The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam’s Jan Vrijman Fund latest funding round was decided last week, backing 23 documentary projects from developing countries.

The total allocated is $340,000 (Euros 270,000) (following February 2010’s round of $308,000 or Euros 245,000). In addition to film projects, the fund has supported other activities including a documentary workshop in East Timor and documentary festivals in China, Senegal and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The selection committee for this round was comprised of IDFA/JVF director Ally Derks Steps International’s Don Edkins, Viewpoint Productions’ Valérie Schuit, filmmaker Rada Sesic, producer Carmen Cobos, producer Kees Ryninks and filmmaker Petra Lataster.

The projects backed during this round are:

Script and Project Development
The White Volta to Yeji by Timothy Edzeani Doh, Ghana
I Am a Man by Mayenzeke Baza, South Africa
Ten Ways to Cook Jackfruit: a film on Karachi by Meenu Gaur, Pakistan
Item Girls! Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying about the Bombshell and Start Loving Rakhi Sawant Again by Paromitha Vohra, India
Mercedes Sosa: Latin America’s Voice by Rodrigo Vila, Argentina
A Todo Cuba le Gusta by Ladys Roque, Cuba
The Silence of the Flies by Eliezer Arias, Venezuela
Remnant of Photos by Khalil Mozayyen, Palestina

Production and Postproduction
Child Boxers by Makafui Zimrani, Ghana
The Dream of Shahrazad by Francois Verster, South Africa
Cinema of Terror by Yayan Wiludiharto and Dain Said, Malaysia
Are You Listening by Kamar Ahmad, Bangladesh
Intimations of a Rebellion by Sanjay Kak, India
All that is Solid Melts into Air by José Luis Garcia, Argentina
El Jardín by Natalia Almada, Mexico
The Invisible Policeman by Laith Al-Juneidi, Palestina

Other Activities
Maisha 2010 Documentary Workshop, Maisha Foundation, Uganda
Documentary Film Training Workshop Ethiopia, Linkage Ethiopian Film Resource Center, Ethiopia
Research Skills Workshop DRC, Suka! Production, DRC
DBD Dakar Bamako Docu, SOON Senegal, Senegal
Festival Balabala Cine 2010, Balabala Cine, DRC
2010 iDOCS International Documentary Forum, Channel Zero Media, China
East Timor Inaugural Documentary Workshop, Dili Filmworks, East Timor

Also, the IDFAcademy Summer School projects were selected for the third Summer School (to run Aug 23-28). The Summer school, like the Academy held during the November festival in Amsterdam, is for documentary filmmakers starting in the industry. Ten of the projects are at script stage, the other six are in the editing procuess.Instructors at the summer school will including Danish editor Jesper Osmund, the BBC’s Greg Sanderson and Dutch editor Riekje Ziengs.

The selected participants are:

Script Stage
Antiracket by Ludovica Tortora de Falco (Italy)
Are You Listening by Kamar Ahmad and Sara Afreen (Bangladesh)
Child Boxers by Makafui Zimrani (Ghana)
China/Africa by Sikay Tang (USA)
Lonesome springtime by Laura Capatana Juller (Romania)
Mitrovica rocks by Tami Ravid (the Netherlands)
Organised chaos by Chiel Aldershoff (the Netherlands)
Russian Libertine by Ari Matikainen (Finland)
The train to Moscow by Federico Ferrone and Michele Manzolini (Italy)
Welcome to south A-Fifa by Nisha Rajah Naidoo (South Africa)


Rough Cut Stage
5 Broken Cameras by Emad Burnat and editor Guy Davidi (Palestine/Israel/France)
The Green Messiah by Kate McNaughton (UK)
Kossakovsky’s Antipodes by Carlos Klein Frohlich (Chile)
Pasture in the Skies by Elnura Osmonalieva editor Evgeny Khrokhmalenko (Kyrgyzstan)
Restaurant Bakhmaro by Salome Jashi (Georgia)
Out of Place by Diego Mondaca editor Aldo Alvarez (Bolivia)

The Jan Vrijman Fund is supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hivos-NCDO Cultuurfonds and Stichting DOEN.

The IDFAcademy Summer School is supported by SNS Reaalfonds.