Welcome speech to the Berlinale World Cinema Fund Day 2020 with Vincenzo Bugno (Head of the WCF) und Mariette Rissenbeek (Executive Director of the Berlin International Film Festival). © Jürgen Bremer

World Cinema Fund

In cooperation with the ACP Secretariat (African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States) and the European Commission, the WCF launches the new funding programme WCF ACP / In cooperation with TorinoFilmLab (TFL), the Audience Design Award - by WCF Europe & TFL will be initiated

With a multi-faceted programme, this year’s World Cinema Fund Day (February 26, 2020) invited participants to exchange views on diversity, audience design and sustainable international cooperation.

Two new funding activities were also presented at WCF Day 2020:
The Audience Design Award - by WCF Europe & TFL and the new funding programme WCF ACP.

WCF ACP

WCF ACP was initiated in cooperation with the ACP Secretariat (African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States) and the European Commission. Accordingly, in the future, the WCF will also be able to take projects from the Pacific region into account that were not previously part of the WCF regions.

Furthermore, WCF ACP is an additional opportunity to further optimise the financing and implementation of projects from WCF and ACP regions. The programme is a supplemental financing opportunity for projects, which are recommended for WCF or WCF Africa support measures in the course of a jury meeting. WCF ACP can double or even triple the amount of funding available for funded projects.

“With the WCF ACP programme, we are able to offer a further incentive for cooperation and coproduction. This is aimed at strengthening the independence of the film industries within the WCF regions,” says head of the WCF, Vincenzo Bugno.

Audience Design Award - by WCF Europe &TFL

Together with the TorinoFilmLab (TFL), the WCF is pleased to announce a new partnership in the field of audience design, a cooperation which increases the support for WCF-financed projects in the distribution phase.

Following a successful pilot project in 2019, the two initiatives jointly launched the Audience Design Award - by WCF Europe & TFL. The new award, which will be given to a project selected for WCF production funding, consists of a grant for the film team to participate in a four-day TFL Extended Workshop in September 2020. Moreover, TFL will make a call for entries in order to select four trainees for audience design. The award-winning film team will have the opportunity to discuss its overall sales strategy and to test ideas for reaching, expanding and engaging audiences.

TFL is an international initiative for feature film and series projects, focussing on training, development and funding, offering extensive support for filmmakers from around the world. TFL has outstanding expertise in audience design and has developed an intensive training initiative together with TFL Extended.

“With the TorinoFilmLab, we have an ideal partner to develop strategies and concepts for audience design with respect to WCF films, as well as contextualising the approach to audiences in the different countries and regions,” says Vincenzo Bugno, head of the WCF.

“We are very happy to partner with World Cinema Fund to keep exploring the possibilities of Audience Design. We are convinced that this important process should start as early as possible in the development phase,” states Mercedes Fernandez, Managing Director of TorinoFilmLab. 
 

The World Cinema Fund is an initiative of the German Federal Cultural Foundation and the Berlin International Film Festival, in cooperation with the German Federal Foreign Office, with further support by the Goethe-Institut.

The special WCF Europe programme was launched with the support of the Creative Europe - MEDIA programme of the European Union. Thanks to additional funding from the German Federal Foreign Office, the special programme WCF Africa started in 2016.