For the last edition of 2023, Streamlined is staying true to it name and purpose by streamlining all the news out of the autumn 2023 season of labs, project markets and funding announcements in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
Funding for cinema from these regions through government subsidies and film festivals still appears to be centred in Europe, South Korea, Southeast Asia and the Middle East. African cinema is being supported by European funds including Berlin’s World Cinema Fund, Rotterdam’s Hubert Bals Fund and various French initiatives, but now has a new source of support in Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Fund.
Streamlined’s first edition of 2024 will take a closer look at this Saudi fund, which along with the Doha Film Institute in Qatar, is becoming a significant source of funding for independent cinema. For now, here’s a recap of activity in 2023.
Asia & Middle East Project Market Circuit Ramps Up
Now we’ve finally returned to physical events (it’s difficult to believe but this time last year we still had some pandemic-related travel restrictions), Asia’s labs, workshops and project markets circuit has become busier than ever. I don’t have time to do this right now, but if we added up the value of all the cash and in-kind awards handed out by various project markets and their sponsors over this past autumn festival season, we would see that a significant chunk of funding has emerged for independent cinema in the region, on top of the subsidies provided by a growing number of governments in the Global South.
While Busan, Hong Kong and Taipei Golden Horse film festivals have long had project markets, and Japan now has Tokyo Gap Financing Market, the circuit has recently been expanded with the launch of TCCF Pitching and the Philippines’ QCinema Project Market (see below for recent news). India has Film Bazaar and China now has both Shanghai’s SIFF Project and Pingyao Project Promotion. We can probably also expect to see new events being launched in the fast-growing market of Indonesia over the next year.
Most of these events are taking place between early October and mid-December, which is effective in the sense that they are feeding films into the European and North American winter/spring festival season, starting with Sundance, Rotterdam and Berlin and running through to Cannes, Venice and Toronto. But it makes for an intensely over-loaded autumn schedule in Asia that could maybe benefit from seeing a few events move into spring.
There’s a similar circuit evolving in the Middle East, unfortunately truncated this year by the Israel-Hamas War, which prompted most festivals to cancel or delay this year’s edition. Red Sea International Film Festival and its Red Sea Souk went ahead (more on that next month) as did El Gouna Film Festival and it CineGouna Platform, albeit in a smaller and postponed format.
One eventual aim of the Streamlinedglobal.com website, a companion site to the Streamlined newsletter, is to list all project market line-ups and funding announcements across Asia, Middle East and Africa. See the two links below for what we have so far – stretching back to mid-2022 (Streamlined is making a New Year’s resolution to make this a more timely and comprehensive service in 2024). Please let me know if these round-ups are useful and whether there is any way they can be improved:
Round-up of Project Market Line-ups: https://streamlinedglobal.com/project-markets/
Round-up of Funding News: https://streamlinedglobal.com/funding-news/
In the links section below, you can also find a round-up of awards handed out at project markets in autumn 2023, starting from Busan’s Asian Project Market and finishing with El Gouna Film Festival’s CineGouna Springboard awards. There are also links to recent labs and workshop news.
Red Sea Fund Becomes A Major Force In Arab & African Cinema
Since its launch in 2021, the Red Sea Fund has awarded grants to 242 projects across development, production and post-production, with amounts totalling $14m this year alone. The fund supported seven films that were submitted by their respective countries this year to the Oscars’ Best International Feature category, including two that made the shortlist – Tunisia’s Four Daughters and Morocco’s The Mother of All Lies.
Before we all get excited, the grants are only available to projects from Arab and African filmmakers – there is no funding for projects from east of the Gulf – although, as fund head Emad Z. Eskander pointed out on a panel at this year’s Red Sea International Film Festival, the fund covers the whole of Africa, while many existing initiatives only focus on specific areas of the continent.
Streamlined’s next edition will look in more detail at what the fund is supporting and the impact it is having. For now I just want to share an observation that a prominent programmer made to me during Red Sea film festival – that it’s a great time to be a filmmaker in the Arab world and Southeast Asia (which is also being elevated by the growth of regional funds, labs and project markets) but there’s a glaring gap in South Asia, where there’s only one major projects market (Film Bazaar) and scant government support for filmmakers across India, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
As always, the stark reality is that talent is everywhere in this world, but money is not. But then as Bangladeshi filmmaker Mostofa Sarwar Farooki said to me recently: “We lack government policy, but we don’t want money, we just don’t want the government blocking us. They need to open up the environment so people can make films on any subject they want.”
I’m currently in Vietnam, another country that doesn’t have any government support, although that may be changing. More on that next year…in the meantime, happy holidays to all Streamlined readers and, as always, a huge thank you for your support.
AUTUMN 2023 PROJECT MARKET AWARDS:
Iraqi and Palestinian Projects Take Top Prizes in CineGouna Springboard Awards
Tunisia’s ‘Motherhood’, Palestine’s ‘Amnesia’ grab top prizes at Marrakech’s Altas Workshops
‘The Remotes’, ‘Filipiñana’ Win Top Prizes At QCinema Project Market
India’s Film Bazaar Reveals Market Winners, Deals
Lee Yi-shan’s ‘Chewing Gum’ Wins Grand Prize At Golden Horse FPP
AUTUMN 2023 LABS & WORKSHOPS:
Second Edition of Emerge Development Program Gets Singapore, Taiwan Backing
Mylab+@Jogja Selects Six Projects For First Edition
Tatino Teams With Alternativa & QCinema For Central, SE-Asian Film Residencies
IN THE TRADES:
PRODUCTION NEWS:
Adivi Sesh & Shruti Haasan Set To Star In Annapurna Studios’ Pan-Indian Action Drama
Anurag Kashyap-Produced Oscar-Qualifying Short ‘Incognito’ to Be Adapted Into Feature Film
‘Death Stranding’ film in development with A24 and Hideo Kojima
CORPORATE:
Mark Francis Joins Indonesia’s Vidio, as Streamer Hits Subscription Landmark
Zee Asks for Date Extension to Complete Merger With Sony
CANCELLED:
Iranian Film ‘No End’ Dropped From Hainan Island Festival, Claims Chinese Censorship
China’s Hainan Film Festival Accused of Not Paying Prize Money to Past Winners
CURATED:
Red Sea Film Festival Awards: ‘In Flames’ Best Feature & Two Wins For ‘The Teacher’ – Full List
RELEASED:
Cannes drama ‘Goodbye Julia’ records box office success in Gulf
Saudi Thriller ‘Night Courier’ Beats ‘Wonka’ With Record Local Opening
‘Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour’ Movie Confirmed for China Cinema Release
SOLD:
KimStim Acquires North American Rights To Cannes Un Certain Regard Title ‘Only The River Flows’
Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s ‘Chime’ readies release on digital platform Roadstead
Thanks Janine, I'm honoured to hear that from you!! Happy New Year!!