"Founded in 2004, the WCF was initiated by the German Federal Cultural Foundation and the Berlin International Film Festival. It quickly established itself as one of the leading institutions in the field of international film funding for artistic and innovative productions. The WCF concentrates on b
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acking the production and distribution of films from Latin America, Central America, the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, the Caucasus, Pacific as well as Bangladesh, Nepal, Mongolia, Sri Lanka, Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova. The goal is to promote high-quality filmmaking in regions with a weak infrastructure for film, while fostering cultural diversity in German cinemas as well as supporting collaboration between German and European producers and partners in WCF regions and countries. All WCF films finalized to date have screened at cinemas and / or in the programmes of renowned festivals. Many have also won prizes, proof of the worldwide success of the initiative. The World Cinema Fund provides support in the fields of production, post-production and distribution for feature lenght films and creative feature documentaries. Audience Design Strategies training and mentorships have become an important part of our programme. We have developed important partnerships in the field of Audience Design with the Torino Film Lab, Brasil Cinema Mundi, Locarno Open Doors, Nuevas Miradas, the Great Lakes Producers Lab and with the Ouaga Film Lab." (WCF Info, Page 4)
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"De nombreux artistes et créateurs émergent dans les pays ACP. Ils nous surprennent par leur dynamisme, mais aussi par leur capacité de résilience et de persévérance, surtout pendant la pandémie de la Covid-19. Les industries culturelles et créatives devraient, dès lors, pouvoir offrir aux
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nouvelles générations un large éventail de possibilités d’emplois et de création d’entreprises locales. En réponse à ces attentes, nous avons conçu conjointement avec le Secrétariat de l’Organisation des États ACP, le programme ACP-UE Culture. Nous nous réjouissons de constater les résultats positifs du nouveau mécanisme mis en place pour la dynamisation des secteurs du cinéma et de l’audiovisuel, avec près de 100 projets déjà soutenus dans toutes les régions ACP depuis 2020. Grâce aux exigences des partenariats Nord-Sud, les liens entre acteurs et opérateurs culturels ACP et européens, mis en place depuis une quinzaine d’années, se consolident. Il en ressort un réel engagement pour renforcer les capacités des artistes, en utilisant les nouvelles technologies dans l’ensemble de la chaîne de valeur et permettre ainsi l’accès de leurs oeuvres à des marchés internationaux." (Avant-propos, page 5)
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"The factors that led to the overall unsatisfactory assessment of the project can be summarised as follows:
• The project was not anchored in any overarching reference framework. Accordingly, neither its contributions to the strategic objectives of the German development cooperation nor to any oth
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er national or international development agenda were specified. While this has nothing to do with the actual quality of the project, as already outlined in the introduction, it leaves the question of whether the OECD/DAC criteria were suitable to evaluate it.
• The organisational setup of the project was inefficient. Having two intermediary organisations with separate overheads, trying unsuccessfully to change a national implementing partner, and finally needing to involve GIZ staff on the ground increased the costs and resulted in an inefficient use of financial resources.
• During the planning of the project, fundamental rules for German development cooperation projects were disregarded: there were no preceding government consultations; implementing partners were chosen without considering alternatives (particularly at political level); neither a risk assessment nor stakeholder mapping took place; and the instruments to be applied were defined beforehand. This procedure appears unusual for GIZ.
• The lack of results at impact level can partly be attributed to the fact that the project did not have a political partner. The professionalisation of an industry/economy requires support from political decision-makers as they have the ability to establish and enforce an appropriate regulatory framework. For instance, the introduction of a tax incentive for film productions could only be achieved through collaboration with the ministries for finance and culture." (Conclusions, page 45)
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"Over the last 20 years, the power of cultural and creative industries (CCIs) as enablers and drivers of sustainable development has been broadly recognised. They are viewed as critical to social cohesion, social and economic transformation, and political stability. For this reason, it is important
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to explore and analyse what kind of CCIs supporting strategies, programmes and projects are in place in SubSaharan Africa, how they are working and their practical impacts. Furthermore, to deeply understand these dynamics and be able to provide accurate recommendations, this research looked not only at the practical cases of programmes developed multilaterally by the EU but also those developed individually by European countries’ cultural institutions. The authors show how, where and why CCIs programmes are implemented and put forward a case for more sustainable projects with a stronger focus on local ownership." (Back cover)
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"This dissertation explores audiovisual assistance programs through an examination of the largest such program: the EU’s ACPCultures+, which since 2008 has awarded over 50 million Euros to nearly 60 audiovisual training programs, distribution initiatives, and production projects in sub-Saharan Afr
