Arte France Cinema Award and Prince Claus Fund Film Grant

The Arte France Cinema Award and the Prince Claus Fund Film Grant were awarded during the CineMart 2008 closing night party on January 30, 2008.

Winner Arte France Cinema Awards Sophie Fiennes (left, for Best Cinemart Project with The Pervert's Guide To Ideology) and member of jury Michel Reilhac. Photo: Bram Belloni © 2008 Bram Belloni, all rights reserved.

Arte France Cinema Award
The Arte France Cinema Award for the Best CineMart 2008 Project (€10,000) was presented to The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology by Sophie Fiennes, a production of Kasander (UK/the Netherlands). The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology continues the acclaimed collaboration between philosopher and psychoanalyst Slavoj Zizek and filmmaker Sophie Fiennes, makers of The Pervert's Guide to Cinema (2006).

The Arte France Cinema Awards Jury consisted of Michel Reilhac (France, General Manager Arte France Cinéma) and Alexandre Mallet-Guy (France, Managing Director Memento Films). The Arte France Cinéma Award is in cash, and is given to the producer(s) to finance the development of the awarded project. By introducing the award, Arte France Cinéma and CineMart aim to further support and promote the development and production of independent filmmaking.

Winners Prins Claus Fonds Film Grant, director Liew Seng Tat (left) and producer Yen San Michelle Lo (right, Da Huang Pictures Bhd) with project In What City Does It Live? Photo: Bram Belloni © 2008 Bram Belloni, all rights reserved.

Prince Claus Fund Film Grant
The eighth Prince Claus Fund Film Grant (€15,000) was awarded to the CineMart 2008 project In What City Does It Live? by Liew Seng Tat / Dahuang Pictures. His Flower in the Pocket is also competing for the Tiger Awards this year. The Prince Claus Fund Film Grant aims at supporting the first creative phase of the development of a film production.

The jury has chosen a project by a promising young filmmaker from the latest generation of Malaysian directors. In What City Does It Live? tells the story of a community in Malaysia that plans to shift an abandoned house. A Nigerian migrant, moves into the abandoned house. The villagers view his presence as that of a mysterious ghost, and believe that the house is haunted. The man’s shadowy existence in the house evokes a poetic image of the obscure world of migrant life in Malaysia.
Through a simple but universal story that appeals to the imagination, this film subtly discusses the social issues of the multicultural society. Located in the field of tension that exists between tradition, globalisation and migration, Liew Seng Tat argues that this film deals with the changing concept of 'home' where - instead of implying the place where you live - it concerns the people who you live with. The jury characterises the film’s approach as modern, subtle and engaged. Its members were particularly impressed by the story’s visual power and sense of contemporary involvement.

The Prince Claus Fund Film Grant is in cooperation with CineMart to support the very first creative phase of the development of a film production. Every year, the Film Grant is presented to a CineMart project by a filmmaker from Africa, Asia, Latin America or the Caribbean, and selected for its excellent concept and innovative quality by an international expert jury.

The Jury of the 2008 Prince Claus Fund Film Grant consisted of: Karim Traïdia (The Netherlands, Jury Chairman, filmmaker and member of the Board of the Prince Claus Fund), Rene Mioch (The Netherlands, film expert and producer), Susanna Harutyunyan (Armenia, Artistic Director Golden Apricot Yerevan International Film Festival), Garin Nugroho (Indonesia, filmmaker) and Simon Field (UK, International Artistic Director of the Dubai International Film Festival and film producer).