Since eight years the Göteborg International Film Festival (GIFFF) works in cooperation with the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, SIDA, with a fund that supports film makers living and working in countries in transition. During this year a total of four million SEK (aprox. 400 000 euros) has been distributed as development support, post production support and grants towards workshops and education. A few days ago the fund representatives decided to support five new film projects with development support.

The First Rainy Day by Nguyen Phan Quang Binh, Vietnam Free and independent filmmaking is starting to get more and more important in Vietnam. This film, about a man and a woman, who meet again after 20 years of separation, and nostalgically remember their Hanoi, was awarded for best pitch by Göteborg International Film Festival Fund at the International Film festival in Pusan, South Korea, in October 2006. Now it is allocated another SEK 100 000 in development support.

A Thousand Houses of Dream and Terror by Atiq Rahimi, Afghanistan Atiq Rahimi enjoyed great success with his film Earth and Ashes which was awarded in Cannes, 2004. Now he is back with a new film, once more based on one of his own novels. A Thousand Houses of Dream and Terror describes the meeting between a man, forced to run from the police, and a single mother, in the oppressed city of Kabul, 1979. The film is allocated SEK 100 000 in development support.

La Cité de Plomb by Kaouther Ben H'nia, Tunisia The script of this film is written by the young female director herself and tells the story of a young girl in a Tunisian college. One day a rebellious new pupil arrives in the stern female dormitory and makes the path to liberation visible also to her new friend. The script was chosen during the film festival in Carthage in November, 2006. The project receives SEK 100 000 in development support.

It's Secret by Martin Mhando, Tanzania This film, which tells the story of the events taking place during the feast Mwaki Kogwa in Zanzibar, is part of a project called Chap Chap films. The aim is to educate young film makers through practical work during the shooting and to increase the national distribution on, for example, the video market. The project is allocated SEK 100 000 in development support. Transitory by Rossana Lacayo, Nicaragua Rossana Lacayo has directed many awarded documentarys and runs her own production company in Nicaragua. Here she makes her feature debut with a film about a young woman sentenced to jail for the murder of her step father, after him abusing her sexually. The aim is to make visible all the children in the same situation. The project is allocated SEK 100 000 in development support.

The programme of Göteborg International Film Festival 2007 will screen at least five films which earlier have been supported by the film fund. Those are: Hamaca Paraguaya by Paz Encina, Opera Jawa by Garin Nugroho, To Get To Heaven First You Have To Die by Djamshed Usmonov, Lonely Is The Night by Didi Cheeka and Another Man's Garden by Sol de Carvalho.

Göteborg International Film Festival Fund has, since 1998, contributed with support to 56 film productions in more than 25 countries all over the world. The five projects now supported were chosen among the around 100 applications submitted. Next deadline for submission, March 1, 2007, is open for projects applying for post production support.