World Cinema Fund
Funding for Distribution in Germany

Israel/Palestine 2009
Directors: Yaron Shani & Scandar Copti
Producer: Inosan Ltd. (Israel), Twenty Twenty Vision (Germany)
German WCF Partner: Twenty Twenty Vision
World sales: The Match Factory (Germany)
German distributor: Neue Visionen

Funded in the WCF jury meetings in October 2005 and in November 2009
Production funding: 65,000 €
Distribution funding: 10,000 €

Synopsis
Ajami is the untold story of the walled in city of Jaffa, on the outskirts of the Palestinian – Israeli conflict, where violence and hatred are a daily reality. The characters in this high-paced film live in a violent reality where enemies live as neighbours. It is a meeting of conflicting views – Jews and Arabs, Christians and Moslems, fathers and sons, cops and robbers. As the films jolts from one point of view to the other it creates an alternative truth, a new surprising expression of the human experience. Shuttling back and forth through time, we witness the events over and over again through the eyes of a different character, and every time our perception of “what is right” changes, triggering opposing emotional reactions. We are forced to ask ourselves the eternal question: how do people with the same basic values and moral conscience become blood enemies?

Director's Note
“Ajami tells stories that are taken from our actual life experience, each one of us from his own perspective (Scandar, a Palestinian brought up in Arab Jaffa, and Yaron, an Israeli Jew, brought up in the Western Zionistic Israel). In a unique narrative technique, the viewer experiences Ajami’s world again and again. Every time, going back in time to observe the same reality from a different point of view. The essence of conflict is not good versus evil, or right versus wrong, only different points of view. Only by looking through the eyes of our enemies can we see their humanity.”

World premiere
Cannes International Film Festival 2009, Quinzaine des Réalisateurs

Key festivals and awards
Camera d’Or Special Distinction
Cannes International Film Festival 2009
Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Editing and Best Composer, Ophir Israeli Film and Television Academy Award 2009
Nomination Academy Awards USA for Best Foreign Language Film of the year 2010

Theatrical release in Germany
May 22, 2010

Turkey 2008
Director: Özcan Alper
Producers: Kuzey Film (Turkey), Filmfabrik (Germany)
Deutscher Verleih: Filmfabrik
World Sales: Media Luna New Films (Germany)

Funded in the WCF Jury meeting in July 2009
Funding amount: 7,500 €

Synopsis
Yusuf is released from prison, where he served a sentence since 1992. Ten years later he returns to his village. Although he had six more years to serve, it was understood that he is terminally ill. Tuberculosis. His health has worsened since he participated in hunger strikes against the prison. A doctor informs him about his condition and writes a report for him to be released. Only his old mother is waiting for him in the village. His mother Rukiye is very ill. She has prayed to be able to see her son again. In the village, where only old people are left because of economical reasons. Yusuf cannot tell anybody that he will die in a few months. He wakes up with nightmares in the nights, runs out early in the morning and listens to the voice of the valley waking up. The untuned voice of the bagpipes, which he used to play well when he was young, goes along with these voices. He meets Elka who works in the pub. Elka, who tries to behave differently from normal, has to protect her soul despite the network of relations she unwillingly entered in Elka meets Yusuf that night. After a while they fall in love. In a night when autumn slowly turns into winter, Yusuf cannot refuse his mother’s request of playing for her and while an instrument starts its life all over again he is buried on a day that whole valley wears a white shroud … The Voice of the bagpipes accompanies a mother’s lament for her son …

World premiere
August 7, 2008, Locarno Film Festival, Official Competition

Theatrical release in Germany
March 4, 2010

Awards
Best Film, Special Jury Prize, Adana Golden Boll Film Festival 2008
The Art & Essay Cicae Prize, Locarno International Film Festival 2008
Best Director, Sofia International Film Festival
Best Film, Best Director, Best Supporting Actress, Best Cinematographer, Ankara International Film Festival
FIPRESCI Prize, Special Jury Prize
Best Music, Festival D’Angers Premiers Plans
Silver Prometheus, International Tbilisi Film Festival
Festivals Adana Golden Boll Film Festival 2008
Locarno International Film Festival 2008
Sarajevo International Film Festival
Bangkok International Film 2008
Sofia International Film Festival 2008
Toronto 2008
Yerevan International Film Festival 2009
International Tblisi Film Festival 2009

Rights sold to
Hungary, Romania, Czech Republic, Poland, Eslovenia, Croatia, Moldova, Slovak Republic, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Serbia, Kosovo, Ireland, Turkey, Greece, Albania, Bosnia Herzegovina, Iceland, Germany, Macedonia

Mali/France 2006
Director: Abderrahmane Sissako
Producer: Mali images, Chinguitty Films and Archipel Films
German distributor: Kairos Filmverleih
World Sales: Les Films du Losange (France)

Funded in the WCF-jury meetings in October 2006
Distribution Funding: 8,000 €

Synopsis
In a poor neighbourhood in Bamako, Mali’s capital city, Mele, a stunningly beautiful bar singer, and her unemployed husband Chaka have a marriage that is on the rocks. Around them, others are not able to make ends meet. In the courtyard of their house, a trial court has been set up while everyday life goes on.African civil society spokesmen have taken proceedings against the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and other institutions that have been responsible for bringing most African countries to financial ruin. Many of these nations spend about ten billion dollars on debt service every year while public services such as health and education are slighted.To make matters worse, privatisation of water, schools and other aspects of life put further burdens on the poor. So Sissako gathers lawyers, judges and witnesses to put globalisation itself on trial.

World premiere
Cannes International Film Festival 2006

Theatrical release in Germany
February 2007

Rights sold to
France, Germany, Switzerland, The Netherlands, UK, USA

Festivals (selection)
Cannes International Film Festival 2006
Toronto International Film Festival 2006
New York International Film Festival 2006
San Sebastián International Film Festival 2006
Pusan International Film Festival 2006
Munich International Film Festival 2006
Vienna International Film Festival 2006
globale Film Festival Berlin, 2007

Argentina 2004
Director: Carlos Sorin
Producers: Romikin, Guacamole Films and OK Films (Argentina), Wanda Visión (Spain)
German Distributor: Alamode Film
World Sales: Bavaria Film International (Germany)
Funded in the WCF jury session in June 2005
Funding amount: 7,500 €

Synopsis
Juan is unemployed and has to live with his daughter, even though he is not actually welcome there. He keeps his head above water as best he can by selling knives which he makes himself. He has lost all hope that his life will ever get any better. But then suddenly, when he becomes the owner of a valuable dog – a Dogo Argentino – everything seems to change…

World premiere
San Sebastián International Film Festival 2004, Competition

Theatrical release in Germany
August 25, 2005

Festivals (selection)
Toronto 2004
San Sebastián International Film Festival 2004

Rights sold to
Argentina, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, The Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Turkey, UK, USA.

