World Cinema Fund News

After Minister of State for Cultural and Media Affairs Bernd Neumann came on board as a main sponsor of the World Cinema Fund for 2012 and 2013, the Executive Board of the German Federal Cultural Foundation (KSB) decided, in late 2012, it would continue funding the WCF for another five years, beginning in 2014. Thus the existence of the WCF – founded in October 2004 as a joint initiative of the Berlin International Film Festival and the KSB, in cooperation with the Goethe Institut and with the support of the German Federal Foreign Office – has now been secured until 2018.

After 2012, a year in which many WCF co-funded films had been screened successfully at dozens of festivals, a number of new WCF co-funded films played an important role at the Berlinale 2013: for example, the Kazakh production Uroki Garmonii (Harmony Lessons) by Emir Baigazin, the first feature film from this country that was shown in the Berlinale Competition; and the Mexican film Workers by José Luis Valle, which premiered in Panorama.

WCF films undergo the same selection process as all other Berlinale films. They are not given preferential treatment and are free to screen wherever they want, i.e., they are not obliged to have their international premieres at the Berlinale.

Latest Funding Decisions

The WCF jury made their selection from 95 submissions from a total of 37 countries and awarded production funds totalling 140,000 €. The jury members are film scholar and curator Viola Shafik (Germany/Egypt), documentary film producer Marta Andreu (Spain), distributor and producer Jan De Clercq (Belgium), and WCF project managers Sonja Heinen and Vincenzo Bugno.

Production funding:

• Flapping in the Middle of Nowhere, director: Diep Nguyen Hoang (Vietnam), production: VBLOCK Media, Vietnam. German Partner: Filmallee. Feature film. Funding: 50,000 €
• Historia del Miedo, director: Benjamin Naishtat (Argentina), production: Rei Cine SRL, Argentina. Feature film. Funding: 30,000 €
• Remote Control, director: Byamba Sakhya (Mongolia), production: Guru Media, Mongolia. German partner: Majade. Feature film. Funding: 30,000 €
• South Facing Wall, director: Elvent Kutlug Ataman (Turkey), production: Detail Film, Germany. Feature film. Funding: 30,000 €

WCF Review 2012

The World Cinema Fund (WCF) has had a history of success since its establishment in 2004. WCF-funded films are invited to major film festivals annually and enrich the landscape of international film, as the 2012 review confirms.

This year, seven WCF films have premiered at international film festivals so far, including Fernando Guzzoni's Carne de Perro (Chile), which received the New Directors Award at the San Sebastian Film Festival, and Tres by Pablo Stoll (Uruguay), which premiered at Cannes before being screened at Munich, Toronto and Amsterdam, among other festivals. El Bella Vista by Alicia Cano (Uruguay) premiered at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival and participated at festivals in San Sebastian, Chicago and Zurich. Turkish director Yessim Usataoglu showed Araf - Somewhere in Between at Venice, and I'm Going to Change my Name by Maria Saakyan from Armenia screened at the BFI London. Polvo by Julio Hernández Cordón (Guatemala) premiered at the Locarno Film Festival and later screened at Toronto, and Chilean director Esteban Larraín presented The Passion of Michelangelo in Rome.

Two WCF films that screened in the Berlinale programme were selected by their origin countries for the 2013 Academy Awards in the category "Best Foreign Language Film": Death for Sale by Faouzi Bensaidi (Panorama 2012) is Morocco's nominee, and Rosario García-Monteros's Las malas intenciones (Generation 2011) was submitted by Peru.

The WCF jury made their selection from 122 submissions from a total of 43 countries and awarded production funds totalling 157,000 €. Jury members are film scholar and curator Viola Shafik (Germany/Egypt), documentary producer Marta Andreu (Spain), distributor and producer Jan De Clercq (Belgium) and WCF project managers Sonja Heinen and Vincenzo Bugno.

Production funding:

• NN, director: Héctor Gálvez & Adrián Campos (Peru), producer: Piedra Alada Producciones SAC, Peru. German Partner: Autentika Films. Feature film. Funding: 40.000 €
• Harmony Lessons, director: Emir Baigazin (Kazakhstan), producer: LL Adigul Production Studio, Kazakhstan. Feature film. Funding: 40.000 €
• Mohammad Saved from the Waters, director: Safaa Fathy (Egypt), producer: Zero Production, Egypt. Documentary film. Funding: 30.000 €
• Refugiado, director: Diego Lerman (Argentina), producer: Campo Cine SRL, Argentinien. German Partner: 27 Films Production. Feature film. Funding: 40.000 €

Distribution funding:

• Postcards from the Zoo, director: Edwin (Indonesia), distributor: Neue Visionen Filmverleih GmbH. Funding: 7.000 €. Release Date: 13.09.2012