Filmförderung Pressemeldung
New residency programmes by BKM and MBB in support of Ukrainian film-makers
PRESS RELEASE
Berlin / Potsdam - On the initiative of the BKM and Medienboard, a new residency programme is now starting for refugee film-makers from Ukraine and film-makers at risk from Russia and Belarus. With this, MBB is funding aid programmes for Ukrainian film-makers with a total of EUR 162,000.
To make it easier for them to continue their artistic work in Germany, BKM and MBB are funding scholarships for refugee film-makers in Berlin-Brandenburg as part of the Ukraine Plus Emergency Aid Programme: In this, 8 Ukrainians as well as Russians and Belarusians critical of the regime are provided with financial assistance and contacts in the film industry for 6 months and are professionally supported by the NIPKOV PROGRAMME. The objective is to help the film-makers find work opportunities during their time in Germany and to bring them into contact with the local film industry.
Within the context of the established MBB-funded artist-in-residency programme BERLIN AiR, 3 more scholarship slots are available for Ukrainian and at-risk Russian/Belarusian film-makers. An independent jury decides on the awarding of the scholarships, which are administered by the NIPKOW PROGRAMME.
Claudia Roth, Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media of Germany:
“In Ukraine, there are outstanding film-makers who are advancing democratic development and creating works of high cultural significance. Putin’s criminal aggression against Ukraine endangers and prevents the continuation of their work at the local level and is an attack on the contribution of art to democracy. In Russia and Belarus, too, courageous voices are growing among film-makers who strongly condemn this war of aggression and clearly distance themselves from it. We stand alongside these voices that stand up for liberty, democracy, and peace in Europe. With the scholarships of the Nipkow Emergency Aid Programme, we want to enable them to continue their creative work in Germany.”
Kirsten Niehuus, CEO Film Funding, Medienboard:
“For more than 4 months already, Ukraine has been in a defensive war against Russia. Some film-makers have stayed to document the situation in their country and to inform the rest of the world with their images. Some, like the Lithuanian film-maker Mantas Kvedaravičius, have paid for this with their lives. Others have fled to Germany to pursue their art in liberty. To them, we would like to provide, via the residency programme, the opportunity to continue to tell their stories and in doing so, to keep Ukraine’s multi-faceted film scene alive.”