US-based charitable foundation The Global Film Initiative hasnamed the award recipients for its second annual granting programme. Threerecipients selected from 33 submissions representing 19 countries will eachreceive completion funds of between $20,000 and $40,000.

The titles are: Juan Pablo Rebella and Pablo Stoll's siblingrivalry drama Whisky(Uruguay), Reha Erdem's anarchic look at the effects of amnesia in What's AHuman Anyway (Turkey)and Marcelo Gomes' Cinema, Aspirin And Vultures (Brazil), about the adventures of anAsprin salesman in 1940s Brazil.

The films will have guaranteed distribution in the US through theInitiative's annual Global Lens film series. The inaugural series launched onNov 13 at New York's MoMA Film at the Gramercy Theatre and will travelthroughout the country until October 2004.

The granting programme was inspired by the Hubert Bals Fund, whichitself was created by the Rotterdam Film Festival. Films chosen mustdemonstrate "narrative excellence, indigenous to their local settings, as wellas those that illustrate innovation in the film-making process."

"The mission ofThe Global Film Initiative is embodied in these three films," chairwoman SusanWeeks Coulter said in a statement. "We are delighted to offer our support to thesevital film-makers and their contributions to world cinema."