This edition of Streamlined is taking another look at film funds and project markets in Asia and the Middle East before going on a break until after Lunar New Year.
Red Sea Fund Impact On Saudi & Regional Cinema
As promised, I’m returning to the subject of Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Fund, which as the December 23 edition of Streamlined explained, has awarded grants to around 242 Arab and African projects since launching in 2021.
The fund doesn’t exist in isolation but is part of the industry programmes of Red Sea International Film Festival (RSIFF), which also includes Red Sea Labs and the Red Sea Souk projects market, which handed out cash and in-kind awards totalling more than $880,000 at its last edition in December 2023.
Managed by the Red Sea Film Foundation, which describes itself as “an independent, non-profit organisation”, the fund is open to co-productions so long as the director is of Arab or African nationality or origin. Speaking on a panel at last year’s RSIFF, fund head Emad Z. Eskander (who may need to start attending film festivals incognito such is his current popularity) explained that co-productions currently do not need to have a Saudi producer on board, “although I hope that soon we will have our own producers”.
Separately from the fund, Red Sea Film Foundation invests in international projects such as Maiwenn’s Cannes opener Jeanne du Barry, Michael Mann’s Ferrari, Johnnie Depp’s upcoming directorial effort Modi (about the Italian sculptor, not India’s Prime Minister) and Guy Ritchie’s spy film The Ministry Of Ungentlemanly Warfare. These investments are designed to give Saudi filmmakers on-set experience with big international productions, although visibility and relationships are likely also a factor in these funding decisions.
Within a short space of time, the fund has had significant impact in both Middle East and African cinema, where very few countries have film support programmes, and in building a Saudi film industry from the ground up. As Streamlined has highlighted before, several films supported by Red Sea Fund played at Cannes last year, and two films have been shortlisted for the Oscars’ Best International Feature category – Tunisia’s Four Daughters and Morocco’s The Mother of All Lies.
Four Daughters has also been shortlisted in the Oscar’s Documentary Feature category, and RSIFF is now throwing its weight behind the campaigns for these two films. Asian filmmakers, who usually have limited funds to take advantage of Oscars submissions and shortlists, can only look on in envy.
As for Saudi cinema, Red Sea Fund supported Saudi filmmaker Ali Kalthami’s Mandoob (Night Courier), which premiered at Toronto, and Tawfik Alzaidi’s Norah, one of the buzziest titles at this year’s RSIFF. Other Saudi features playing at RSIFF included Meshal Aljaser’s satirical thriller Naga; Yasir Alyasiri’s fantasy romance HWJN; and Hajjan, directed by Egypt’s Abu Bakr Shawky.
Mandoob, about a night courier who gets involved in an illegal alcohol ring, also recently had a stellar run at the Saudi box office, outgrossing Aquaman and Dunki with a take of $3.4m in its first 12 days. The film is produced by Riyadh-based company Telfaz11, which also had a major hit last year with wrestling comedy Sattar. Five years ago, Saudi didn’t have any cinemas or a film industry and Telfaz was making YouTube videos.
Of course, the emergence of Saudi cinema is not all down to Red Sea Fund – private Saudi companies including MBC Studios and Muvi Cinemas are already investing in Saudi content, often with Egyptian and Emirati companies as co-producers. Saudi filmmakers also have access to Saudi’s Cultural Development Fund (CDF), which invests across companies, infrastructure projects and film projects (with $80m available for the latter), as well as Ithra Film Production, part of state-owned oil giant Aramco.
Only time will tell whether Saudi politics, censorship or cultural agendas are going to impact cinema in the region. For now, let’s just say it’s a great time to be a Saudi filmmaker. But even filmmakers in this cash-rich industry cannot take the current largesse for granted.
Also speaking on the RSIFF panel, CDF’s chief investment officer, Abdullah Alkhaldi, said the fund was supporting Saudi’s nascent film industry so that private investors would start to see it as an opportunity rather than a risk: “If we’re providing the same level of government support in ten years’ time then we’ve made a mistake. Support from the government today is meant to stimulate self-sustaining economic activity that can be done by the private sector.”
Many other countries are also grappling with these issues, how long and how much to support the cultural industries, but while Saudi’s film industry already has some private investors, the experience of other countries suggests that the private sector doesn’t always pick up the slack. Often when governments finally remove the training wheels, the industry just falls off its bike.
Taiwan’s Co-Production Fund Remains A Work In Progress
And speaking of those other governments, Taiwan is currently revamping its cultural support policies with a shift towards more mainstream projects and encouraging private entities, especially those in the tech sector, to become more involved in the content industry. I was waiting to see how last week’s news about the suspension of Taiwan’s TICP would shake out before writing this edition of Streamlined, but details of the new co-production funding programme are not likely to be revealed for some time.
Although I’ve been told it’s not a factor in TAICCA’s rethink of the fund, Taiwan goes to the polls tomorrow, and at the time of writing there was a dark horse candidate creeping up on the incumbent DDP. We can only wait and see what happens this weekend.
TAICCA has said that the scope of the co-production fund will be broadened, “evolving from the original focus on small and medium-sized arthouse & independent films to now encompass commercial films, documentaries and other genres of audiovisual content with market potential.”
Among other changes, the funding cap of 30% of a production budget (up to US$300,000) is being increased to 49% (or an unspecified higher US$ cap) if there is a “higher concentration of Taiwanese elements”.
