In 2020, funding granted by the Francophonie Image Fund reached €1,980,000. This is twice the average amount granted in previous years. By launching the Clap ACP project with the support of the European Union and the Organization of African, Caribbean and Pacific States, the International Organization of La Francophonie (OIF) has doubled the amount of its aid to films and series from sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean.
The largest amount went to the film "Un coq sur un escalier de secours" (A Rooster on a Fire Escape) by Haitian director Guetty Felin, which received €180,000, the largest amount granted by the International Organization of La Francophonie's aid fund since its launch in 1990… Another record figure was the €135,000 awarded to the Central African series "Bangui, unité spéciale" (Bangui, Special Unit), created by Beninese director
Elvire Adjamonsi, which deals with violence against women. This spectacular increase in aid for film and audiovisual production is the result of the Clap ACP project, launched at the end of 2019 by the OIF in partnership with the Côte d'Ivoire Film Industry Support Fund (FONSIC). This project, implemented by the OIF with financial support from the European Union (EU) and the Organization of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS), provides both additional funding and professional support for projects co-produced by at least two ACP countries. This mechanism has already had an impressive impact, enabling countries in crisis or emerging from crisis to set up ambitious projects. The three biggest beneficiaries of the program in 2020 are Haiti, Mali, and the Central African Republic.
But the Clap ACP project also aims to strengthen government action in support of their audiovisual and film production, as well as cooperation between national aid funds. In 2020, FONSIC in Côte d'Ivoire received €310,000 in European funds delegated by the OIF, which enabled it to provide enhanced support to seven projects co-produced with Senegal, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Togo. The aid funds or national support organizations of these countries are also involved in the Clap ACP project, as are those of Rwanda, Madagascar, Gabon, and the Central African Republic.
The 2020 results of the Clap ACP project were presented on December 9 in Dakar during the Dakar Court festival, during which the OIF, represented by project coordinator Enrico Chiesa, brought together eight beneficiaries of its funding: Emma and Toumani Sangaré (Mali) for the series "Dimanche à Bamako" (Sunday in Bamako), Samouté Andrey Diarra (Mali), producer of the documentary "Les témoins de l'ombre" (Witnesses in the Shadows), Apolline Traoré (Burkina Faso), director and producer of the feature film "La grotte de Zehira" (Zehira's Cave), Simon Adaé, producer and director of the animated series "Kassa le messager," Togolese producer Madjé Ayité for the documentary "Terre jaune," and finally, producer Oumar Sall and director Khadidiatou Sow (Senegal), supported for the short film "Les yeux de Mabil."
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