05/12/2012 - Like each year, the VAF has awarded grants for creation in fiction, documentary, animation, and experimental film to young recent film graduates

For the eighth time, the Vlaams Audiovisueel Fonds (VAF) has selected the grantees of its Wildcards, grants to allow young filmmakers to work on their first professional project in the best conditions. These will be awarded next Saturday at the Leuven International Short Film Festival. Grants of €25,000 to €60,000 provide grantees with the means to kickstart their project’s funding. They will also benefit from professional guidance. Up to 75 projects were submitted this year, which is a record number of applications. It was also the first time that the VAF held a competition for experimental films.

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In the fiction category, two projects have been selected. Both were submitted by Sint Lukas students and are to receive €60,000. They are Michael van Ostade’s Nigredo and Emilie Verhamme’s i>Tserjnobyl Hearts (Verhamme is not unknown as her first short film Cockaigne was selected for the Cannes Film Festival). In the documentary category, Jeroen Broeckx’ 30m² (RITS) and Bram Cartigny’s Pater Familias (also Sint-Lukas) are each to receive €40,000. In the animation category, the selected project (Aad Verstraelen’s Little Ryan) is also to receive €60,000. Finally, the first grant for an experimental film, worth €25,000, has been awarded to Hans Galle’s Maturing As a Tree.

In the past, the VAF Wildcards have served as kick-starters for films that have made it to the international scene. The latest is Tom Van Avernaet’s Death of a Shadow, a project awarded a grant in 2006 that has now been pre-selected for an Oscar for best short film (read more), while previous grantees have also included now well-known filmmakers such as Hans Van Nuffel (Oxygen [+see also:
trailer
film profile]) and Gust van den Berghe (twice selected for Cannes with Little Baby Jesus of Flandr [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] and Blue Bird [+see also:
trailer
film profile]).

(Translated from French)