World Cinema Fund: Current Funding Recommendations

At the 43rd jury session of the Berlinale World Cinema Fund (WCF), the jury made nine funding recommendations, allocating the current funding of 365,000 euros to projects from Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Ecuador, Lebanon, Malaysia, Philippines, Senegal, and Turkey. Additionally, over the past months, three German cinema releases have been supported, with a total funding amount of 28,000 euros.

The selection includes three returning WCF directors: Ana Cristina Barragán whose last film Hiedra was awarded at the 2025 Venice International Film Festival, Amanda Nell Eu, director of the 2023 Cannes-winner Tiger Stripes, and Apolline Traoré whose Sira premiered at the 2023 Berlinale in the Panorama section.

The selection also highlights synergies within the Berlinale Pro ecosystem, with five directors having participated in Berlinale Talents, and two projects showcased at the Berlinale Co-Production Market and Talents Project Market.

This marks the first jury session presided over by Sata Cissokho who took over the leadership of the World Cinema Fund at the end of 2025.

“We have received a record-breaking number of applications and high-quality projects. While the process of recommending only nine projects for funding is not easy, it asserts the importance and relevance of the World Cinema Fund’s support to cultural diversity through a variety of topics, perspectives and forms. We are particularly proud of accompanying six first features, while also renewing our trust in the works of previous WCF directors. After the recent successes of WCF-supported films such as Ben´Imana by Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo, winner of the Caméra d´Or at Cannes and Elephants in the Fog by Abinash Bikram Shah, winner of the Jury Prize – Un Certain Regard, our commitment towards bold and thought-provoking voices is as clear as ever”, says Sata Cissokho.

The Funding Recommendations of the 43rd Jury Session

The  WCF jury made its selection from 373 submitted projects from a total of 75 countries. The funding recommendations encompass funding in the amount of 365,000 euros.

The members of the jury were film critic and curator Ali Benzekri (Morocco); festival director Susanne Bieger (Germany); producer and festival programmer Tatiana Leite (Brazil) and the head of the WCF, Sata Cissokho.

Production Funding

WCF Classic

Birthday, director: Lara Zeidan (Lebanon). Berlinale Talents 2019
Production: Road2Films (Lebanon), Sévana Films (France), Couronne Nord (Canada), Tabi360 (Jordan), Mayana Films (Germany)
Logline: Beirut, May 7, 2008: A regular after-school day for Razan, who turns fourteen tomorrow, is disrupted by gun battles that erupt throughout the city. Regardless, Razan’s teenage concerns remain unchanged as she tries to enjoy a normal birthday.

Funding: €60,000

Goodbye for Now (Şimdilik Hoşça Kal), director: Kasım Ördek (Turkey)
Production: Parda Film (Turkey), Die Gesellschaft DGS – Michael Henrichs Filmproduktion (Germany), Kidam Production (France), The Film Kitchen (Netherlands)
Logline: Sevgi, a young woman in her early twenties, living with a gang in the ghetto of Istanbul, starts a dangerous search after her mother mysteriously disappears.

Funding: €35,000

The Guardian of the Green Ocean (La Gardienne de L’Océan Vert), director: Apolline Traoré (Burkina Faso)
Production: Les Films Selmon (Burkina Faso), Araucania Films (France), Productions Colorées (Canada)
Logline: Following the discovery of an oil source threatening her village, and with her past catching up with her, Inaya must embrace her destiny as a guardian to protect her forest, threatened by modernity. But this will come at the cost of her love…
Funding: €40,000

HUM (OVUG), director: Don Josephus Raphael Eblahan (Philippines). Berlinale Talents 2024 / Talents Project Market 2025
Production: Daluyong Studios (Philippines), Prima Materia Pictures (USA), Oma Inge Film (Germany), Big Wave Films (Poland)
Logline: Esme, a native horse rider gifted with the rare ability to mimic animal sounds, guides Professor Arceo, an animal linguist tasked to track down an eco-terrorist in the forest.

Funding: €50,000

Little Phnom Penh, director: Chheangkea (Cambodia)
Production: NoMad Productions (France), Anti-Archive (Cambodia)
Logline: A Cambodian woman searches for connection and belonging as a daughter, wife, and mother—while a lost first love continues to find her across time and continents, from post-Khmer Rouge Phnom Penh to early 2000s California.

Funding: €35,000

Lotus Feet, director: Amanda Nell Eu (Malaysia). Berlinale Talents 2018 / Berlinale Co-Production Market 2026 Produced by Ghost Grrrl Pictures (Malaysia), Weydemann Bros. Film GmbH (Germany), KawanKawan Media (Indonesia), Flash Forward Entertainment (Taiwan)
Logline: British Malaya, 1938. A second wife struggles to adapt to life within a powerful family on a remote rubber estate, ultimately turning to violence to reclaim autonomy over her own body.

Funding: €40,000

WCF Europe

AMAPOLA, director: Ana Cristina Barragán (Ecuador). Berlinale Talents 2018
Production: Trópico Cine and Botón Films (Ecuador), Graal Films (Greece), Ciné-Sud Promotion (France), Klaxon Cultura Audiovisual (Brazil), Clara Films (Chile)
Logline: A group of teenage survivors of human trafficking live in a remote shelter hidden amidst lush mangroves, where they begin the slow process of healing while caring for the babies born to their captors. Between tenderness, fear and complicity, they forge deep bonds as their stay draws to an end and a strange eclipse approaches.

Funding: €40,000

Fagadaga, director: Yoro Mbaye (Senegal)
Production: Astou Production (Senegal), In Vivo Films (France), Yzanakio (Canada)
Logline: Ousseynou survives by selling “Fagadaga”, stale bread discarded by the capital, to the people of his village, serving a corrupt employer to feed his family. When his sister-in-law Nafi reopens a traditional bakery, his business is threatened, forcing him into a moral battle between loyalty, survival, and self-respect.

Funding: €40,000

Waiting for Winter, director: Farid Ahmad (Bangladesh). Berlinale Talents 2022. Documentary film
Production: Noyakar Productions (Bangladesh), House on Fire (France) Logline: Bangladesh is the largest delta of the world where floods become devastating during summer. When winter arrives, an island emerges beside the Jamuna River and Sahana, a homeless mother, serves there as cheap labor, caught in a modern slavery system. She fights to get back to a safe place with her two children before summer comes back again.

Funding: €25,000

Distribution Funding for Cinema Release in Germany

Aisha Can’t Fly Away, director: Morad Mostafa (Egypt). Distribution: Rapid Eye Movies German Cinema release: January 15, 2026.

Funding: €8,000

A Useful Ghost, director: Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke (Thailand). Distribution: Little Dream Pictures German Cinema release: March 26, 2026.

Funding: €10,000

DAO, director: Alain Gomis (Senegal). Distribution: Luftkind Filmverleih German Cinema release: June 4, 2026.

Funding: €10,000

General information on the WCF funding.

The World Cinema Fund is part of Berlinale Pro, which encompasses the European Film Market, the Berlinale Co-Production Market, Berlinale Talents, and the World Cinema Fund. Berlinale Pro is the festival’s comprehensive industry infrastructure, serving as an incubator, promoter, and supporter of the global film industry in all phases of film development, production, as well as sales and distribution.