ramírez-Arévalo; Ticket Shoot Films (Fr), René Osi
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