Algerian Film Directors Sound Alarm Over Canceled Film Fund
Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentA group of prominent Algerian film directors is launching an alarm over the de-facto cancellation of the country’s national film fund which they say puts Algerian cinema “at risk of death.”In an open letter to Algerian culture minister Malika Bendouda, the North African country’s filmmakers are lamenting that they “see no future for our films” after the government support scheme called the National Fund for the Development of the Arts and Techniques of Cinema (Fdatic) was scrapped by last year by the government.The culture ministry has given Algeria’s film community vague assurances that this fund would be replaced by another support scheme which however has not materialized. Nor has the minister replied to several previous, less clamorous, requests for clarification about the future of what is considered a crucial driver for local filmmaking.