Posted by Larry Gleeson
The Berlinale World Cinema Fund (WCF), with its differentiated funding program (WCF, WCF Europe, WCF Africa, WCF ACP), is committed to cultural diversity, cooperation, sustainable development, and the promotion of cinema in regions with weak film infrastructures. Since its foundation in 2004, the WCF has pledged to play a constructive part in the democratization of international filmmaking – taking into account the relations between European countries with well-established film industries and countries of the so-called Global South.
Despite the pandemic, 2021 was – paradoxically – an extremely successful year for the World Cinema Fund. A large number of artistically significant films (16 world premieres in total) were selected at major film festivals and many of them received major awards. The pandemic does not seem to dominate the narratives of the projects submitted, but they do question the cultural complexity of the world.
Already at the start of this year, a WCF-funded film could celebrate a special success: Eami by Paz Encina (Paraguay) was awarded the Tiger Award for Best Film in the competition in Rotterdam.
“Over the years, we have become increasingly aware that this democratization must be viewed as part of a more complex discussion and strategy: the decolonization of cinema – the main theme of the World Cinema Fund last year – with its various structural, cultural-political layers and meanings. This is also about questioning our own identity and our funding strategies in a constructive process. It is a matter of developing decolonizing strategies and making them visible. For this reason, on WCF Day 2022 we have decided to address some essential issues relating to the need for a better balance between the different film industries and film initiatives in the world,” says the head of the WCF, Vincenzo Bugno.
The WCF Day is the World Cinema Fund’s annual public think-tank. The panels and rounds of discussion on February 16, 2022, will be focusing on the further development of funding and decolonizing strategies.
The WCF Day on February 16, 2022, will be taking place as an online event in English, from 1.30 pm to approx. 4.30 pm.
The Livestream can be watched on the Berlinale YouTube channel and on the WCF Facebook page.
WCF Day: Further Developing Decolonising Strategies for Film Cultures and Film Industries, Re-Thinking Funding Strategies for the Past, Present and Future of Cinema in the WCF Regions
1.30 pm Start / Presentation by Vincenzo Bugno (head of the WCF) and Isona Admetlla (WCF coordinator)
Talks:
NO U-TURN & Generation Africa
Vincenzo Bugno, head of the WCF in conversation with Ike Nnaebue (director of No U-Turn, Nigeria – Panorama 2022,); Don Edkins (producer, South Africa) Tiny Mungwe (producer, South Africa)
Decolonizing Cinema Strategies / South to South
Marjorie Bendeck (International Advisor/head of CoCo, Cottbus) in conversation with Eliane Ferreira (producer, Brazil / Portugal); Bradley Liew (Producer, Malaysia / Philippines); Isabel Arrate (deputy director IDFA / managing director Bertha Fund, Netherlands)
Decolonizing Distribution / Contextualising Visibility
Presentation by the Berlinale Executive Director Mariette Rissenbeek and the Head of the WCF, Vincenzo Bugno
Alaa Karkouti (marketing and creative consultancy expert for the Arab film and Entertainment Industry / CEO MAD Solutions, Egypt) in conversation with Weije Lai (producer/curator, Singapore / Canada), Steven Markowitz (Producer, South Africa); Fiorella Moretti (World Sales LUXBOX, France / Peru), Benjamin Cölle (academic/expert for Audience Design and Story Development, Germany)
Decolonizing Cinema / Decolonising History / Changing the Perspective
Presentation by Lutz Nitsche, German Federal Cultural Foundation and Vincenzo Bugno, WCF
Two Talks on WCF-Supported Projects From Argentina and Kenya
Puan by Maria Alché and Benjamin Naishtat (Argentina)
Testament by Zippy Kimundu (Kenya) and Meena Nanji (USA / Kenya), Wanjugu Kimathi (protagonist, Kenya).
(Press release provided by Berlinale)