Lebanon 2007
Director: Nadine Labaki
Producers: Anne-Dominique Toussaint (France)
German Distributor: Alamode Film
World sales: Roissy Films SAS (France)

Funded in the WCF jury meetings in January 2008
Funding amount: 12,000 €

Synopsis
A beauty salon in Beirut is the setting for the sensual romantic comedy Caramel. The salon is a lively and colourful micro cosmos in which various women meet and talk about their most important topics: their looks, the newest beauty treatments and men of course.
Layale owns the shop and works here with three colleagues. Beside work their complicated love lives rule their everyday lives. Layale loves Rabih, but Rabih’s married. Nisrine wants to get married, but how can she disguise in front of her future husband that she is no longer a virgin? Rima is attracted by women and Jamal doesn’t want to accept that she is growing old. And then there is Rose, the tailoress from next door, who sacrificed her life to taking care of her elderly sister and unexpectedly finds her very first love…

World Premiere
Cannes International Film Festival 2007, Quinzaine des Réalisateurs

Theatrical release in Germany
April 03, 2008

Awards
TCM-Audience Award / Youth Award San Sebastián 2007
Sebastiane 2007 Award
FIPRESCI Prize in Stockholm 2007
Black Pearl Award for Best Actress Middle East International Film Festival
Variety Middle East Filmmaker of the Year Award

Festivals
Cannes International Film Festival 2007
Toronto International Film Festival 2007
Copenhagen International Film Festival 2007
San Sebastián International Film Festival 2007
Rio Film Festival 2007
London Film Festival 2007
Official Lebanese Entry to the Academy Awards (Oscars) in the category Best Foreign Language Film

Chad 2006
Director: Mahamet-Saleh Haroun
Producers: Chinquitty Films (France), Goi – Goi Productions (Chad)
German Distributor: Kairos Filmverleih
World sales: Pyramide International

Funded in the WCF-jury meetings in January 2008
Funding amount: 8,000 €

Synopsis
Chad 2006: The government has granted amnesty to all war criminals.
Atim, 16 years old, is given a revolver by his grandfather so that he may kill the man who killed his father. Atim leaves his village for N’djamena, seeking a man he does not know. He quickly locates him: former war criminal Nassara is now married and settled down as the owner of a small bakery. With the firm intention of killing him, Atim gets closer to Nassara under the guise of looking for work and is hired as an apprentice baker. Intrigued by Atim’s attitude towards him, Nassara takes him under his wing and teaches him the secrets of making bread. Over the weeks, a strange relationship evolves between the two. Despite his disgust, Atim seems to recognize in Nassara the father figure he has always needed, while Nassara sees the teenager as a potential son and even suggests adoption. Nevertheless, Atim cannot forget why he came here. A violent confrontation seems inevitable…

World Premiere
Venice International Film Festival 2006, Competition

Theatrical release in Germany
March 2008

Awards
Grand Special Jury Award, Venice International Film Festival 2006

Festivals
Venice International Film Festival 2006
Viennale 2006
International Film Festival Rotterdam 2007
Film Festival Tübingen 2007
Film Festival Braunschweig 2007

Peru 2004
Director: Josué Méndez
Producer: Chullachaki Producciones (Peru)
German Distributor: W-films
World Sales: Mil Colores Media / Cachoeira Films (Germany)

Funded in the WCF jury session in January 2005
Funding amount: 15,000 €

Synopsis
Santiago Roman, a rugged, 23-year-old soldier of the Peruvian Navy, returns home to Lima after years of fighting in the jungle. Combat-weary and searching for hope, Santiago is a member of a lost Peruvian generation – his spirit scared by futile wars with Ecuador and constant fighting against terrorists and drug traffickers. He quickly finds his native Lima an unwelcoming place – his army buddies have taken to bankrobbing, the decadent club scene offers only noise and lights; prospective employers won’t hire him, his applications for credit are refused. But worst of all, Santiago learns that his friends, family and his young, professional wife have become decadent or distant – and that they are, each in another way, unable to understand him. As his troubles converge in the film’s riveting climax, Dias de Santiago asks the question of escape for a discharged soldier, who returns home full of hope, but finds only disappointment and inner turmoil.

World premiere
International Film Festival Rotterdam 2004

Theatrical release in Germany
Dec 8, 2005

Festivals (selection)
BAFICI Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema 2004
Rotterdam International Film Festival 2004
Lima Latin American Film Festival 2004
Fribourg International Film Festival 2004
Valladolid International Film Festival 2004
Transilvania International Film Festival 2004
Toronto International Film Festival 2004
Karlovy Vary Film Festival 2004
Hong Kong International Film Festival 2005
Toulouse Latin America Film Festival 2004
Rencontres Internationales de Cinéma à Paris 2004
Gindou Film Festival 2004
Nantes Festival of 3 Continents 2004
Seattle International Film Festival 2005

Awards (selection)
FIPRESCI Preis / Grand Prix, Fribourg International Film Festival 2004
Best Actor for Pietro Sibille, Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema 2004
Best Actor / Critics Award, Lima Latin American Film Festival 2004
Transilvania Trophy by Transilvania International Film Festival 2004

Rights sold to
Germany, USA, Chile, Peru, France, Switzerland

Autonomous Region of Kurdistan/France/Germany 2006
Director: Hiner Saleem
Producer: Mitosfilm (Germany), Novociné (France)
German distributor: Mitosfilm
World Sales: Mitosfilm

Funded in the WCF jury meetings in October 2006
Distribution Funding: 8,000 €

Synopsis
His wedding escalates into an armed skirmish with a Turkish military unit, so Turkish Kurd Azad flees into the neighboring Kurdish autonomous zone in northern Iraq. On his odyssey he runs into compatriots who symbolize the contemporary fate of Kurds between oppression, exile, and "nation building" in the most various ways.
In the geographical and human "Bermuda Triangle" (Hiner Saleem) between Turkey, Iraq, and Iran, the battles for and against the founding of a Kurdish state take place. Dol shows the scars that this process has left behind, describes the founding of a state that is not one - also because its protagonists show themselves to be incapable of accepting their own history beyond handed-down role playing. Landscapes and people open a powerful panorama of images, on which frames of mind and individual fates are mapped out like parables between the barren spreads of desert and the narrowness of deep, rocky valleys. Dol uses minimalistic lyricism and spot-on grotesque humor to open up a whole kaleidoscope of social orientation.