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ica and the Caribbean. Using textual and policy analyses, in-depth interviews, and both digital ethnography and multi-sited ethnographic research in Brussels, Addis Ababa, and Nairobi, I analyze three case studies of projects funded by ACPCultures+ – a screenwriting course in Kenya, a pan-African video-on-demand platform, and the first Ethiopian film to screen at Cannes film festival – while tracing the circulation of the program’s aims and policies from its headquarters in Brussels to audiovisual professionals in Africa and the Caribbean. These cases show how, as ACPCultures+ grapples with media diversity in an era of globalization, it builds on postwar histories of both international development and EU cultural and audiovisual policies in ways that simultaneously enable and constrain media industries in the Global South. Ultimately, this research demonstrates how audiovisual assistance programs are an underexamined piece of the global media landscape in which Northern policies and Southern practices together can reframe debates about media and cultural hegemony and suggest new ways of conceptualizing the geographies of audiovisual industries and policy." (Abstract)
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"Roots of the New Arab Film deals with the generation of filmmakers from across North Africa and the Middle East who created an international awareness of Arab film from the mid-1980s onwards. These seminal filmmakers experienced the moment of national independence first-hand in their youth and reta
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ined a deep attachment to their homeland. Although these aspiring filmmakers had to seek their training abroad, they witnessed a time of filmic revival in Europe - Fellini and Antonioni in Italy, the French New Wave, and British Free Cinema. Returning home, these filmmakers brought a unique insider/outsider perspective to bear on local developments in society since independence, including the divide between urban and rural communities, the continuing power of traditional values and the status of women in a changing society. As they made their first films back home, the feelings of participation in a worldwide movement of new, independent filmmaking was palpable." (Publisher description)
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"This chapter examines how the Aide aux cinemas du monde fund and the Produire au Sud workshop aim at strengthening France’s central position in the co-production of world cinemas. The Aide aux cinemas du monde provides funding to French co-producers of films from all over the world, while the Pro
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duire au Sud workshop, linked to the Festival des 3 Continents in Nantes, works towards developing cooperation between European film professionals and emerging film-makers from the South. Drawing on an analysis of film policy documents and data, field observation and recent film festival studies, this chapter describes how both initiatives support co-production, in parallel to developing and exporting professional practices and discourses that shape the co-production culture developed in France since the 1980s." (Abstract)
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"Im Februar 2015 hat Jayro Bustamante an den Filmfestspielen Berlin den Silbernen Bären für seinen ersten Spielfilm «Ixcanul» gewonnen. Gleichzeitig hat sich mit dem Film ein lateinamerikanisches Land auf der Landkarte des Kinos eingetragen. Walter Ruggle wirft einen Blick auf die Situation des
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Kinos in Guatemala, wo Jayro Bustamante sich auch für die Verbreitung von Filmen über das Projekt eines Kino-Busses engagiert." (Seite 31)
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"In this paper, I examine the aims and motivations behind the EU’s audiovisual assistance programs to countries in the Global South, using data from policy documents and semi-structured, in-depth interviews with program managers and administrative staff in Brussels. These programs prioritize forms
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of audiovisual content that are locally specific, yet globally tradable. Furthermore, I argue that they have an ambivalent relationship with traditional notions of international development, one that conceptualizes media not only as a means to achieve economic development and human rights aims, but as a form of development itself." (Abstract)
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"Seen from the perspective of film directors in the Middle East, the NFSD‘s Middle East Project makes a clear contribution in a number of areas: focusing on documentary flimmaking, it provides opportunities for flimmakers from the region to engage with realities that are important to them, but per
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haps difficult to expiore without the framework that a training program provides; it introduces flimmakers to a kind of film pedagogy that is seen as deviating from what tends to be on offer in the region‘s established institutions, a pedagogy that is liberating, engaging, and enabling; finaily, it fosters networks, and aithough some of the ties in question may be weak, they are perceived as a potential basis for further. worthwhile filmmaking activities, and thus as enabling. In some cases, student filmmakers from the Middle East have become central to the NFSD‘s project and key figures within the network. This is clearly the case, for example, for Corine Shawi. The art-based network(s) that the project helps to create may be its most important contribution. Hala Galal, from partner NGO Semat in Cairo, speaks of the “regression and increasing intimidation“ that she encounters in her “daily work as a female filmmaker“ in Egypt. And she goes on to underscore the importance of the kind of support that a network of friends and fellow travelers can provide: “Th are people in other nations who can appreciate my work, despite the differences in ethnicity, religion, and language. This. . . has strengthened my conviction that we, as human beings the world over, can stand united against injustice and intolerance in all its forms.“ Film training, in this way of thinking, extends well beyond mere technical skills and into the domain of “world making.“ Admirably, those working with this kind of model are not afraid to recognize and, indeed, embrace the responsibilities that this entails." (Conclusion, page 147)
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"According to the Danida website "The Danish Arab Partnership Programme (DAPP) is a long-term programme with the dual objectives of 1) supporting local reform processes in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA region) and 2) Establishing a basis for improved dialogue, understanding and cooperation
