Sørfond support for six new projects
Sørfond has this week granted support for six international co-productions with Norwegian minority producers. This year the funding goes to projects from India, Ukrain, Palestine, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Bangladesh, a new and exciting filmcountry.
Sørfond is administered by the Norwegian Film Institute in co-operation with the Films from the South Foundation, with funding from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Culture. The main objective is to increase film production in countries where it is limited for political or financial reasons. Strong artistic performance and cultural integrity are core priorities, and an important purpose is to strengthen the freedom of speech. During the last seven years, Sørfond has supported 47 productions.
The fund received 46 applications for this year’s deadline. This year six projects were selected by the jury to receive support from Sørfond, three fiction- and three documentary projects. The total amount allocated by Sørfond this year is 3.000.000 NOK.
The jury
This year’s Sørfond- jury members are: Mahamat-Saleh Haroun (Chad/France), director and Scriptwriter, Amy Black Ndiaye (Norway), scriptwriter and actress, Eva Færevaag (Norway), former film consultant, talent development.
Jury’s comment:
In the selection and evaluation process we have had the privilege to travel the world and get to know both new and experienced filmmakers. The quality of the projects exceeds the funds, and it has been a difficult process choosing between the diverse and singular applications. The selected projects all show originality, a specific point of view, and voices that demand to be heard through the magic of cinematic storytelling.
This year’s projects:
Country: Palestine
Genre: Documentary
Director: Karem Fahti Mohamed Ali, Casey Asprooth-Jackson
Norwegian Co-producer: Spætt Film AS/Håvard Wettland Gossé
Producer: Idioms
Grant: 200.000 NOK
Project brief: When Palestinian car thieves speak back to their image on Israeli TV, their words reveal an underground network, an alternative history, and a forgotten politics.
Country: Bangladesh
Genre: Documentary
Director: Kamar Ahmas Simon
Norwegian Co-producer: Barentsfilm AS/Ingrid Lill Høgtun
Producer: Beginning Production Ltd.
Grant: 500.000 NOK
Project brief: What if the rivers could tell story! Cruising 200 km waterway on a century old paddle steamer, Day After portrays a missing narrative of Bangladesh.
Country: India
Genre: Fiction
Director: Adity Vikram Sengupta
Norwegian Co-producer: DUOfilm AS/Marie Fuglestein Lægreid
Main producer: Holy Basil Productions Pvt. Ltd
Grant: 700.000 NOK
Project brief: Memories and My Mother is a rich universe expressing the rapidly growing changes of Calcutta in the form of a puzzle that we gladly partake in.
Country: Bosnia and Herzegovina
Genre: Fiction
Director: Jasmila Zbanic
Norwegian Co-producer: Tordenfilm AS/ Ingunn Sundelin and Eric Vogel
Main producer: Deblokada
Grant: 600.000 NOK
Project brief: Aida is a schoolteacher who teaches English, but during the war in 1995 in Bosnia she is employed by the United Nations as a translator. When her hometown Srebrenica falls under the occupation of the Serbian army, she and her family - as well as 25000 citizens look for shelter in a UN Dutch battalion base. She is sure that the UN will protect them. However, as things starts to fall apart, she has to react and fi nd a way to rescue her family. UN commanders - instead of aiding the people - force them to go out of the UN safe zone into the hands of Serbian army. Aida is begging them to leave her children and take her...
Country: Ukraine
Genre: Fiction
Director: Maryna Vroda
Norwegian Co-producer: Barentsfilm AS/Ingrid Lill Høgtun
Main producer: Vrodastudio
Grant: 700.000 NOK
Project brief: Travelling through modern Ukraine to his mother's funeral in a far away village, enables an aged man to feel alive again.
Country: India
Genre: Documentary
Director: Rintu Thomas
Norwegian Co-producer: Sant & Usant AS/Tone Grøttjord-Glenne
Main producer: Black Ticket Films
Grant: 300.000 NOK
Project brief: In one of the most socially oppressive and patriarchal states of India emerges a newspaper run entirely by rural women belonging to the Dalit or ‘untouchable’ community.
About Sørfond:
Sørfond is an international co-production fund administered by the Norwegian Film Institute in co-operation with the Films from the South Foundation with funding from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Culture. Sørfond supports film productions whose main producer is based in countries on the current OECD DAC- list. The grant shall contribute to strengthening film as a cultural expression, to promoting diversity and artistic integrity on the international film scene, and to strengthen freedom of expression. The grant shall also contribute to an increased cooperation between European and international film industry.
The purpose of the grant is to stimulate to the production of films in developing countries where such production is limited by political or economic causes, as well as encouraging the film to reach a widest possible audience.