World premiere
Berlin International Film Festival 2007, Forum

Theatrical release in Germany
April 2007

Rights sold to
France, Germany

Uruguay 2009
Director: Adrián Biniez (Argentina)
Producer: ControlZ Films (Argentina)
German distributor: Neue Visionen Filmverleih

Funded in the WCF jury meeting in July 2009
Distribution Funding: 10,000 €

Synopsis
Jara, who is 35, is a shy and lonely man who works in a suburb of Monte - video as supermarket security guard. It’s his job to keep an eye on the security cameras installed throughout the building. He doesn’t have a great deal to do because he works the graveyard shift when the store is like a ghost town. This gives him plenty of time to pursue his favourite pastimes: watching videos, doing crossword puzzles or listening to music. And so his life continues – until one day Julia enters his field of vision. Julia, who is 25, works at the supermarket as a cleaner. Jara immediately feels a strong attraction towards her. At first he spends hour after hour in front of the security monitors watching her work. But, before long, he begins to follow her after work: when she goes to the cinema, to the beach and even when she meets another man. His whole life gradually begins to revolve around Julia’s daily routine. One day rumours begin to spread among the staff that the company intends to lay off some of the workers. Some people are indeed made redundant – one of them is Julia. Jara now has a difficult decision to make. Should he drop his obsession? Or should he admit his feelings to Julia?

World premiere
February 2009, Berlin International Film Festival, Competition

Release in German cinemas
October 2009

Rights sold to
Germany, Argentina, Denmark, Brazil, Norway, Poland, The Netherlands, USA

Festivals (Selection)
Berlin International Film Festival 2009
San Sebastián International Film Festival 2009
Lima Latin American Film Festival 2009
Havana Film Festival 2009
BAFICI Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema 2009
Toronto International Film Festival
Karlovy Vary International Film Festival

Awards
Silver Bear (Jury Grand Prix) / Alfred Bauer Prize / Best First Feature Award, Berlin International Film Festival 2009
Horizons Award, San Sebastián International Film Festival 2009

Chile 2009
Director: Alejandro Fernández Almendras
Producer: Jirafa Films (Chile), Charivari Films (France), Pandora Film (Germany)
German WCF partner: Pandora Film
German distributor: Kairos Filmverleih
World sales: Films Distribution

Funded in the WCF jury meetings in November 2006 and in January 2011
Production funding: 50,000 €
Distribution funding: 5,000 €

Synopsis
On a long and eventful day, four members of a southern Chilean peasant family (Pedro and his wife Olga, their daughter Marta and their grandson Rodrigo) struggle to adapt to the changing world in which they live in; a world where a Gameboy or a new dress can be as precious as a litre of milk or a glass of wine; where the boundaries between tradition and modernity are quickly disappearing.

Director's Note
“With a mix of candor, empathy and simplicity, Huacho depicts a day in the life of four members of a peasant family who live on the outskirts of the city of Chillán, in the south of Chile, dealing with the many transformations of the life of the peasantry at the turn of the century.”

World premiere
Cannes International Film Festival 2009, Semaine de la Critique

Key festivals and awards
Munich International Film Festival 2009
Jerusalem International Film Festival 2009
Toronto International Film Festival 2009

Theatrical release in Germany
Mai 19, 2011

Iran 2010
Director: Rafi Pitts
Producers: AFTAB Negaran Film Production Institute (Iran), Twenty Twenty Vision (Germany)
German WCF partner: Twenty Twenty Vision
German Distributor: Neue Visionen Filmverleih
World Sales: The Match Factory (Germany)

Funded in the WCF jury meetings in November 2007 and in January 2010
Production funding: 50,000 €
Distribution funding: 10,000 €

Synopsis
Ali, a young mechanic, likes to go hunting. He works hard, stays out late, yet cares for his beautiful wife, Sara, and his daughter, Lilly. He tries to keep them happy, even though life is a struggle.
One day after work Ali returns home, only to find out that his wife and daughter have gone missing. He goes to a police station, and after a long period of waiting and frustration amidst chaos, he is told that in a local police shootout Sara was accidentally killed, and Lilly is still missing.
The search for Lilly sends Ali into the depths of despair, ending in more horror when her dead body is discovered.In an act of vengeance, Ali randomly kills two police officers on a highway. He becomes a fugitive. Ali flees towards the northern forest. On the highway a police patrol car follows him. There is pursuit. There is a chase. Ali’s car crashes. He runs into the forest for refuge.
Ali is captured by two officers, Hassan and Nazem. The two police officers guard him closely. Now that he is caught, Ali is resigned to his fate and walks without concern. The three men are surrounded by trees, the woods. They lose their way, and spend the night in a small cabin. It becomes clear to Ali that Hassan and Nazem loathe each other. Hassan then makes Ali a proposal: if he kills Nazem, he can walk free. In the desolate landscape, the boundaries between the hunter and the hunted are difficult to perceive.

World Premiere
Berlin International Film Festival 2010, Competition

Theatrical release in Germany
April 8, 2010

Key festivals and awards
Berlin International Film Festival 2010
Hong Kong International Film Festival 2010
Melbourne International Film Festival 2010
Toronto International Film Festival 2010
Viennale 2010

Indonesia
Director: Edwin
German distributor: Neue Visionen Filmverleih GmbH
World sales: The Match Factory

Funded in the WCF Jury meeting in May 2012
Funding amount: 7,000 €

Synopsis
Abandoned in a zoo by her father when she was a little girl, Lana grew up surrounded by animals, gates and the sounds of a subdued wilderness. Raised by animal trainers, the zoo is the only world she knows. She learns to appreciate the graceful steps of the hippo, the elegance of the giraffe, the dignity of an elephant flipping its ears. One day, a handsome young man enters her world, a charismatic cowboy who knows some magical tricks. Lana falls in love. She becomes the magician’s assistant and at his side, she leaves the zoo for the very first time. But one day, during one of his performances, the magician disappears. Lana is then sold to work in an erotic massage parlour. In her heart she sadly longs for the magician and the animals that used to make her world one full of meaning. Between the remembrance of things past and the desire to find her own path, Lana has to make up her mind.