But there is still much to be confirmed about the structure, requirements and launch date of the new fund. There are rumours that the new co-production programme would be part of Taiwan’s National Development Fund (NDF), which is playing a bigger role in content financing through its One Plus Four – T-Content Plan, but currently has tougher recoupment requirements.
It's unlikely the fund has gone away completely, and we can expect to see some of the impact of the existing TICP in this year’s Berlin film festival line-up, but we may have to wait a while to see its new shape.
Philippines Announces New Funding Round Without ASEAN Co-Productions
The Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) has had a busy start to the year, announcing a raft of grants for both local productions and international co-productions under its various programmes (details can be found here and in the links below). Notably, no ASEAN co-productions have been awarded grants in this funding cycle.
As the story below explains, FDCP has previously supported co-productions with other Southeast Asian nations, some of which were directed by Filipino filmmakers, and some directed by filmmakers from other Southeast Asian countries. However, FDCP announced last year that it was combining its International Co-Production Fund (ICOF) and ASEAN Co-production Fund (ACOF) into a single ICOF fund.
Developments in Taiwan and the Philippines appear to suggest that governments are questioning the Southeast Asian funding network that has emerged and resulted in a string of films from the region appearing at film festivals and winning awards over the past few years. This is not a huge surprise – governments often hit a point where they start to question whether co-productions are benefitting their own content industry or other countries’ industries. They want to see financial returns, not just acclaim and awards. But in Streamlined’s humble opinion, this is missing the point.
Europe’s experience has proved that co-productions enable filmmakers to increase their budgets, which in turn helps them achieve higher production quality, as well as providing access to visibility, marketing and distribution. Unless you’re the US or China – or another country with a large population and long-established content industry – your filmmakers probably need to collaborate to survive.
HCM City International Film Festival To Host Projects Market
And some good news to finish with. Vietnam’s government recently changed the Cinema Law to enable local provinces to set up film festivals, and Ho Chi Minh City is scheduled to hold its first festival April 6-13.
In addition to competition sections, the Ho Chi Minh City International Film Festival (HIFF) will host a projects markets in collaboration with Autumn Meeting and headed by producer Tran Thi Bich Ngoc and filmmaker Phan Dang Di. The event is open to fiction projects from around the world and will have separate tracks for commercial and arthouse films. See HIFF’s website here for more details and submission requirements. Separately from the projects market, the festival is also hosting master classes and a script lab.
HIFF’s screening programme includes competition sections for Southeast Asian films, first or second films from around the world, and short films, as well as galas, a Vietnam Panorama section and other sidebars. It will hopefully serve as a platform to stimulate more discussion around public and private development of the Vietnamese film industry, which came off a stellar year in 2023 with six local films in the top ten, but like most industries still faces challenges.
Streamlined is still in Vietnam but has finally arrived at a beach and will be going off grid until after Lunar New Year, when I should be able to share some news regarding future Streamlined developments. In the meantime, wishing everyone Kung Hei Fat Choi in advance !!
IN THE TRADES:
Bong Joon-Ho Among Korean Artists Calling For Probe Into ‘Parasite’ Actor Lee Sun-Kyun’s Death
LAB & FUNDING NEWS:
Philippines’ FDCP Announces Grants For ICOF, FLIP & CreatePHFilms
Taiwan Suspends TICP International Co-Production Fund As Part Of Investment Strategy Rethink
PRODUCTION NEWS:
Catherine Deneuve to Star in ‘Spirit World,’ Japan-Set Fantasy Film by Singapore’s Eric Khoo
Bruce Dern Boards Nepal-U.S. Refugee Drama ‘The World’s Happiest Man’
Mammootty, Mohanlal, Gippy Grewal, Tovino Thomas Lead India’s Yoodlee Films’ 2024 Slate
Clermont-Ferrand Winner Eimi Imanishi Preps Western Sahara-Set ‘Doha – The Rising Sun’
CORPORATE:
Banijay Agrees to Sell Back Production Arm of ‘Mythbusters’ Banner Beyond International
China’s Bona Film to Invest in ‘Avatar,’ ‘Deadpool’ Franchise Titles via Chip Seelig Deal
CANCELLED:
Nayanthara Film ‘Annapoorani’ Pulled From Netflix After Backlash From Hindu Groups
CURATED:
Festival of Young Cinema in Macau Wraps With International Dialog and Work in Progress Prizes
RELEASED:
‘The Goldfinger’ reinvigorates Hong Kong box office with impressive debut
SOLD:
Tribeca award-winning documentary ‘Q’ lands MENA distribution
STREAMING UPDATES:
Asia Video Market Forecast to Hit $165 Billion by 2028, Says Study
Disney+/Hulu Gears Up For Song Kang-ho Drama Series ‘Uncle Samsik’; Byun Yo-han Joins Cast
Warner Bros. Discovery Buys Turkish Streamer BluTV
OBITUARIES:
Lee Sun-Kyun Dies: ‘Parasite’ Actor Was 48
Mbongeni Ngema Dies: ‘Sarafina!’ Creator & ‘The Lion King’ Vocal Arranger Killed In Car Crash
Jeremy Segay just pointed out that two of the films in Vietnam's 2023 top ten were not Vietnamese or Hollywood (looks like they might be Japanese anime) so I've just corrected that. Apologies for my dodgy translation from Vietnamese and thanks to Jeremy for pointing that out !!