Isabel Arrate Fernandez Coordinator of the Jan Vrijman Fund

While there are a few funds that support documentary filmmaking, the Jan Vrijman Fund is focused on the financing of documentaries in developing countries. What are the reasons behind this specialization?

Financing independent film, more specifically documentaries, is difficult, but in politically unstable countries with economic problems there is no local funding at all. The West dominates both the media and documentary production. We believe it’s important that people, wherever they live, should have the possibility to represent themselves and tell their stories.

What kind of progress have you noticed in the countries of the films that you have supported?

It depends on the country and its specific circumstances. For instance, Ecuador is a country in which we supported a documentary film festival for a few years and invited the organization to IDFA. There was no local film fund, there were no laws to support or stimulate culture. But a very strong organization, Cinememoria, organized this festival. Now, Ecuador has a film law and they are working on a local fund thanks to the lobbying of local filmmakers. The same in Chile, where we also supported many projects. The filmmakers there are more organized; they participate in international co-production forums. Once again quite a group is coming to IDFA, some even to the FORUM.

This year 22 films financed by the Fund are screened during IDFA. What are your expectations?

This year’s selection is very strong, so we do expect a lot from these films. We try to help as much as possible to get the films out, by placing them in Docs for Sale and also facilitating that they participate in Docs online. And of course the publicity at IDFA and on the website.

Many of the films you supported have been great successes in festivals. Is there a fear that the films get screened based on their "exotic" quality?

International festivals have shown films from the “South” even before the Jan Vrijman Fund. What we’ve done is that we’ve increased the amount of films being made in these countries and created the possibility for a true international selection in festivals. I think the curiosity for a good film and good stories will always prevail while making the selection for a festival. Nobody likes to watch bad films. In other words, I believe that the films we’ve supported are selected because of their quality and not their exotic character.

In your tenth year your financial support has quadrupled in comparison to when you started. Do you have any concrete plans for the Fund in the future?

The budget in 2008 was € 650.000. We hope to continue on this level next year. We plan to continue supporting documentary in developing countries, but also want to increase the chances for filmmakers to access the doc market before their films are finished. After several try-outs, in the last year we found a good way for this by making it possible for 7 JVF projects to participate in the IDFA Summer School. 2 of these are now premiering at the festival.

For which of these 22 films do you have the highest expectations?

I am very happy, not only for the 6 films that are in competition but also because in general we’ve got very good films. There is one film I have a special thing for: The Red Mosque. The film deals with the siege of the Red Mosque in 2007 in Pakistan. The whole process of supporting this project, waiting for it to be finished, getting the film, and inviting the filmmaker has been so amazing and weird. The film was being shot at the same time as we were reading about the situation in Pakistan. Our contact with the filmmaker was an inside view on “normal” daily life in a country where bombs exploded 50 metres from your house. Getting the film out of the country was impossible for months. Every time the filmmaker finally thought that all was settled, something would stir up. I think his courage and determination to make this film are admirable.

Lura Limani