News

Next deadline for submission, October 1, 2008, is open for projects applying for development support.

For further information about the fund please contact Åsa Larsson at +46 31-3393012 or through filmfund@filmfestival.org. You can also read more under the upper, right menue "Film Fund".

GIFFF supports development, autumn 2007

Since nine years the Göteborg International Film Festival 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. Göteborg International Film Festival Fund has, since 1998, contributed with support to around 60 film productions in more than 25 countries all over the world. The six projects now supported were chosen among the around 100 applications submitted for development support.

The projects are:
The Great Kilapy, Zézé Gamboa, Angola
Zézé Gamboas last film The Hero became a big success and was screened at Göteborg International Film Festival 2006, with Zézé Gamboa as a guest. In his new film he continues to explore the dark past of Angola. The project is allocated SEK 100 000 in development support.

Little Lama, Oninam Doren, India
For the first time GIFFF supports a project primarily with children and youth as a target group. Little Lama is about a teenage monk who leaves the monk life for adventure. But somehow you always end up paying for your sins. The film is allocated SEK 25 000 in development support.

A Certain Slant of Light, Geetha J, India
Geetha J plans to work with an entire female team when shooting A Certain Slant of Light. The film is about three sisters confronted with their past and present when forced to meet again as grown-ups. The film is allocated SEK 100 000 in development support.

Sawa, Nganguem Kamdem Martin, Cameroon
A documentary about how the director returns from Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso where he discovered the magic of film, home to Douala in Cameroon, where he once discovered jazz music. The film is allocated SEK 100 000 in development support.

Joan and the Voices, Mikayel Vatinyan, Armenia
The film is about a woman who in the void after the war travels around her country interviewing people for her new work. At the same time as sh! e gets a picture of the state of the country she also gets the chance to find her own answers. Joan and the Voices was awarded The GIFFF Award at the Pusan International Film Festival, in South Korea. The film is now allocated SEK 100 000 in development support.

Pesantren, Nurman Hakim, Indonesia
This film about three friends who met in a pesantren school (islamistic religious school) is based on the director's own experiences. When 9/11 was a fact the way the three men were treated by society and other people, changed in a second. The film is allocated SEK 100 000 in development support.

Deadline autumn 2007

October 1 is the last day applying for development support from Göteborg International Film Festival Fund. The selection committee will announce their final decisions in the end of November. Next application deadline, for post production support, is March 1 2008.

Göteborg International Film Festival Fund awards CineLink project in Sarajevo

One of the awards handed out last Friday at the co-production market CineLink, at the Sarajevo Film Festival, carried the name Göteborg International Film Festival Fund. This is only one of many new international co-operations initiated by the film fund this autumn. Other new partners are the organisations Cinergia in Costa Rica, Arcadia in Guatemala, Sud Écriture in Tunisia, and Manana Youth Center in Armenia. Already existing partners are, among others, the film school Imagine in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso and Maisha Film Lab in Uganda.

Göteborg Film Festival Fund has, in cooperation with SIDA (The Swedish Development Cooperation Agency), since 1998 supported film production in emerging economies. Besides single film projects the fund also works actively with supporting training and education, work shops and technical facilities.

- After a positive answer from SIDA, this spring, guaranteeing continued financing of the fund for at least five more years, we can know get in to new long term committments, says Camilla Larsson, Head of Selection at Göteborg Film Festival Fund.

- We are of course very happy to be back in Sarajevo, since our to festivals have a history together. Göteborg has been supportive of Sarajevo since the start in 1995, first with Ship to Bosnia and then CineBosnia, a programme for Bosnian short film makers. For example Jasmila Zbanica, winner of the Golden Bear with the feature film Grbavica, in Berlin, last year. This is a region where very many exciting things are going on in the industry, but still with very limited resources, she continues.

The four awarded projects at CineLink 2007 was: First of All Felicia by Melissa de Raaf and Razvan Radulescu, Romania; White, White World by Milena Markovic and Oleg Novkovic, Serbia; Donkey by Antonio Nuic, Bosnia/Croatia; and Adrienn Pal by Agnes Kocsis and Andrea Roberti, Hungary.

Besides representatives from Göteborg International Film Festival Fund the jury consisted, among others, of representatives from The Hubert Bals Fund in Rotterdam, Cinéfondation in Cannes and Centre National de la Cinématographie in Paris.

Göteborg International Film Festival Fund gets renewed support from SIDA

Since nine years the Göteborg International Film Festival 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. A few days ago the decision was made that the fund will get financing for at least another five years.

