“SANAD” Fund opens door for film submissions | twofour54

“SANAD” Fund opens door for film submissions


16 May 2015

The fund will continue to receive applications until the end of June 2015. SANAD Fund grantees for 2015 will be announced August 31.

  • SANAD continues to support Arab filmmaker for sixth year
  • SANAD is providing financial support to Arab filmmakers with a total value of 500,000 USD

twofour54 opens the door for Arab filmmakers to apply for a SANAD grant to support the development or post production stages of their projects. The fund will continue to receive applications until the end of June 2015. SANAD Fund grantees for 2015 will be announced August 31.

For the sixth consecutive year, SANAD is providing financial support to Arab filmmakers with a total value of 500,000 USD. Each project in the development stage can receive up to 20,000 USD and 60,000 USD in its post-production stage. The Fund has already contributed to the financing of more than 100 films as part of its role in enhancing and growing the film industry in the UAE and the Arab world.

Noura Al Kaabi, CEO of twofour54 said: “With its refocus, twofour54 aims to provide more support for Arab and local filmmakers through the SANAD fund. The fund is an important initiative that has fuelled creative talent, developed Arabic content and assisted in the process to showcase SANAD projects on an international stage.

She added: “The fund seeks out bold, remarkable projects with the aim of encouraging intercultural dialogue and artistic innovation and strengthening the capabilities of Arab filmmakers. Our goal is to provide support for directors and film creators in order to improve the content and direction of Arab cinema.”

SANAD supported films have continually been featured at international film festivals such as Cannes, Berlin, Venice and Toronto and have received international recognition by winning numerous awards and accolades. SANAD provides not only funding but support to projects starting at the development stage and continues its support until these films reach the big screens; as is the case with the three films: Theeb, Iraqi Odyssey and The Wanted 18, which were all awarded development and post production grants from SANAD. Likewise, films screened at international festivals over the past four years include ‘A World Not Ours’ by Mahdi Fleifel, ‘In My Mother’s Arms’ by Atia and Mohamed Jabarah Al-Daradji and “When I Saw You” by Annmarie Jacir.

The director and/or producer of the feature-length narrative or documentary projects must be a national of one of these eligible countries: Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros Islands, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, UAE and Yemen.  For more details on eligibility please click here.

Projects can apply for grants for development or post-production by filling the form available on the website which can be found here.

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