World premiere
Berlin International Film Festival 2012, Competition

Theatrical release in Germany
September 13, 2012

Key festivals and awards
Asian and Arab Competition Award, Cinefan – Festival of Asian and Arab Cinema 2012
Hong Kong International Film Festival 2012
Tribeca 2012
Edward Yang New Talent Award - Asian Film Awards 2012

Iraq/Kurdistan 2009
Director: Shawkat Amin Korki
Producers: Shawkat Amin Korki, Narin Film, NHK
German distributor: Mîtosfilm
World sales: Shawkat Amin Korki

Funded in the WCF Jury meeting in 2010
Funding amount: 8,000 €

Synopsis
Kirkuk, Iraq after the downfall of the Saddam Hussein Regime: About 300 Kurdish, Arabic and Turkish Refugees have taken possession of a big open air soccer stadium, hoping to return to their destroyed homes as soon as the bombings outside have stopped. They all try to establish a normal life in the stadium, ignoring the conflicts and the warlike situations in the city around them. Asu lives here with his mother and his younger brother, who lost a leg from a landmine. Together with his friend Sako, Asu wants to organise a soccer championship for the Kurdish and Arabic refugee children. By this means, he hopes to cheer up his brother and win the love of a beautiful girl named Hilin.

World premiere
October 10, 2009, Pusan International Film Festival

Theatrical release in Germany
February 10, 2011

Awards
Pusan International Film Festival 2009
New Currents Award Fipresci Price, Dubai International Film Festival 2009
Special Mentions Festivals Pusan International Film Festival 2009
Dubai International Film Festival 2009

Rights sold
Switzerland, Austria, South Korea, Japan, Germany

Argentina 2007
Director: Santiago Otheguy
Producers: Polar Films / Morocha Films (Argentina) Onyx Films / Big World (France)
German distributor: Salzgeber & Co. Medien
World sales: MK2 (France)

Funded in the WCF jury meeting in February 2007
Funding amount: 5,000 €

Synopsis
The Paraná Delta. Surrounded by a labyrinth of waterways that meander through the lush wilderness, Alvaro lives a simple, lonely life harvesting reeds and going fishing. In this remote area of Argentina lost in time, Alvaro’s homosexuality and his love for books aggravates his isolation. The only link between this boundless territory and the city is the “El León” water-taxi. Its captain, El Turu, is a violent and intolerant man. He feels threatened by Alvaro’s difference and is set on harassing him. But El Turu’s scorn masks an inner turmoil…

World Premiere
Berlin International Film Festival 2007, Panorama

Theatrical release in Germany
November 15, 2007

Key festivals and awards
Special Jury Mention, TEDDY 21 Queer Film Award, Berlin International Film Festival 2007
Sydney International Film Festival 2007
Paris Cinéma 2007
Silver Colón for Best Cinematography, Huelva Latin American Film Festival 2007
Best Feature Film, Torino International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival 2008

Kyrgyzstan 2010
Director: Aktan Arym Kubat (aka: Aktan Abdykalykov)
Production: A.S.A.P. Films Paris (France), Oy Art Production Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan)
German WCF partner: Pallas Films
World sales: The Match Factory (Germany)

Funded in WCF jury session in June 2006
Funding: 70,000 €

Synopsis
They call him “Svet-ake” (“Mr. Light”). The electrician is responsible for bringing more than just light to the people around him. Like moths, everybody is drawn to his kindness: those with short circuits in their electricity, and those with short circuits in their marriage, those who have taken all the power in the city, and those who have given up the will to live. He helps everyone and is everywhere. He doesn’t even shy from breaking the law, rewinding an old and lonely pensioner’s electricity meter so that he doesn’t owe the State, but rather the State owes him. The economic devastation of the country has had an enormous impact on the working people and yet despite the upheaval they have not lost the ability to love, to suffer, to share their lives with friends, and enjoy what they have …

World premiere
Cannes International Film Festival 2010, Quinzaine des Réalisateurs

Festivals
Locarno International Film Festival 2010
Toronto International Film Festival 2010
Sao Paolo International Film Festival 2010
Thessaloniki International Film Festival 2010
Doha Tribeca 2010

Theatrical release in Germany
April 14, 2011

Argentina 2008
Director: Pablo Trapero
Producers: Matanza Cine (Argentina)
German Distributor: MFA + FilmDistribution e.K.
World sales: Finecut Co., Ltd. (Korea)

Funded in WCF jury session in December 2008
Funding amount: 10,000 €

Synopsis
Julia wakes up in her apartment, next to the bloody bodies of Ramiro and Nahuel. Ramiro is still alive; Nahuel is dead. Both have been, secretly and simultaneously, her lovers and one is the father of her unborn child.
Julia is sent to a prison housing mothers and pregnant inmates. Two characters enter her life. One is Marta, a fellow inmate who becomes Julia’s guide and counsellor; the other is Sofia, Julia’s mother, an ambiguous character who Julia encounters again after many years. Sofia attempts to repair the mistakes of the past; she gets Julia a good lawyer, sends her baby clothes, and slowly re-establishes their relationship.
The legal case involving the death of Nahuel has two possible guilty parties: Julia and Ramiro, both in prison in different penitentiaries. Their testimonies are contradictory, one incriminating the other. Julia gives birth to Tomas. She understands that the only thing that matters to her is this new being that accompanies her now. Julia decides to visit Ramiro. The events of the night of the crime remain muddled for both, just as their feelings towards each other. In the trial, Ramiro’s testimony will prove crucial in determining Julia’s sentence.
Her friend Marta becomes her ally while her mother Sofia becomes her opponent. Marta attempts to teach her how be a mother to her child in the least appropriate place, Sofia wishes to take over the child’s upbringing, so that he can grow up outside prison, in freedom. The duel between Julia and Sofia expresses the dilemma of what is better for the child, to be brought up in prison next to his mother or without her, but in freedom. After several years in prison, Julia, grown accustomed to the prison environment, has become hard, a woman who must struggle to recover her freedom and that of her son.

World premiere
Cannes International Film Festival 2008, Competition

Theatrical release in Germany
June 4, 2009

Awards
Best Actress, Best Cinematography, Best Screenplay, Elcine First Prize (Best Film), Lima Latin American Film Festival 2008
Best Art Direction, Special Jury Prize, Havana Film Festival 2008
Festivals Cannes International Film Festival 2008
Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2008
Lima Latin American Film Festival 2008
Toronto International Film Festival 2008
Helsinki International Film Festival 2008
Reykjavik International Film Festival 2008
Havana Film Festival 2008

Rights sold to
Argentina, Spain, Brazil, France, The Netherlands, Belgium, Greece, Germany, Poland

Argentina 2004
Director: Daniel Burman
Producer: BD Cine Srl, Buenos Aires
German distributor: Pegasos Film
World Sales: Bavaria Media

