For years, discussions with filmmakers directly after the screenings of their films have been a special attraction of the festival experience for many Berlinale visitors. With the establishment of the Haus der Berliner Festspiele as a new venue in 2012, the Berlinale now has the opportunity to use this space to expand discussions between filmmakers and the audience. “Some topics simply demand more attention and a broader platform than the time allotted to them usually allows,” comments Fes...

  On February 16, 2011, the WCF Day will once again provide an opportunity to learn more about the programme, successes, funding strategies, films, initiatives and partners of the World Cinema Fund (WCF). On this occasion the World Cinema Fund will present its new cooperation partners, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, and the Deutsche Welle/DW Akademie. Through the support of these new partners, it will be possible to launch a new WCF programme in a number...

Berlinale World Cinema Fund: Latest Jury decisions and WCF-Spotlight in South AfricaAt the 12th session of the World Cinema Fund (WCF) jury on July 4, three new film projects were selected for production funding.Since its establishment in October 2004, the WCF has awarded production and distribution funding to a total of 73 projects chosen from 1275 submissions from Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, Central and South East Asia, and the Caucasus. All of the WCF films completed so far have s...

The awards for the 2009 Open Doors Factory, the Locarno Film Festival’s co-production lab that is organised with support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), were announced on Wednesday August 12. The Winners of the Open Doors Award 2009. From left: YANG Jin, YANG Qing, Isabelle Glachant, WANG Xiaoshuai The 2009 session was devoted to cinema from Greater China. 12 projects, selected out of 114 applications from Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, participated in the 4...

The jury for the Locarno Festival’s Open Doors co-production lab has selected 12 projects (out of 114 applications from Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan Island) to participate in the final phase of the 2009 session. This year the Open Doors Factory is devoted to Greater China, and will take place from 9 to 11 August 2009, during the 62nd edition of the Locarno International Film Festival.The selected projects are: ABERDEEN by PANG Ho-cheung – Hong KongAN EVERLASTING DAY by Wanmacaidan �...

In the ninth selection round of the World Cinema Fund (WCF) on October 25, the WCF drew a positive balance for 2008 and proposed three film projects for production funding. The WCF jury – film scholar and curator Viola Shafik (Germany/Egypt), programme coordinator of the Swiss Television Alberto Chollet (Switzerland), director of the script programme of the EON Screenwriters' Workshop Alby James (England), as well as WCF project managers Sonja Heinen and Vincenzo Bugno – chose between 108 pr...

The awards for the 2008 session of the "Open Doors Factory", the Locarno International Film Festival’s co-production lab that is organised with support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) were announced on Wednesday August 13.The 2008 session was devoted to Latin American cinema. 12 projects, selected from 332 submissions, participated in the workshop that took place during the Festival, whose objective is to assist their directors and producers to find co-production pa...

On February 13, 2008, the World Cinema Fund (WCF) of the Berlinale invites WCF directors and producers as well as international representatives of the film branch and the press to a panel event. Under the heading "How to Optimize Our Potential / New Strategies for Cooperation und Funding", the WCF's strategic goals and current measures, as well as its experiences and results so far will be discussed. In 2004, the German Federal Cultural Foundation and the Berlinale initiated the World ...

On February 13, 2008, the World Cinema Fund (WCF) of the Berlinale invites WCF directors and producers as well as international representatives of the film branch and the press to a panel event. Under the heading "How to Optimize Our Potential / New Strategies for Cooperation und Funding", the WCF's strategic goals and current measures, as well as its experiences and results so far will be discussed. In 2004, the German Federal Cultural Foundation and the Berlinale initiated the World Cinema Fun...

Wednesday, February 14----Today, the Berlin Film Festival celebrated The World Cinema Fund (WCF) with a series of events the Festival dubbed World Cinema Fund Day. The Fund was founded in 2004 as a joint initiative of the German Federal Cultural Foundation and the Berlin International Film Festival, with the Goethe Institute participating as a cooperation partner since 2005. The Fund supports film projects from the focus regions Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia, as well...

11 projects from Southeast Asia invited to Locarno “Open Doors underscores in a practical way one of the Festival’s vocational objectives – to bring together film cultures and traditions that are different or distant from each other,” notes Frédéric Maire, Locarno’s new artistic director, “and, with effect from this year, the section is to enjoy a higher profile within the Festival”.The Open Doors workshop, thanks to the support of the Swiss Foreign Ministry’s Agency for Develo...