Berlin’s WCF Launches Training Program in Africa, Awards Over $200K to International Films1 min read
Reading Time: < 1 minuteBerlinale World Cinema Fund, an endowment backed by the Berlin International Film Festival, has announced a new initiative in a number of African countries to promote local cinema. The first WCF Factory will be held in Burundi this August.
Working with local partner CoProDac, the WCF has selected the feature film Plainte contre le Burundi, by Rolland Rugero, and will provide audio engineering training during the shoot. A second WCF Factory will be held in Burkina Faso this fall when Imagine Film Institute in Ouagadougou partners with the WCF on Appoline Traore’s Moi, Zaphira.
In addition, WCF has announced the latest set of projects to win nearly $200,000 in production financing. Syrian director Meyar Al Roumi’s Round Trip was awarded E30,000 ($42,852), as was Julio Hernandez Cordon’s Polvo (Dust), from Guatemala’s Melindrosa Films, and Brazilian duo Clarissa Campolina and Helvecio Marins Jr.”˜s Girimunho (Swirl). Seng Tat Liew’s Malaysian production, In What City Does it Live? from Malaysia’s Everything Films, received $71,438.
Another $32,000 in distribution funding was awarded to feature films from Iran, Chad, Kyrgyzstan and Chile. The winners were selected from 135 submissions from a total of 41 countries.
