21/05/2024 - New projects by filmmakers Erige Sehiri, Joël Akafou and Meryem Benm'barek were amongst those selected by the first 2024 session of the Cinema/Fiction Committee

Director Erige Sehiri, whose new project Marie & Jolie has been selected (© Festival du Film Francoarabe Noisy-le-Sec)

On 18 May, the Francophonie Image Fund of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) (International Organisation of Francophonie) presented at the 77th Cannes Film Festival the 14 fiction films, eight documentaries and two series which share €610,000 in development, production and finishing grants.

The first 2024 session of the fund's Cinema/Fiction Commission, which met on 24 and 25 April, granted support to 14 projects, totalling €290,000, including €250,000 from the OIF and €40,000 from ACP-EU funding. The feature films receiving production support are Marie & Jolie (Tunisia), the new film by Erige Sehiri (selected for the Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes with her previous film Under the Fig Trees [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Erige Sehiri
film profile]), with €40,000; Behind the Palm Trees (Morocco) by Meryem Benm'Barek (winner of the Best Screenplay prize at the Certain Regard festival in Cannes with her first film Sofia [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Meryem Benm'Barek
film profile]), with €40,000; Sivana (Madagascar) by Nabih Day and B Gueniot, with €40,000 from the OIF and €40,000 from an ACP-EU bonus; Hamlet From the Slums (Egypt) by Ahmed Fawzi-Saleh, with €40,000; and May You Outlive Us (Lebanon) by Isabelle Mecattaf, with €40,000. The feature films receiving development funding are Le Père Sauvage (DR Congo) by Sammy Baloji, with €5,000; Voundoun (Tristesse) (Central African Republic) by Emmannuella Lalanga, with €5,000; and Mawu-Sika, l'Ombre d'une Légende (Togo) by Folligan Amouzou, with €5,000. The feature films receiving finishing support are Nomadish (Morocco) by Yassine Marco Marroccu, with €10,000; and Parfumé à la Menthe (Egypt) by Muhammed Hamdy, with €10,000.

The short films receiving production support are L'amour sous un ciel bleu (Haiti) by Samuel Suffren, with €10,000; and La nuit à peine (Tunisia) by Wiame Haddad, with €5,000.

Other projects will receive non-financial support: Rues désertes (Morocco) by Batoul Benazzou, with consultancy support (editing) and Au pays de l'autre (Mauritius) by Gopalen Parthiben Chellapermal, with writing consultancy (processing/filing).

Other projects are on the waiting list: Aicha ne peut plus s'envoler (Egypt) by Morad Mostafa, À voix basse (Tunisia) by Leyla Bouzid, Ayane (Djibouti) by Lula Ali Ismail, Seuls les rebelles vaincront (Liban) by Danielle Arbid, Yammi (Tunisia) by Hinde Boujemaa and short films Le Diable et la Bicyclette (Egypt) by Sharon Hakim and Les Âmes du Fouta (Senegal) by Alpha Diallo.

On the other hand, the first 2024 session of the Documentary-Series Commission selected ten projects, for a total of €290,000, including €240,000 from the OIF and €80,000 from ACP-EU funding. The feature-length documentaries receiving production support are Lonan Tche (Côte d'Ivoire) by Joël Akafou (selected at the Berlinale Forum with After the Crossing [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), with €40,000 from the OIF and €40,000 from an ACP-EU bonus; Naître fille (Burkina Faso) by K Traoré, with €40,000 from the OIF and €40,000 from an ACP-EU bonus; Do You Love Me (Lebanon) by Lana Daher, with €40,000; and Friche! Et les décombres se souviennent (Cameroon) by JM Teno, with €40,000. The documentaries receiving development funding are Savorgnan de Brazza, l'Épopée (Congo) by L-A Baker, with €10,000; Les Contes de l'Au-delà (Burkina Faso) by Marie-Laurentine Bayala, with €10,000; Serenade (Haiti) by Keziah Jean, with €10,000; and Les Routiers de l'Espoir (Senegal) by Bamba Diop, with €10,000.

Other projects are on the waiting list: Bibliothèques du désert (Mali) by Andrey S. Diarra, Goma, trop c'est trop (DR Congo) by Elise Sawasawa and Michael Raeburn (Congo) by David Pierre Fila.

Two series were selected; Le Palais (Gabon) by Samantha Biffot (with €10,000), with development help, and Pardon (Senegal) by Pape Abdoulaye Seck, with €30,000, finishing help.

(Translated from French by Margaux Comte)