The Berlinale’s World Cinema Fund (WCF) has backed seven feature projects including films from Locarno-winning Indonesian auteur Edwin and Argen
The Berlinale’s World Cinema Fund (WCF) has backed seven feature projects including films from Locarno-winning Indonesian auteur Edwin and Argentinan filmmaker Ivan Fund.
WCF’s 41st funding round has awarded €260,000 in production grants to projects from Argentina, Bangladesh, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Indonesia and Rwanda.
They include Sleep No More, the latest project from Indonesian auteur Edwin, whose 2021 feature Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash won the Locarno Golden Leopard award. Edwin’s 2012 film Postcards From The Zoo was also the first Indonesian film to be selected for Berlin Competition.
Sleep No More follows a Taiwanese girl who visits Indonesia to find out the cause of her Indonesian nanny’s unnatural death, while an Indonesian girl suffers from inhuman working conditions in a factory that produces custom imitation body parts.
From Argentina, Fund’s The Message is a road movie which follows a girl who has the ability to talk to animals, on a journey through the Argentinian countryside. Marcelo Subiotto stars alongside Mara Bestelli and Anika Bootz.
Earlier this year, The Message participated in San Sebastian’s San Sebastian’s WIP Latam showcase. Fund’s previous films include Dusk Stone, which played in the Giornate degli Autori sidebar at Venice in 2021.
WCF has also backed documentary Ghost Boat, about a mother’s search for her trafficked son, from Bangladeshi directors Tanim Yousuf and Kauser Haider.
The WCF jury made its selection from 199 submitted projects from 67 countries.
The members of the WCF jury are the documentary film producer and artistic 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.
The jury also decided on the first TUI Care Foundation Award for film projects from African countries, and the WCF Europe-TFL Audience Design Award together with the TorinoFilmLab (TFL).
World Cinema Fund Awards
Sleep No More (Indo), dir. Edwin
Prod. Palari Films (Indo), Meiske Taurisia (€50,000)
Ghost Boat (Bang-Ger), dir. Tanim Yousuf & Kauser Haider
Prod. Mastul Productions, Tanim Yousuf; Bulldog Agenda, Patrick Hamm. (Documentary) (€35,000)
La Reserva (Arg-Mex-Sp), dir. Ezequiel Yanco
Prod. ISOI Cine, Ezequiel Yanco; No Ficción, Elena Fortes; LaCima Producciones, Ricard Sales. (Documentary) (€35,000)
Scarlet Girls (Dom Rep-Mex-Ger) dir. Paula Cury
Prod. Cristal Cine, Paula Cury; Disruptiva Films, Omar Lara; Parabellum Films, Natalia Imaz. (Documentary) (€30,000)
Las Locas de la Praviana (El Salv-Sp), dir. Brenda Vanegas.
Prod. Encantada por la Vida, Brenda Vanegas; Salón Indien Films, Pablo de la Chica. (€35,000)
The Message (Arg-Sp), dir. Iván Fund
Prod. Rita Cine, Laura Mara Tablón; Insomnia Films, Gustavo Schiaffino; Amore Cine, Paz Lázaro (€35,000)
Benimana (Rwanda-Cote d’Ivoire), dir. Marie Clémentine Dusabejambo
Prod. EJO-CINE, Marie Epiphanie Uwayezu; Ogweli Productions, Samantha Biffot. (€40.000 by TUI Care Foundation)
WCF Europe-TFL Audience Design Award
A Margem do Rio (Braz) dir. Matheus Farias & Enock Carvalho
Prod. Gatopardo Filmes, Enock Carvalho (Award consists of consultancy on audience design)
COMMENTS