Dominican Republic, Vietnam, Nigeria, Somalia and Iran: All of these countries are among the regions in the world with weaker film infrastructure and will be given a special forum at the 6th “Berlinale Spotlight: World Cinema Fund” of the world cinema festival AROUND THE WORLD IN 14 FILMS. The festival and the World Cinema Fund ( WCF ) of the Berlinale will present five outstanding films from these countries in 2024: “Pepe” (R. Nelson Carlos De Los Santos Arias, Dominican Republic), “Viet and Nam” (R. Minh Quý Truong, Vietnam), “The Legend of the Vagabond Queen of Lagos” (R. The Agbajowo Collective, Nigeria), “The Village Next to Paradise” (R. Mo Harawe, Somalia) and “Boomerang” (R. Shahab Fotouhi, Iran). Four of the WCF films will be presented on Sunday, December 1, 2024, in the cinema in the KulturBrauerei by Vincenzo Bugno, director of the WCF . Three WCF entries are part of the "14 Films" competition, the centerpiece of the 19th edition of the festival, which will take place in Berlin from November 29 to December 7, 2024. All films have received production and/or distribution funding from the WCF . The Berlinale's World Cinema Fund has been supporting regions with weaker film infrastructure for 20 years, thereby strengthening the visibility of cultural diversity on the world's cinema screens.
"In a world that many people increasingly judge in rigid black-and-white patterns, instead of following complex world events with more empathy and thirst for knowledge, genuine cultural diversity is essential. The World Cinema Fund supports the visibility of cultural diversity in cinema with clever and passionate commitment to the lesser-known, often overlooked film regions ," say festival directors Susanne Bieger and Bernhard Karl.
Vincenzo Bugno, director of the WCF, on the 6th Berlinale Spotlight at “Around the World in 14 Films”: “WCF films should find and expand an audience with their images, film language and stories, because a variety of perspectives enriches our view of the world. The development of targeted 'audience strategies' is an important part of WCF activities. To this end, we work with great partners such as the “Around the World in 14 Films” festival. We share this goal and their great passion for cinema.”
Five Times Amazed: World Cinema from the Dominican Republic, Vietnam, Nigeria, Somalia & Iran
“Pepe” by Nelson Carlos De Los Santos Arias from the Dominican Republic was one of the “big surprises in the Berlinale competition” (tip Berlin) in 2024. The director received the Silver Bear for Best Director for his political fable with a hippopotamus as the protagonist. “Viet and Nam” by Minh Quý Truong was shown at more than 25 film festivals. The Vietnamese-French-Swiss-German co-production about two coal miners who love each other and who also have to deal with national and family traumas was censored by the Vietnamese film department for “a gloomy, entrenched and negative view” of the country and its people. “The Legend of the Vagabond Queen of Lagos”, which celebrated its world premiere in Toronto, comes from Nigeria's mega-metropolis Lagos. The film by the seven-member Agbajowo Collective moves between thriller and magical realism. The story was inspired by the forced evictions and destruction of the fishing community of Otodo Gbame in 2017. “The Village Next to Paradise” by director Mo Harawe was the first Somali film to be invited to Cannes (section: Un Certain Regard). The drama about the everyday life of a family in Somalia and their desire for belonging is “a self-confident and poetic debut whose political urgency lies in the nuances” (Der Standard). “Boomerang” by Iranian artist and filmmaker Shahab Fotouhi celebrates its Berlin premiere at AROUND THE WORLD IN 14 FILMS. The “urban symphony” produced by New Matter Films (Leipzig, Berlin) presents an image of Tehran that breaks with common representations of Iranian cinema” (Filmstarts).
World Cinema Fund: Since its founding in 2004, the WCF has been committed to the development and promotion of cinema in regions with weak film infrastructure and to cultural diversity in German and European cinemas. The funding is intended to contribute to the development of local film industries and support cooperation between German and other European producers and partners in the WCF regions and countries. The World Cinema Fund is an initiative of the Federal Cultural Foundation and the Berlin International Film Festival, in cooperation with the Federal Foreign Office and with further support from the Goethe-Institut. The WCF Europe special program was created with the support of the European Union's Creative Europe MEDIA program. Thanks to additional funding from the Federal Foreign Office, the WCF Africa special program was launched in 2016 .
Note: The full program of the 19th edition of AROUND THE WORLD IN 14 FILMS will be published on the website on Friday, November 8, 2024. Ticket sales start on Tuesday, November 12, 2024.
Film still: The Legend of the Vagabond Queen of Lagos, © Leo Purman, Okechukwu Samuel, Jonah West
תגובות