Funded in the WCF jury session of January 2005
Funding amount: 15,000 €

Synopsis
Ariel’s world is a small, rather run-down shopping centre in downtown Buenos Aires. All day long one can hear the cries of Italian storekeepers, watch Koreans selling feng shui articles or observe Osvaldo, who can’t seem to shift any of his wares. Ariel’s mother runs a women’s lingerie shop and his brother is in the import-export business. His is a cosy little world - albeit one without much of a future.
Many young people of Ariel’s age are busy tracing their ethnic roots in the hope of obtaining the foreign travel documents that will open the doors to the big, wide world. Ariel’s interests, however, lie elsewhere. Ariel’s grandparents came to Argentina from Poland to escape the Holocaust; but Ariel wants more than a Polish passport. What preoccupies him is why his father left the family to go and fight for Israel shortly after Ariel was born. And why did he never come back? Moreover, why does his father’s absence appear to be of little or no interest to his mother and his brothers?
And then, one day, his father suddenly appears before him. At long last, father can enfold son in a long-overdue embrace. And what’s more, Ariel finally gets to hear the whole story …

World premiere
Berlin International Film Festival 2004, Competition

Theatrical release in Germany
August 3, 2005

Awards
Best Actor and Jury Grand Prix, Berlin International Film Festival 2004
Sociedad General de Autores Españoles award, International Film Festival Habana
Canal Plus Award for the Best Unpublished Script
Best Camera Award by Anonimul International Film Festival 2005
Best Supporting Actress Adriana Aizemberg Argentinean Film Critics Association Awards Silver Condor 2005
Best Film, Bangkok World Film Festival 2004
Best Film, Clarin Entertainment Awards 2004
Best Director, Best Film, Lleida Latin-American Film Festival 2004

Rights sold to
Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Colombia, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, The Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, UK, USA

Festivals (selection)
Berlin International Film Festival 2004
International Film Festival Rotterdam 2005
Pusan International Film Festival 2004
Chicago International Film Festival 2004
São Paulo International Film Festival 2004
Toulouse Latin America Film Festival 2004
NatFilm Festival, Denmark 2004
Wellington Film Festival, New Zealand 2004
Helsinki International Film Festival
Warsaw Film Festival 2004
Bangkok World Film Festival 2004
London Film Festival 2004
Wisconsin Film Festival 2005

Peru 2006
Director: Claudia Llosa
Production: Wanda Visión
German distributor: Kairos-Filmverleih
World sales: The Match Factory (Germany)

Funded in the WCF jury meeting in August 2006
Funding amount: 10,000 €

Synopsis
The film is set in Manayacuna, a remote village hidden in the rugged, windblown, mountainously scenic Peruvian hinterland. The village has developed a distorted, idiosyncratic form of Catholicism over the years and decades: though there is an ornate church, there is no priest. There are also no telephones, and the only link with the outside is a talkative van-driver known as “the mute” who pays regular visits.On one of such visits he brings a curious traveller from Lima: a photographer named Salvador (Carlos de la Torre) arrives in this world of poverty and opulent religious rituals. Hitching from Lima to his job at a mine, Salvador is stopped by a flooded-out road. Dumped in the small village, populated entirely by Peruvians of Incan descent, outsider Salvador is immediately jailed by the drunken townsman, because of “Tiempo Santo”, until Cayo (Ubaldo Huaman), the mayor agrees to give him lodging in his barn.

World premiere
International Film Festival Rotterdam 2006

Theatrical release in Germany
November 9, 2006

Award
Roberto Tato Miller Award, Best Latin American Film Feature 2006

Rights sold to
France, Germany, Switzerland, USA

Festivals
International Film Festival Rotterdam 2006
Sundance Film Festival 2006
Mar del Plata Film Festival 2006
Toulouse Latin America Film Festival 2006
Málaga Film Festival 2006
Seattle International Film Festival 2006
Edinburgh Film Festival 2006

Brazil 2003
Director: Jorge Furtado
Producer: Globo Filmes, Casa de Cinema de Porto Alegre (Brazil)
German distributor: Kool Film, Cologne
World sales: Casa de Cinema de Porto Alegre (Brazil)

Funded in the WCF jury session in October 2005
Funding: 7,500 €

Synopsis
André works in a copy shop, whiling away his time chatting with his colleague Marines, and drawing comics after work. He is secretly in love with his neighbour Sylvia, but is too shy to approach her. As he begins to counterfeit money, he meets Marines’ boyfriend Cardoso. To escape their drab lives, the four young people prepare to commit a bank robbery…

World premiere
Filmfest Hamburg 2003

Theatrical release in Germany
Sep 1, 2005

Awards (selection)
2004 Winner of Cinema Brazil Grand Prize in six categories, including Best Director and Best Picture
Winner of Best Film, São Paulo Association of Art Critics Awards 2004
Winner of Elcine Second Prize, Lima Latin American Film Festival 2004
Winner of Silver Crow Pheasant, Kerala International Film Festival 2003
Best actor, Havana Film Festival 2003

Rights sold to
Germany, Brazil, USA, Switzerland

Festivals
Filmfest Hamburg 2003
Film by the Sea Film Festival 2004
Paris Brazilian Film Festival 2004
Toulouse Latin America Film Festival 2004
Tbilisi International Film Festival 2005
ERA New Horizons Film Festival 2005

Distributors
Columbia Pictures do Brasil
TLA Releasing (USA)

Peru 2009
Director: Claudia Llosa
Producers: Wanda Vision / Oberon Cinematográfica (Spain), Vela Films (Peru)
German WCF partner: The Match Factory
World sales: The Match Factory (Germany)
German distributor: Neue Visionen Filmverleih
Funded in the WCF jury meetings in November 2006 and in November 2009
Production funding: 50,000 €
Distribution funding: 10,000 €

Synopsis
Fausta (Magaly Solier) suffers from the "scared breast", a strange illness that is transmitted by mothers who have been raped or mistreated during their pregnancy or nursing period. The children of these women are irremediably infected by their milk and inherit a terrible atavistic fear. Fausta’s illness manifests itself in the form of haemorrhages or bleeding during moments of crisis or extreme tension. Fausta also keeps a secret she won’t reveal until her mother’s death will unleash a series of unexpected events that will change her life.

