GDPR Compliance

We use cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies, Privacy Policy, and Terms of Service.

Berlinale's World Cinema Fund supports 10 projects, including 'Aisha Can't Fly Away'

Jane F ~ 7/24/2024
Source : Eamonn M. McCormack / Getty Images for Film AlUla copyMorad Mostafa The Berlinale 's World Cinema Fund ( WCF ) has backed 10 feature projects in its 40th session , at a total of EUR260,000 ( PS218,479 ) . The latest funding pot has awarded eight production and

Morad Mostafa_Arab SOT 2023_Credit Eamonn M. McCormack-Getty Images for Film AlUla copy

Source: Eamonn M. McCormack / Getty Images for Film AlUla copy

Morad Mostafa

The Berlinale's World Cinema Fund (WCF) has backed 10 feature projects in its 40th session, at a total of EUR260,000 (PS218,479).

The latest funding pot has awarded eight production and two distribution grants, to projects from Algeria, Argentina, Brazil, Cameroon, Egypt, Iran, Lesotho, Nepal and Sudan.

Scroll down for the full list of projects

Aisha Can't Fly Away, the debut feature of Egyptian filmmaker Morad Mostafa, received EUR25,000. Mostafa participated in the 2024 Berlinale Talents, was named a Screen Arab Star of Tomorrow in 2023, and will take part in the Final Cut in Venice lab with his project in September after shooting this summer.

The film tells the story of a Somali woman who cares for her elderly parents while witnessing the tensions between the different groups who make up her city's African society.

The production awards consist of six WCF titles and two WCF Europe titles, one of which is Ancestral Visions Of The Future, by This Is Not A Burial, It's A Resurrection director Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese.

Two films received distribution awards for a German cinema release: Mohamed Kordofani's Sudanese feature Goodbye Julia, which debuted at Cannes 2023, and Ali Ahmadzadeh's Iranian-German title Critical Zone, a Locarno 2023 premiere.

The titles were chosen from 195 submitted projects from 55 countries, by a jury consisting of Spanish producer Marta Andreu, German filmmaker Ayse Polat, German-Egyptian curator Viola Shafik, and WCF head Vincenzo Bugno.

WCF 2024 funding

Production funding

WCF

I'm Coming For You (Cam-Ger) dir. Cyrielle Raingou - EUR40,000

Red Mist Descending (Iran-Ger) dir. Rakhsan Banietemad - EUR40,000

La Libertad doble (Arg-Ger) dir. Lisandro Alonso - EUR30,000

Aisha Can't Fly Away (Egy) dir. Morad Mostafa - EUR25,000

A Margem do Rio (Braz) dirs. Matheus Farias, Enock Carvalho - EUR30,000

You Don't Die Two Times (Alg) dir. Ager Oueslati - EUR25,000

WCF Europe

Ancestral Visions of the Future (Les-Fr-Ger) dir. Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese EUR30,000

The sky is mine (Nep Nor) dir. Deepak Rauniyar - EUR25,000

Distribution funding for German release

Goodbye Julia (Sud-Egy-Ger-Fr-Swe-S Arabia) dir. Mohamed Kordofani - EUR7,000

Critical Zone (Ir-Ger) dir. Ali Ahmadzadeh - EUR8,000

  • Swedish film & TV bodies criticise "first-come, first-served" government funding process

Berlinale's World Cinema Fund supports 10 projects, including 'Aisha Can't Fly Away'

More from Media