The Intl. Emerging Film Talent Foundation (IEFTF), a new Athens-based venture established to provide support for unheard and unseen talent, launches May 18 at the Cannes Film Festival during the ceremony for the Arab Cinema Center film awards at the Plage des Palmes.
Established by Marco Orsini (pictured), the founder of the Intl. Emerging Film Talent Assn. (IEFTA), the new foundation will offer tens of thousands of euros in support each year through grants to IEFTA, which will in turn collaborate directly with film institutions, industry bodies, festivals and events with the goal of aiding emerging filmmakers who must overcome extraordinary challenges in entering the industry.
The launch is part of a series of events IEFTA is hosting this week in Cannes, including a discussion with two-time Academy Award winner and U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR) Goodwill Ambassador Cate Blanchett, who will appear in conversation May 20 with journalist Hadley Gamble and IEFTA-selected filmmaker Daniela Repas to discuss the power of cinema in portraying and addressing the challenges of displacement. The event, “Displacement: Cinematic Perspectives,” is presented in partnership with UNHCR and the Arab Cinema Center.
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The newly established foundation aims to nurture diverse voices and include underrepresented perspectives in the film industry, while upholding and supporting efforts at diversity, equity and inclusion.
Through IEFTA, the foundation has to date presented €42,000 ($45,000) in prizes to emerging filmmakers and currently supports an annual cash award of €10,000 ($10,800) that’s given to one of the 32 docs-in-progress from eight presenting partners participating in the Marché du Film’s Docs-in-Progress Showcases at the Cannes Docs program, headed by Pierre-Alexis Chevit. This year the IEFTF inaugurated a similar €10,000 ($10,800) prize for the Best Doc in Development Award at the Thessaloniki documentary Festival’s pitching forum.
In addition, the fund has been supporting cash grants to other festivals and organizations, such as the Durban FilmMart, as well as individual filmmakers. The new fund will begin supporting numerous other film programs, filmmakers and festivals around the world, including a €2,000 ($2,200) cash prize at the Close Up Pitching Forum, with projects from Southwest Asia and North Africa, and a €5,500 ($6,000) cash prize at the Amman Intl. Film Festival’s Industry Days for the most promising project in development.
This week in Cannes, IEFTA will also present the 7th edition of “Refugee Voices in Film,” which features three short films produced through a UNHCR and YouTube collaboration for World Refugees Day, and three works in progress that focus on changing perspectives. Along with “Displacement,” the event is part of “Journey of Exile: A Cinematic Exploration,” a program devoted to narratives of refugees and displaced people.
The two events highlight IEFTA’s long-running partnership with UNHCR at the Marché du Film, where the two organizations presentfilms and programswhich helpraise awareness and urge immediate action and long-term responses tothe currentglobal humanitarian crisis.