Rights sold to
Peru, Spain, Germany

World premiere
Berlin International Film Festival 2009, Competition

Key festivals and awards
Golden Bear for the Best Film, Berlin International Film Festival 2009
Best Ibero-American Picture, Guadalajara International Film Festival 2009
Best Film Award, Best Director Award, Best Actress Award, Best Film Award of the Film Students Jury, Festival de Cinema de Gramado 2009
Nomination Academy Awards USA for Best Foreign Language Film 2010

Theatrical release in Germany
November 5, 2009

Awards
Golden Bear, Berlin International Film Festival 2009

Senegal 2004
Director: Ousmane Sembene
Producers: Filmi Domireew (Senegal), Cine-Sud (France)
German distributor: Neue Visionen Filmverleih
World Sales: Wide Management (France)

Funded in the WCF jury session in February 2006
Funding amount: 15,000 €

Synopsis
The film is a parable about the tradition of genital mutilation of young girls in Africa as well as the courageous battle of young women against the current use of this ritual. Four girls who refuse to subject themselves to the practice seek protection with a strong-willed woman who protected her own daughter from genital mutilation. When other inhabitants of the village and their relatives want to force her to hand over the girls, she invokes the time-honoured practice of "Moolaadé", which offers inviolable shelter and refuge. Even when the marriage of her own daughter is endangered by her courageous conduct, she sticks to her position.

World premiere
Cannes International Film Festival 2004, Official Programme

Theatrical release in Germany
May 11, 2006

Awards (selection)
Un Certain Regard, Cannes 2004
Jury Award, Los Angeles Pan African Film Festival 2005
Best Foreign Language Film, National Society of Film Critics, USA, 2005

Rights sold to
Austria, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Switzerland, USA

Festivals (selection)
Cannes International Film Festival 2004
Toronto International Film Festival 2004
Telluride Film Festival 2004
Rotterdam International Film Festival 2005
Pusan International Film Festival 2004
Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema 2005
Chicago International Film Festival 2004
Hong Kong International Film Festival 2005
London Film Festival 2004
La Rochelle Film Festival 2004
Brussels Cinédécouvertes Film Festival 2004
Paris Quinzaine du Cinéma Francophone 2004
New York Film Festival 2004
Milwaukee International Film Festival 2004
Amiens International Film Festival 2004
Marrakech International Film Festival 2004
Reykjavik International Film Festival 2005
Los Angeles Pan African Film Festival 2005

Iran 2011
Director/Producer: Asghar Farhadi
German distributor: Alamode Films
World Sales: Mémento Films International

Funded in the WCF jury meeting in June 2011
Distribution funding: 7,500 €

Synopsis
Simin wants to leave Iran with her husband Nader and daughter Termeh. She has already made all the necessary arrangements. Nader, however, is having second thoughts. He is worried leaving behind his father, who is suffering from Alzheimer’s. For this reason he decides to call off the trip together.
As a result of Nader’s decision, Simin decides to sue for divorce at the family court. When her request is rejected, however she refuses to live with Nader, moving instead into her parent’s home. Nader finds it difficult to cope with the new situation. And so he hires a young woman named Razieh to look after his father. This young woman is pregnant and has accepted the job without the husband’s knowledge. One day, Nader arrives home to find that not only has his father been left alone, he has also been tied to a cable! When Razieh returns , a blazing row ensues, the tragic consequences of which not only shatter Nader’s life, but also the image his daughter Termeh has of her father.

World premiere
Fajr Film Festival Iran, January 2011

Theatrical release in Germany
July 14, 2011

Festivals & Awards (selection)
Berlin International Film Festival 2011 (Golden Berlin Bear)
Sydney Film Festival 2011 (Official Competition Award Best Film)
Saint Petersburg IFF 2011 (Grand Prix Best Film)
Durban International Film Festival 2011 (Best Film)
San Sebastian International Film Festival
Toronto International Film Festival

Academy Award for the Best Foreign Language Film 2012

Peru 2010
Directors: Daniel and Diego Vega
Producers: Maretazo Cine (Peru)
German distributor: Neue Visionen Film Verleih
World Sales: UMedia Distribution (France)

Funded in the WCF Jury meeting in 2010
Funding Amount: 7,000 €

Synopsis
Clemente, an extremely quiet pawnbroker, is Sofia´s hope to avoid solitude. Being his neighbour and a single woman, she spends her days as an October worshipper of the Lord of the Miracles. One day, Clemente is left with a newborn baby. While he looks for the baby´s mother, a prostitute, Sofia joyfully
starts taking care of this baby in Clemente´s house. Clemente will thus discover emotional attachments he never had.

World premiere
Cannes International Film Festival 2010, Un Certain Regard

Theatrical release in Germany
October 10, 2010

Awards
Un Certain Regard, Cannes 2010
Jury Prize, Odessa Film Festival 2010
Special Jury Price, Motovun Film Festival 2010
Best Film, Pacific Meridien Vladivostok International Film Festival 2010
Best Actor Award for Carlos Gassols

Festivals (Selection)
Cannes International Film Festival 2010
Karlovy, Vary International Film Festival 2010
Odessa Film Festival 2010
Motovun Film Festival 2010
SANFIC 2010
Toronto International Film Festival 2010
Pacific Meridien Vladivostok
International Film Festival 2010
San Sebastian International Film Festival 2010
Riga “Arsenals” 2010
Beirut International Film Festival 2010

Rights sold to
Germany, France

Lebanon 2008
Documentary
Director: Simon El Habre (Lebanon)
Producers: Beirut DC (Lebanon) and Mec Film (Germany)
German distributor: Mec Film
World sales: mec film (Germany)

Funded in the WCF jury meeting in June 2009
Distribution Funding: 7,500 €

Synopsis

Semaan El Habre, the filmmaker’s uncle, is the sole inhabitant of the village of Ain El-Halazoun. In 1982, the civil war in Lebanon forced the villagers to leave; their houses were destroyed in the conflict. Only Semaan has returned for good. For the past five years he has been living in a house surrounded by ruins, with only his animals and his memories for company. The scars left by the war are not immediately obvious. At first sight, life in the deserted ghost village seems rather idyllic: a snow-covered mountain panorama, a small farm, a content man who loves his cows and who always has a humorous remark on the tip of his tongue. Only gradually do the scars inflicted by the war come to the surface: in the scenery, the history of the El Habre family and in Semaan’s personal life. Each story in the film provides a glimpse of the history of Lebanon and the situation of a country half-way between forgetting and remembering. A film in which horror and beauty, pain and poetry are side by side. An unobtrusive reflection on origins, ties forged with places and people, the consequences of war and the attempt to accept painful memories as part of one’s life.

