Press Releases 2013

After Minister of State for Cultural and Media Affairs Bernd Neumann came on board as a main sponsor of the World Cinema Fund (WCF) 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.

“Thanks to initial funding from the KSB, we could launch the World Cinema Fund in 2004. Now, once again, we owe it to the KSB, its Executive Board and, above all, Minister Bernd Neumann’s support, that we will be able to continue this successful project until 2018,” comments Berlinale Director Dieter Kosslick.

“Without the World Cinema Fund, the cinema landscape in Germany would be greatly lacking in diversity. In an exemplary manner, the WCF ensures that excellent films which tell of other lesser-known regions get made and reach our screens. The WCF is a highly esteemed international success story. And the cooperation between the Berlinale and the Federal Cultural Foundation is a positive model for the internationalisation of Germany’s cinema landscape,” says Hortensia Völckers, Artistic Director of the Federal Cultural Foundation.

Berlinale 2013: WCF co-funded films in the Competition and Panorama
After 2012, a year in which many WCF co-funded films screened successfully at dozens of festivals, a number of new WCF co-funded films will play an important role at this year’s Berlinale: for example, the Kazakh production Harmony Lessons by Emir Baigazin, the first feature film from this country to be shown in the Berlinale Competition; and the Mexican film Workers by José Luis Valle, which is premiering 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.

World Cinema Fund Day during the Berlinale 2013
Two WCF Spotlights (WCF film series and workshops in collaboration with local festivals and the Goethe Institut) were held in Havana/Cuba and Hanoi/Vietnam in 2012. This year’s World Cinema Fund Day will also be devoted to these countries.

Wednesday, February 13, 2013 at 11.00 am
at the Filmmuseum Berlin – Deutsche Kinemathek

Panel discussion:
“Filling the Gap: The Art of Filmmaking in Cuba & Vietnam”

During the panel discussion, Carlos M. Quintela (director: La Piscina, Panorama 2013), Sebastian Barriuso (producer: La Piscina, Panorama 2013), Phang Dang Di (director: Bi, Don’t Be Afraid, Cannes 2010), Nguyen Hoang Diep (director & producer: Flapping in the Middle of Nowhere, co-funded by the WCF in 2012) will explore the film industry and film trends in their own countries.
Host: Vincenzo Bugno, WCF

WCF: Unique artistic identities and effective structures
The WCF works to promote the film industry in specific regions worldwide: in Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, Central and South East Asia as well as the Caucasus. It aims at making talented filmmakers and film projects from countries with non-existent or inadequately functioning production structures visible, and backs the development of controversial content, and an artistically powerful and creative film language.

To start with, funds from the WCF go to German producers who must then use them in cooperation with local film producers and filmmakers in the project regions. This is an efficient and singular approach, one that supports film production where it is most needed, and lays the foundation for the development of intense collaborations between European and, in particular, German producers and filmmakers in WCF regions of focus.

The WCF also helps to fund the distribution of films from these regions in Germany: culturally and structurally, an important funding measure that gives audiences in Germany a greater opportunity to discover new and different cinematic worlds.

WCF funding since 2004
Since its establishment in October 2004, the WCF has awarded production and distribution funds to a total of 106 projects chosen from 1,879 entries from Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, Central and South East Asia, as well as the Caucasus. All WCF films produced so far have screened in cinemas and/or the programmes of renowned international film festivals, and as such are evidence of the initiative’s international success.

The World Cinema Fund is an initiative of the German Federal Cultural Foundation and the Berlin International Film Festival, funded by the Minister of State for Cultural and Media Affairs, in cooperation with the Goethe Institut and with the support of the German Federal Foreign Office.

Press Office
January 28, 2013