art: where the fund to your dreams is A challenging film can be creative as well as contentious. The World Cinema Fund supports African film producers in their pursuit of generating quality films from the continent. Established by the German Federal Foundation for Culture (KSB) and the Berlin International Film Festival in October 2004, the Funds main purpose is to support artistic films from regions where film cultures are endangered by political or economic crises. Carol Kamya directing Enlarge image Ugandan film director Carol Kamya in action (© Carol Kamya) It also is intended to help provide a higher profile and greater accessibility to these films in Germany and increase the films exposure to an international audience. The story of Ugandan adolescent Abel and his familys pursuit of a better life, for example, is a fictional drama which could not have been produced without the support of the World Cinema Fund (WCF), In late 2012, the WCFs funding by the KSB and Berlin International Film Festival was extended by five years, up until 2018. The extension is an acknowledgement of the positive outcomes achieved by the WCF. In Africa, opportunities for film producers and artists on the whole are growing. The WCF has contributed to this positive development, which is is encouraging. However, it cannot be taken for granted. In various African countries, frustration is still widespread due to the slow pace of development of a strong film industry. Funding and fostering films and other cultural projects are often not a priority for many governments. The lack of financial support is a barrier for many African film producers – sufficient funds are especially a challenge in the private sector. As Abraham Haile Biru, Manager of the Blue Nile Film and Television Academy in Ethiopia puts it, “films are not edible”.
Posted on: Sun, 16 Mar 2014 09:22:57 +0000
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