During the World Cinema Fund Day on February 14 the WCF announced an
expansion of the focus regions. Alongside projects from Africa,
Latin America, Middle East and Central Asia, filmmakers from South
East Asia and the Caucasus can be funded from summer 2007 onwards.
The WCF is active in production funding as well as in distribution
support. The submission deadline for production funding is March 15,
2007, for distribution support in Germany the deadline is February
27, 2007.

"We always believed in the WCF concept, but the fact that the fund
has established itself in the field of cultural film funding makes
us very happy. We welcome the fact that the WCF is opening itself to
two new regions", says Berlinale director Dieter Kosslick. "After
the positive development of the WCF in the last two years, the new
focus regions are an important step for the future success of the
initiative." adds Hortensia Völckers, artistic director of the
German Federal Cultural Foundation.

It is the aim of the WCF to support film projects from countries in
which the film industry is poorly developed or in which its
existence is threatened by political or economical crises. The
projects to be supported should deal with the cultural identity of
their region and contribute to the development of the local film
industry.

The WCF was founded in 2004 as a joint initiative of the German
Federal Cultural Foundation and the Berlin International Film
Festival. The Goethe Institute has participated as a cooperation
partner since 2005.