Director of the Prince Claus Fund Els van der Plas has revealed details of the Fund’s plans to finance rebuilding of damaged cultural institutions in Haiti. Geoffrey Macnab reports
Among several other initiatives it is pursuing in the earthquake-ravaged country, the Fund is to invest in the repair of a film school in Port-au-Prince. “We have a special emergency relief fund, called the Culture Emergency Response,” Van der Plas says. This CER provides “first aid” for cultural heritage that has been damaged or destroyed by man-made or natural disasters.
Last week, the Hubert Bals Fund confirmed that the Cine Institute in Port-au-Prince was free to use a €10,000 grant originally intended for a narrative masterclass in whatever way was most useful for reconstruction.
Among other film-related activities the Fund has supported are a recent exhibition at the Beirut Arts Centre, showcasing the video work of Akram Zaatari, and the Workshop de Animación en Stop Motion in Uruguay. However, the Fund doesn’t invest directly in production funding – to do so would be to risk overlapping with the activities of Rotterdam’s Hubert Bals Fund and IDFA’s Jan Vrijman Fund, both of which invest in production in developing countries. “We do things relating to film, but we don’t fund film itself,” Van der Plas comments.
Here in Rotterdam, the Prince Claus Fund will be making a €15,000 investment in a CineMart project. 2010 marks the tenth anniversary of the Fund’s involvement in CineMart. The Fund also invests €10,000 for other activities, among them inviting guests to attend from countries where the Fund is active. Over the last decade, the Fund has contributed to such CineMart projects as Hamaca Paraguaya by Paz Encina (2006, Paraguay); The Forsaken Land by Vimukhti Jayasundara (2005, Sri Lanka) and La Nuit de la Verité by Fanta Régina Nacro (2004, France/Burkina Faso). The Forsaken Land won a Caméra d’Or at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival.
Supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Dutch Postcode Lottery, the Prince Claus Fund has an annual budget of €4.3 million. 8% goes on overheads, the rest on projects, awards and activities. Its main focus is Culture and Development with individuals and organizations in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean.