Berlin World Cinema Fund 2025: Funding News

Berlin film festival’s World Cinema Fund  (WCF) is supporting 12 projects in its latest funding round, with the projects originating from Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Mexico, Panama, Sudan, Tunisia, Ukraine and Venezuela.
 
The current funding includes €525,000 for twelve production grants and two distribution grants, plus an additional €40,000 for the TUI Care Foundation Award. By creating an annual award in cooperation with the TUI Colourful Cultures Programme of the TUI Care Foundation, WCF can provide additional support to African projects.
 
The 42nd jury session was the final in the tenure of WCF head Vincenzo Bugno, who hands over to incoming head Sata Cissokho at the end of the year.  
 
In addition to Bugno, the WCF jury for the latest funding round included documentary film producer and author Marta Andreu (Spain); director, screenwriter and producer Ayşe Polat (Germany); and film scholar and curator Viola Shafik (Germany, Egypt).
 
“The world we live in is characterised by complex and intertwined crises that raise questions about the future and social cohesion. The work of the WCF enables us to engage deeply with multifaceted and sometimes contradictory universes, to give them a voice, and to materialise these countless realities. The WCF films give us hope, and make it clear that we must be active in the world,” said Bugno.

WCF PRODUCTION FUNDING: 

Blue Card, dir: Mohammed Alomda (Sudan)
Production: Station Films (Sudan), Amjad Abu Alalala; Mayana Films (Germany), May Odeh
Feature film  
Funding: €40,000 
 
Lost Songs, dir: Mauricio Miguel Quiroga Russo (Bolivia)
Production: Socavón (Bolivia), Kiro Russo; Nabis Film Berlin (Germany), Lukas Rinner
Feature film 
Funding: €60,000 
 
Kids Swimming In The Lake, dir: Michael Labarca (Venezuela)
Production: Todos los Ríos (Venezuela), Patricia Ramírez Arévalo; Black Forest Films GmbH (Germany), Josune Hahnhaiser
Feature film 
Funding: €40,000 
 
My Father’s Estate, dir: Liliana Sulzbach & Orson Soares (Brazil)
Production: Tempo Porto Alegre (Brazil), Liliana Sulzbach; Weltfilm (Germany), Kristina Konrad 
Documentary form
Funding: €30,000 
 
Suraiya, dir: Robiul Alam Robi (Bangladesh)
Production: Ratherhood Initiatives (Bangladesh), Fazle Hasan
Feature film 
Funding: €40,000 
 
The Blue Sweater With A Yellow Hole, dir: Tetiana Khodakivska (Ukraine)
Production: Pronto Film (Ukraine), Elena Saulich
Documentary form 
Funding: €30,000 
 
The Siren Song, dir: Eden Bernal Ponce (Mexico)
Production: Sinapsis (Mexico), Eden Bernal Ponce 
Documentary form
Funding: €30,000 
 
To Leave, To Stay, dir: Danech San (Cambodia)
Production: Anti-Archive (Cambodia), Davy Chou
Feature film. 
Funding: €60,000

WCF EUROPE: 

Culebra Cut, dir: Ana Elena Tejera (Panama)
Production: Mestizo Cinema (Panama), Tomás Cortés; Fulgurance (France), Elisa Sepúlveda
Feature film
Funding: €50,000

Dear Tarkovsky, dir: Firas Khoury (Palestine)
Production: Atlas Vision (Tunisia), Asma Chiboub; Dugong Films (Italy), Marco Alessi
Feature film.
Funding: €50,000

God And The Devil’s Cumbia, dir: Carlos Lenin (Mexico)
Production: Potenza Producciones SL (Spain), Carlo D’Ursi Fortunato
Feature film
Funding: €45,000

The Circuit, dir: Arice Siapi (Cameroon)
Production: Timeline (Cameroon), Martinel Nemalieu; Dryades Films (France), Eléonore Boissinot
Documentary form
Funding: €30,000

Distribution Funding for German Cinema Release:

Dry Leaf, dir: Alexandre Koberidze (Georgia)
Distribution: Grandfilm
Feature film
German Cinema release: April 9, 2026
Funding: €10,000

The Mysterious Gaze Of The Flamingo, dir: Diego Céspedes (Chile)
Distribution: Filmreederei
Feature film
German cinema release: December 4, 2025.
Funding: €10,000

TUI Care Foundation Award: 

Plastic Atlantis, dir: Samira Vera-Cruz (Cape Verde)
Production: KS Cinema (Cape Verde), Pedro Soulé; Seera Films (Germany), Kesmat El Sayed
Documentary form
Funding: €40,000 endowed by TUI Care Foundation