World premiere
October 2008

Theatrical release in Germany
September 10, 2009

Awards
International Film Festival Dubai, Special Jury Prize Documentary, Muhr Awards
Special Mention, One World Festival Prague
International Competition Best feature length documentary, Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival
Silver Hawk, Arab Film Festival Rotterdam

Festivals (selection in 2009)
Berlinale International Film Festival
Dox-Box Damascus; International Film
Festival of Mediterranean Cinema Tétouan
Doc à Tunis
Visions du Réel Nyon
Special Screening Eurodoc
Minneapoli / St. Paul International Film Festival
Jeonju International Film Festival
Edinburgh International Film Festival
Golden Apricot Film Festival Yerevan
FID Marseille; Mediteran Film Festival
Split International Film Festival for New Media
Vancouver International Film Festival
Mediterranean Film Festival Montpellier
Filmfestival of Contemporary Arab Cinema Bogota
Silk Road Film Festival Bursa
Free Zone Human Rights Film Festival
Hot Docs
One World Festival Prague
ArabFilm Festival Rotterdam
DOK.fest Munich

Turkey 2008
Director: Yesim Ustaoğlu
Producers: Ustaoğlu Film Yapim (Turkey), Silkroad Production (France), Les Petites Lumières (France), Stromboli Pictures (Belgium), The Match Factory (Germany)
World sales: The Match Factory
German distributor: Kairos Film
Funded in the WCF jury meetings in June 2008 and in November 2009
Production funding: 25,000 €
Distribution funding: 8,000 €

Synopsis
Three 40-something siblings in Istanbul each receive a call one night: their aging mother has disappeared from her home on the western Black Sea coast of Turkey. The three meet and set out to find her, momentarily setting aside their individual problems. As the siblings come together, the tensions between them quickly become apparent, like a Pandora’s box spilling open.
They come to realize that they are very ignorant of each other, and are forced to reflect on their own shortcomings.

World premiere
Toronto International Film Festival 2008, Visions

Rights sold to
Bangladesh, Belgium, Bhutan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Central America, Colombia, Croatia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, France, Germany, Greece, India, Japan, Kosovo, Latin America, Macedonia, Montenegro, Pakistan, Puerto Rico, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Turkey

Theatrical release in Germany
26 November 2009

Awards
Golden Shell for Best Film, Silver Shell for Best Actress, San Sebastián Film Festival 2008
Best Supporting Actress, Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival 2008
Best Actress Award, Amiens Film Festival 2008

Festivals
Toronto International Film Festival 2008
San Sebastián Film Festival 2008
Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival 2008
Amiens Film Festival 2008
Göteborg International Film Festival 2009

Thailand 2010
Director: Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Producers: Kick The Machine Films (Thailand), Illuminations Films (UK), The Match Factory (Germany)
World sales: The Match Factory (Germany)
German WCF partner: The Match Factory

Funded in the WCF jury meetings in October 2008 and in 2010
Production funding: 60,000 €
Distribution funding: 10,000 €

Synopsis
Uncle Boonmee is suffering from kidney failure. As an avid practitioner of Yoga, he is well aware of his body. He knows that he will die in 48 hours. He calls his distant relatives to take him back from hospital to die at home. There, they are greeted by the ghost of his deceased wife, who has re-appeared to take care of him. His lost son also returns from the jungle in an ape-like form. The son has mated with a creature known as a ‘monkey ghost’ and has lived in the trees with her for the past 15 years.
On the first night, Boonmee talks about his six past lives that he remembers. On a second night, while the ghost wife is doing his kidney dialysis, Boonmee has a sudden urge to visit a place she has mentioned. So the group takes a journey into the jungle at night. It is full of animals and spirits. They finally reach a cave on top of the hill. Boonmee realizes that this is the cave in which he was born in the first life that he can remember. Then he passes away, taking with him tales that span hundreds of years.

Director’s note
A few years ago I visited a temple near my home and a monk there gave me a little book called “A Man who Can Recall his Past Lives.” In it, the monk wrote about Boonmee, who could recall his multiple lives in the cities of the northeast. The book is an inspiration for this film and an installation, which, like my other films, focuses on memory. During this time when rapid annihilation processes of everything from species to cultures have become commonplace, it is important to simply remember.

World premiere
Cannes International Film Festival 2010, Competition

Theatrical release in Germany
September 30, 2010

Awards
Palme d'Or, Cannes Film Festival 2010

Rights sold to
Germany, Austria, Switzerland, UK, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Benelux, Bosnia, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Baltic States, CIS, Greece, Turkey, Syria, Israel, Canada, USA, South America, Brazil, Mexico,Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Australia / New Zealand

Festivals (selection)
Cannes International Film Festival 2010
Sydney International Film Festival 2010
Munich International Film Festival 2010
Jerusalem International Film Festival 2010
Melbourne International Film Festival 2010
Sarajevo International Film Festival 2010
Toronto International Film Festival 2010
New York International Film Festival 2010
Sitges International Film Festival 2010
London International Film Festival 2010
Viennale 2010
São Paolo International Film Festival 2010
Tallinn Black Nights International Film Festival 2010
Tokyo Filmex 2010
Dubai International Film Festival 2010
Thessaloniki International Film Festival 2010

Jordan 2007
Documentary
Director: Mahmoud Al Massad
Producers: iSee Film (Jordan, Netherlands), mec film (Germany), Jo Film (Jordan)
German WCF partner and distributor: mec film
World sales: Wide Management (France)

Supported during the WCF jury session in November 2006 and in June 2008
Production Funding: 30,000 €
Distribution Funding 10,000 €

Synopsis
What makes a terrorist? In Zarqa, Jordan’s second largest city with a population of nearly one million, it is a much-debated question. Zarqa’s political Islamists are a powerful force in this industrial center, and Zarqa was the birthplace of Abu Musa al Zarqawi, a brutal Al Qaeda leader in Mesopotamia before being killed by American forces in 2005. Al Zarqawi was well-known in the city and many of his family members remain, making Zarqawi a continual source of new recruits to the Jihadist cause. Inspired by his reporting on al Zarqawi and Al Quaeda for international news agencies, filmmaker al Massad returned to Zarqa, where he grew up, to make Recycle. With ravishing cinematography that belies the unforgiving landscape, Jordanian-Palestinian filmmaker Mahmoud al Massad charts the daily life of a religious Islamic man trying to survive in one of Zarqa’s poorest neighborhoods. In a deceptively calm manner, the film slowly unravels the hidden agents of terrorism: poverty, humiliation, lack of opportunity and religious doctrine define the daily rhythms of a man and his family, all against the backdrop of an era when jihad that spans the globe. Unlike what is insinuated by the daily bombardment of dramatic headlines about Islam and the war on terror, Recycle suggests that evil acts can emerge from the most ordinary of circumstances.

