Hot Docs, Blue Ice back African filmmakers


By Content Nigeria reporter
April 8, 2022

News
The Camera Never Cries

The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival and Blue Ice Docs have unveiled the nine African film projects selected to receive C$150,000 (US$119,000) in development and production grants.

The Hot Docs-Blue Ice Docs Fund, now in its 11th year, seeks to enable more African documentary filmmakers to tell their stories and contribute to the next generation of local documentary talent.

Chosen from 77 applications from 25 countries, three of the selected projects will receive development grants, three will be provided with production grants and three will get post-production grants.

The projects receiving development grants are: The Camera Never Cries from Black Balance Artistic Production (Sudan); Dancing With Water, My Tormenting Enemy from JCMR, Malo Pictures and Label Vidéo (Cameroon/France); and Djeliya, Memory of Manding from Pilumpiku Production (Burkina Faso).

The three receiving production grants are: Land of Women from Felucca Films, Magma Film and Dolce Vita Films (Egypt, Denmark, France); Untitled Kenyan Politics Project from Circle & Square Productions (Kenya); and Trash Cemetery from NAP (Tunisia).

The three projects receiving post-production grants are: Before The Final Picture from Shoghl Cairo (Egypt); Behind Closed Doors from Behind Closed Doors (Morocco); and Donga from Khayal Productions (Libya).

“The nine films selected for this funding round showcase incredible storytelling that needs to be seen on the big screen,” said Heidi Tao Yang, Hot Docs’ director of funds and labs. “These stories span from the mountain to the sea, and the styles range from visual poetry to adrenaline-pumping calls for social action.

“We are particularly excited to support, for the first time through the Hot Docs-Blue Ice Docs Fund, projects from Burkina Faso and Sudan. We look forward to working with lab fellows in person this year, the first time since the pandemic started.”

In addition to the funding of nine projects from eight countries, four of the grant recipients have been invited to participate in a year-long mentorship program, which grants direct access to industry mentors, provides networking opportunities, and includes private filmmaker labs at Hot Docs and the Durban FilmMart/Durban International Film Festival or other festivals and markets in Africa.

Since its establishment in 2011, the Hot Docs-Blue Ice Docs Fund has supported 87 projects from 26 countries, with C$1.38m granted to date. Applications for the next round of disbursements will start on October 5. For details, click here.

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