During 2006 a total of four million SEK (aprox. 400 000 euros) has been distributed as development support, post production support, technical support and grants towards workshops and education. The new decision guarantees that the same amount will be distributed yearly during the next five year period.

"Göteborg International Film Festival Fund has, since 1999, succeeded in establishing itself as one of the few independent financiers focusing on the growing co-production market. During these years we have seen the use and the effect from a working film industry, both when it comes to fighting poverty and to the development of democracy. Our work is a long term one and we are extremely happy that SIDA has chosen to continue the cooperation", says the festival?s managing director Åsa Larsson.

Recently one of the fund representatives visited Mexico for a co-production market at the Guadalajara festival and next week the work of the fund will be presented in Cannes.

A few days ago the fund representatives decided to support three new film projects with post production support.

Clouds Over Conakry by Cheick Fantamady Camara, Guinea
This film about a young man trying to escape the bounds of tradition when his father the imam, decides to make the son his successor. The film premiered at the Fespaco in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso in February, 2007, where it received an audience award. Now it is beeing allocated SEK 275 000 in post production support.

Punches, Ponytails, Ringtones by Pankaj Rishi Kumar, India
This independent documentary in cinéma verité-style tells the story of two female boxers. The film is expected to premiere at the IDFA, in Amsterdam, in november 2007. The film is allocated SEK 150 000 in post production support.

Shooting In Iraq, by Mohammed Al-Daradji, Iraq
Mohammed Al-Daradji was a guest at the Iraqi Film Days which took place within the framework of the seminar programme of the 30th Göteborg International Film Festival, 2007. Here Al-Daradji directs a documentary revealing the, for the team, life threatening work with finishing his feature film Ahlaam. The film is expected to premiere in September 2007 and receives SEK 275 000 in post production support.

Göteborg International Film Festival Fund has, since 1998, contributed with support to around 60 film productions in more than 25 countries all over the world. The three projects now supported were chosen among the around 50 applications submitted. Next deadline for submission, October 1, 2007, is open for projects applying for development support.

For further information about the fund please contact Åsa Larsson at +46 31-3393012 or through filmfund@filmfestival.org. Information about the fund can be found at www.filmfestival.org

Deadline spring 2007

March 1 was the last day applying for post production support from Göteborg International Film Festival Fund. The selection committee will announce their final decisions in the end of April. Next application deadline, for development support, is October 1 2007.

Four fund supported films screened at the 30th Göteborg international Film Fund

Every year the festival screens the films supported by Göteborg International Film Festival Fund, which have been finished during the year. The films screened this year were:
Paraguayan Hammock by Paz Encina, from Paraguay
To Get To Heaven First You Have To Die, by Djamshed Usmonov, from Tajikistan
Opera Jawa, by Garin Nugroho, from Indonesia
Another Man's Garden, by Sol de Carvalho, from Mozambique

The three first directors visited the festival to tell the audience about their films.

Göteborg International Film Festival Fund supports five projects, autumn 2006

Since eight years the Göteborg International Film Festival 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.



For further information about the fund please contact Åsa Larsson at +46 31-3393012 or through filmfund@filmfestival.org. Information about the fund can be found at www.filmfestival.org.

Göteborg International Film Festival Fund supports four projects, spring 2006

This week the fund's selection committee has made the decision to support four projects in postproduction.

Pure Coolness by Ernest Abdyjaparov, Kyrgyzstan
Pure Coolness is a serious comedy on the subject of ?bride stealing?, an old tradition still existing in the secluded mountains of Kyrgyzstan. The project has already received development support from the Göteborg Film Festival Fund. Now it is awarded another 300 000 SEK (33 000 ?) and the film is expected to première during the fall of 2007. Director Ernest Abdyjaparov is best known for the comedy Saratan depicting a small village in Kyrgyzstan after the downfall of communism.

Heremias by Lav Diaz, the Philippines
When Lav Diaz presented his ten hour epic tale Life of a Philippino Family at the Göteborg Film Festival in 2005 an enthusiastic audience greeted the director after spending a whole day in the company of the film?s main characters. The film attracted much attention worldwide and the reviews at festivals such as the Toronto International Film Festival praised it. The Göteborg Film Festival Fund has awarded Lav Daiz? next project Heremias 300 000 SEK (33 000 ?). And the audience can look forward to yet another example of Philippine every day life portrayed in the fastidious and aesthetically talented way that Lav Diaz has proven capable of. The film is expected to have its international première at the 30th Göteborg Film Festival in 2007.