World premiere
Dubai International Film Festival 2007, Muhr Awards, Official Competition for Documentaries

Rights sold to
Germany, Poland

Awards
Cinema in Motion Award, San Sebastián International Film Festival Work in Progress 2007
World Cinema Cinematography Award, Documentary – Sundance Film Festival 2008
Special Mention – Planete Doc Review, Warsaw Documentary FilmFestival 2008

Festivals
Dubai International Film Festival 2007
Sundance Film Festival 2008
International Film Festival Rotterdam 2008
Fribourg Film Festival 2008
Guadalajara International Film Festival 2008
BAFICI 2008
Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival 2008
San Francisco International Film Festival 2008
Yerevan International Film Festival 2008
Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival 2008
Vienna International Film Festival 2008
Ayam Beirut Al Cinema'iya (Les Journées Cinématographiques de Beyrouth) 2008

Chad 2010
Director: Haroun Mahamat-Saleh
Producer: Pili Films (France)
German Distributor: Cine Global

Funded in the WCF jury session January 2011
Funding Amount: 5,000 €

Synopsis
Present-day Chad. Adam, sixty something, a former swimming champion, is pool attendant at a smart N'Djamena hotel. When the hotel gets taken over by new Chinese owners, he is forced to give up his job to his son Abdel. Terribly resentful, he feels socially humiliated. The country is in the throes of a civil war. Rebel forces are attacking the government. The authorities demand that the population contribute to the "war effort", giving money or volunteers old enough to fight off the assailants. The District Chief constantly harasses Adam for his contribution. But Adam is penniless; he only has his son...

World premiere
Cannes International Film Festival 2010, Competition

Theatrical release in Germany
April 7, 2011

Key festivals and awards
Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2010
La Rochelle International Film Festival 2010
Durban International Film Festival 2010
Toronto International Film Festival 2010
Helsinki International Film Festival 2010
Warsaw Film Festival 2010
São Paulo International Film Festival 2010
Dubai International Film Festival 2010
Sundance Film Festival
Jury Prize, Cannes International Film Festival

Israel 2011
Director: Hagar Ben Asher
Producers: Transfax Films (Israel), Sophie Dulac Productions (France), Rohfilm (Germany)
German WCF partner: Rohfilm
Distributor: As2edition

Funded in the WCF Jury meeting in November 2009 and 2011
Production funding: 50,000 €
Distribution funding: 5,000 €

Synopsis
Tamar is 35 years old, proud and pretty and runs the village’s chicken farm. She no longer seeks redemption. Her behaviour is stuck. One man after another, a hand job, a blow job, and so on and on. She is also the mother of two girls, Mika (12) and Noa (8). On a gloomy wintry day a sweet man arrives in the village one who might comes to her rescue. Shai, a 38-year-old handsome veterinarian, comes to the village in order to sell his dead mother´s property. They meet. Shai, who hasn’t been to the village for years, is unaware that Tamar is still up to her old behaviour. Quickly enough, he reveals her way.
He doesn’t care. They fall in love. They become a couple rather quickly. He moves into his mother’s house, wishing to be as close as possible, the girls love him, he loves them back, and it all seems to be possible. Tamar stops her messing around. She gets pregnant, wishing to maintain this stability. But for Tamar it is not so simple to give up on her men … especially when they feel her drifting-away. Tamar is lost. She starts alienating herself from Shai and the girls, passing all domestic maternal responsibilities over to Shai. And she goes back to her path, tempting her forsaken lovers to want her again – only this time she makes it for Shai to see. He sees. He forgives. Tamar can’t bear his forgiveness and she has an abortion. Shai neglects his sick animals and narrows his entire being to surrounding and protecting the girls. They grow closer and closer while Tamar flows further away. The intimacy between Shai and the girls is growing. Tamar pays no notice. The thin boundaries between them become vague … Though not for Shai … who finds his erection to be as tangible as his repression. Shai sexually abuses Noa, the younger one of the girls. Tamar finds out by chance. Tamar relinquishes her motherhood, her womanhood and her life. Shai relinquishes his freedom. The girls remain lonely, raped and hurt. With a sealed future and a hard lesson. A warning they can now pass on to their own children …

Director’s note
Sex, violence, religion, motherhood, and the one thing which unites them all together – guilt – are the primal resources of this film. By combining these “pornographic” elements, a story of a family where the sexual abuse is metaphorically similar to a DNA thread will be told. This cheerful sympathetic Israeli village setting for a journey where a man full of fear is having his ego shattered and a woman so lonely realises she can show mercy and compassion only after destroying the good within the ones surrounding her. With a clear view, this film shows no victims and no desperate psychological motivations, just a physical animalistic being.

World premiere
Cannes International Film Festival 2011 (Semaine de la Critique)

Theatrical release in Germany
March, 29th, 2012

Key festivals and awards
Cannes International Film Festival 2011
International Women’s Film Festival Israel 2011

Argentina 2005
Director: Eduardo Mignogna
Producers: Retratos Producciones / Film Suez (Argentina), Tesela Producciones Cinematográficas (Spain)
German distributor: Arsenal Filmverleih
World Sales: Sogepac (Spain)

Funded in the WCF jury session in August 2006
Funding amount: 10,000 €

Synopsis
Pain, guilt and the search for happiness are the main premises of Frank’s (Federico Luppi) story – a cattle raiser who has never left his small town in Patagonia. The death of his daughter sends him to Buenos Aires and back into touch with his granddaughter Alina (Antonella Costa). Frank comes bearing not only the news of Alina’s mother’s death, but also his own forgotten memories and a secret he swore not to reveal that will have profound affects on Alina’s life.

World premiere
Argentina, August 2005

Theatrical release in Germany
October 12, 2006

Rights sold to
Argentina, Germany

Festivals
Palm Springs International Film Festival 2006
Transilvania International Film Festival Romania 2006
Espoo Film Festival Finland 2006
Film by the Sea Film Festival Netherlands 2006
Raindance Film Festival UK 2006

Morocco 2006
Director: Faouzi Bensaidi
Producer: HEIMATFILM
German distributor: Kairos Filmverleih
World Sales: Les Films Du Losange

Funded in the WCF jury session in May 2007
Funding amount: 7,500 €

Synopsis
Living in Casablanca, Kamel, a merciless hired killer, receives his orders by internet. He usually calls the prostitute Souad to make love after his hits, but one time by chance police woman Kenza answers the phone. Kamel soon finds himself falling in love with her voice. Meanwhile Hicham, a young amateur hacker looking for a passage to Europe, accidentally infiltrates Kamel’s orders.
In the unique atmosphere of a both archaic and modern city, this is a story of pursuit. Pursuit of real freedom and pursuit of strong feelings…

World Premiere
Venice International Film Festival 2006

Theatrical release in Germany
Dec 13, 2007

Rights sold to
Austria, France, Germany, Switzerland

Festivals
Venice International Film Festival 2006
Filmfest Hamburg 2007