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between Arab countries and Denmark. Media support has been the biggest programme under the DAPP with a total of 178 million DKK (approx. Euro 24 Mio) being allocated to these activities during the period 2005-2012. The evaluation applies OECD/DAC’s five criteria: relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, (emerging) impacts, and sustainability to answer the overall evaluation questions, including whether and how the media cooperation activities have contributed to media reform in the Arab countries and to enhanced dialogue between professional media partners in Arab countries and in Denmark. Other key questions include the extent to which DAPP and MCP programmes and projects have been able to adjust and respond to the dynamic changes in the region and which lessons can be learned for future media cooperation and professionalization of the media in the MENA region". The overall study frame included 20 different regional and country programmes. Five countries were assessed: Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Yemen and Tunisia. The intervention areas sampled for assessments were: investigative journalism, media monitoring, legal reform, online media, public service broadcasting (PSB), documentary filmmaking and twinnings." (commbox)
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"Dialogue Through Film is a unique initiative bringing together young Armenians from Nagorny Karabakh and Azerbaijanis to make short films about the conflict that divides them. Over 30 young film-makers have taken part, and thousands of Armenians and Azeris have watched their films. This handbook of
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fers information, guidance and resources for you to organise your own screenings and discussions of a selection of these films. Our aim is to encourage and facilitate independent debate in Armenian and Azerbaijani societies about each other, the Nagorny Karabakh conflict, and the many challenging issues confronting Armenian-Azerbaijani reconciliation and the peaceful resolution of the conflict." (Foreword)
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"The media intervention programs and training initiatives for Arabs reflect hegemonies and dependencies. Taking into consideration the absence of a public cinema infrastructure in the Arab World and thus the lack of institutional representation or backing for film-makers leads one to question to wha
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t degree the director can control her/his story. Or in other words, to what extent the films, which are read as national works, can reflect debates or atmospheres in their country of origin at all? The decoding of films, not only from the Middle East, is in many cases national, as the case of Paradise Now showed. Critics’ reactions to Waltz with Bashir suggest that the reading of the film is connected to the actual political experience within the region versus political assumptions about it, a rather regional reading. An aspect entirely missing in the Western decoding process of films from the Middle East is the question who was involved in the encoding. The critics, who translate the film to the wider audience, focus on the films’ subjects or manipulations, rather than on the economic and institutional backing of the creation and thus interests behind it. After completing the film it is solely the director who has to defend the work as a statement from and about her/his country. Regardless of formal ownership and the involvement of co-producing states these films are marketed as documents from and about the country in which the story takes place. The majority of co-productions by directors from the Middle East, like the majority of films produced at all, get little attention. It is the films with international recognition, be it by box office numbers or debates that are remembered. One could easily assume that Paradise Now will become part of a Palestinian collective memory. Yet, without physical archives in the Arab countries, and Palestine not even being a state, how long will the co-produced movies be accessible as part of cultural heritage? In French and German archives the film rolls will be stored and made accessible, it is in Europe where Arabs will still have to look for their cultural memory in the distant future." (Conclusion, page 11-12)
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"This study provides a summary of the state of implementation of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions of 2005. Focusing on fields in which the EU is expected to provide leadership or coordination, it is intended to provide ideas and long-term
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guidance on implementing the Convention. For that purpose, it analyses the obligations set out by this treaty. It assesses various practices in implementing the UNESCO Convention from a legal and practical viewpoint, and identifies challenges and measures to help achieve the objectives of this instrument." (Abstract)
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"La cultura-comunicación, más que promover la integración de países, debe buscar la integración de ciudadanos, trabajando los denominadores comunes definidos en las Declaraciones Universales de los Derechos Humanos, Pueblos Indígenas y Medio Ambiente. Es éste el capítulo más deficitario de
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nuestra cooperación y el que exige mayores esfuerzos. Cultura y comunicación deben servir para promover el diálogo de los ciudadanos de ambas orillas potenciando su encuentro e intercambiando conocimientos, inquietudes, ideas, ambiciones y folklores; en suma, tejiendo complicidades que superen recelos históricos más allá de querellas políticas, a veces de exclusiva propiedad de los gobiernos. Para ello es necesario establecer un plan en la UE que atienda y coordine líneas multilaterales y bilaterales. Una política común en cultura-comunicación exige financiación comunitaria y coordinación de las políticas bilaterales para generar sinergias, ampliando cualitativa y cuantitativamente las propuestas de EUROMED. Ésta sería la primera propuesta, abrir una línea de financiación en cooperación específica desde la UE para Marruecos, Argelia y Túnez en cultura-comunicación partiendo de la consideración de que muchas de estas medidas deben tener una consecuencia en el conjunto de los seis países y la UE. El cambio necesario debe buscar beneficiar a la ciudadanía más que a los Estados y al capital." (Página 54-55)
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