To Get To Heaven First You Have to Die by Djamshed Usmanov, Tajikistan
Djamshed Usmanov was very successful with the film Angel on the Right when it was screened at the Cannes Film Festival in 2002. Now he returns with a film about the hopeless existence of a small time smuggler in Tajikistan. The film will hopefully have its international première at the film festival in Cannes this year and it is awarded 300 000 SEK (33 000 ?).

Requiem from Java by Garin Nugroho, Indonesia
Requiem from Java is part of a series of six films supported by, among others, the city of Vienna and produced in connection with the New Crowned Hope Festival and Vienna?s celebration of Mozart in 2006. Garin Nugroho?s film is an adaptation of one of the stories of the Indian epic Ramayana containing songs and music from Java. The film will have its première at the Venice Film Festival in 2006 and it is also awarded a total sum of 300 000 SEK (33 000 ?).

Since 1998 the Göteborg Film Festival Fund have supported 46 different films from over 25 countries all over the world. The four projects supported in this selection round have been chosen out of the close to 40 applications submitted to the fund?s spring selection. The next deadline for applications is October 1st 2006 and the autumn selection round is open to projects applying for development support.

Deadline spring 2006

March 1 was the last day applying for post production support from GFFF. We have received around 50 applications and the selection committee will make their final decision in the middle of April.

GFFF development support 2005

We received around 130 applications for this round. 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.

GFFF supports Gaston Kaboré's Imagine

During this year's Fespaco in Ouagadougou, we visited the great African director Gaston Kaboré's film school Imagine. The visit became the start of a frutiful cooperation. During the Cannes festival, a few months later, we signed a contract saying that GFFF will support Imagine with 15 000 euro/year under a period of two years.

Read More.

Göteborg Film Festival Fund supports three African projects

Earlier this year the Göteborg Film Festival focused on African film. Under the headline Out of Africa a total of eighteen films from all over the African continent was screened. Now the selection committee of the Göteborg Film Festival Fund has decided to support yet another three African projects.

The projects supported are:
The Madness of Didi, by Didi Cheeka, Nigeria
When Didi returns to the village of Obodo, the frightened villagers think he is a ghost. Far from dead, but haunted by the many hardships he has been through, Didi will change the lives of everyone he meets. But none of them knows the terrible secrets of Didi?s lost years. The film is produced by Alternative Cinema Project, an organisation working for the survival of traditional film in a Nigeria flooded by cheap video productions.

Early in the Morning by Gahité Fofana, Guinea
Life in Guinea is hard, boring and with little hope for the future. Everyone dreams of new opportunities in Europe. One summer day two young people take drastic measures to reach the continent of their dreams. They climb onto the landing gear of a plane about to take of, carrying a letter to the leaders of Europe.

Just Say No, by Cyrile Masso, Cameron
Motto is eighteen years old and lives with his parents and a younger sister who is very ill. The family is poor and when Motto gets the chance to earn some money through the help of a classmate he takes it. The only problem is that the money comes from drug trafficking and soon Motto is in way over his head.

The Madness of Didi, Early in the Morning and Just Say No were chosen out of the more than forty applications sent to the fund?s spring selection round. The next deadline is October 1st and is open to projects seeking development support.

Development support, autumn 2004

In the autumn selection round, the representatives of Göteborg Film Festival Fund have decided to give Bosnian project 100 000 Skr in development support.
The film is written and directed by Aida Begic, whose short film Prvo smrtno iskustbo (First Death Experience) was screened during the 2001 festival.
Snijeg (Snow) is set in the small village of Slavno four years after the war in Bosnia. Fjorton people, twelve of them women, remain in the village. Their families and friends have all been killed during the war. Since the bridge was destroyed, Slavno is cut off from the rest of the country, apart from by a poorly maintained and dangerous road. Winter is closing in and fear of the snow, which can cause total isolation, is spreading. A government delegation comes to Slavno, offering the villagers money to leave the village. But the villagers find it hard to abandon their home and decide to fight for their freedom and the survival of Slavno.

Aida Begic studied at The Academy of Performing Arts in Sarajevo and her short film Prvo smrtno iskustbo (First Death Experience) has been screened at a number of festivals. Snieg (Snow), produced by Elma Tataragic, has also recieved funding from Hubart Bals Fund, Balkan Fund, Les Films de Cinema and the government of Bosnia. The film is due to be completed in the spring of 2006.

Since 1998, Göteborg Film Festival Fund has contributed support to 37 projects in 22 countries all over the world. Aida Begic's och Elma Tataragic's project was chosen among some 40 applicants in the selection round of last autumn.

The lastest deadline for applications was March 1, 2005, and the spring round was open to projects seeking post-production funding. The project evaluation and decision making process will be finished around the 30th of April.