GÖTEBORG FILM FESTIVAL FUND SUPPORTS EIGHT PROJECTS

For six years the Göteborg Film Festival in cooperation with the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) manage a fund that supports film makers living and working in countries in transition. During the next year a total amount of four million SEK will be distributed as development support, postproduction support and contributions towards training, education and organization of technical facilities in the film area. This week the fund’s selection committee has made the decision to support a number of different projects.

Four films will get development support:
Pure Coolness by Ernest Abdyjaparov, Kyrgyzstan
A serious comedy on the subject of ”Bride stealing” – an ancient tradition still existing in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan. The project is supported with 100 000 SEK.

Three Days to Forever by Riri Riza, Indonesia
A road movie about two young cousins on a three day trip through Indonesia that will forever change their lives. The project is supported with 100 000 SEK

Come on Young Men, Come on by Rebekah Wingert-Jabi, Palestine
Documentary about one Palestinian, one Israel and one Jewish American starting up an organisation helping young Palestinian men. In spite of their idealism and good intentions they discover how difficult it is to work together. The project is supported with 50 000 SEK.

A Boy or a Girl? by Swsan Qaoud, Palestine
Documentary about a people, a pregnancy and child being born. The Samaritans are unique for a number of reasons – among other things they prefer their newborns to be baby girls. The project is supported with 50 000 SEK.

Furthermore the short film project African Tales from Tanzania is supported with 35 000 SEK towards the postproduction of a series of six short films written and produced in Tanzania. This is a project that the Göteborg Film Festival has supported from the very beginning and three of the films will have their international première at the festival in 2006.

Three projects will get support towards organization of technical facilities:
Amakula in the Field, Uganda
Together with the Amakula Film Festival in Kampala, Uganda the Göteborg Film Festival Fund supports a mobile cinema that will take the Ugandan film festival’s programme out of the capital an into the rest of the country. Similar initiatives in other parts of Africa have proven to be very popular with audiences for each screening of between 3 500 and 11 000 persons! The project is supported with a total of 50 000 SEK during a two year period.

Rwanda Cinema Centre (RCC), Rwanda
The fund will also support the Rwanda Cinema Centre with a contribution towards technical equipment that will be used, among other things, in the work with the Films on Youth by Youth Programme – a training programme for young Rwandan filmmakers. The project is supported with a total of 100 000 SEK.

The Shashat Capacity Building, Palestine
Together with the Women’s Film Festival in Ramallah, Palestine the Göteborg Film Festival Fund will support the Shashat Capacity Building during a two-year period. The support will be used toward technical equipment that will be used by female Palestinian filmmakers in their work and for the training of young producers in the area. The project is supported with a total of 100 000 SEK during a two year period.

In November the Göteborg Film Festival together with the Sithengi Film Festival (Cape Town, South Africa) and the Hubert Bals Fund (Rotterdam, the Netherlands) have initiated a co-production effort including participants form countries such as Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria and Zimbabwe.

Since 1998 the Göteborg Film Festival Fund have supported 44 different films from over 25 countries all over the world. The eight projects supported have been chosen out of the 130 applications submitted to the fund’s autumn selection round. The next deadline for applications is March 1st 2006 and the spring selection round is open to projects applying for postproduction support.

For further information please contact Åsa Larsson


The 29th Göteborg Film Festival will take place from January 27th until February 6th 2006. Welcome!