The Berlinale’s World Cinema Fund (WCF) is expanding its distribution offering to European territories beyond Germany.
WCF was formed in 2004. It has around €1m a year, with backing from the German Federal Cultural Foundation and the German ministry of foreign affairs, that stretches to support the production and distribution of films from areas of the world with limited filmmaking infrastructure.
“We always had distribution support for films coming from WCF regions in Germany, but now, under the framework of WCF Europe, we will be dealing with distribution in other territories,” confirmed the fund’s head, Vincenzo Bugno.
Since 2014 WCF Europe has helped producers working in the European Union to co-produce with WCF-supported territories.
In the coming months, Bugno anticipates a greater influx of filmmakers accessing the WCF from areas such as Ukraine, Iran, Syria and Turkey, following recent plight in the nations.
“The situation in the world is now worse than 20 years ago,” he said.“We cannot ignore the last five years has been demanding for everybody, with the pandemic, and dealing with different wars. At the same time, it has been extremely surprising, because the average quality of the projects we received in this time has been amazing.”
Three WCF-backed films are premiering at this year’s Berlinale: Adentro Mio Estoy Bailando (Argentina-Austria), Sira (Burkina Faso-France) and El Castillo (Argentina). WCF day will be taking place on Wednesday (February 22) as part of the Berlinale, featuring a series of panel discussions, with a focus on Iran.
No comments yet