Global Film Initiative
The Global Film Initiative was a non-profit film organization that supported cinematic works from developing nations and promotes cross-cultural understanding through use of film and non-traditional learning resources. Its most notable programs are the Global Lens Film Series, a traveling film-series that premieres annually at the Museum of Modern Art, New York and is accompanied by educational screening-programs for high school students, and the Granting program, which has awarded numerous grants to narrative film-projects from around the world, many of which have been nominated as official country selections for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film category of the Academy Awards.
The Global Film Initiative was founded by Susan Coulter Weeks in 2002 and is advised by a board of directors, and a film-board composed of filmmakers such as Mira Nair, Lars von Trier, Pedro Almodóvar, Bela Tarr, Carlos Reygadas, Christopher Doyle, and Djamshed Usmonov. In 2004, it entered into a partnership with First Run Features for distribution of all films in the Global Lens Film Series, and in 2006, it moved its offices from the West Village of New York to the Potrero Hill district of San Francisco, California. Their office is currently located in the Ninth Street Independent Film Center in San Francisco.
GFI Programs
Global Lens is a traveling film series composed of cinematic works from developing nations or regions. It shows up to ten narrative feature-films a year, premiering annually at the Museum of Modern Art, New York in late-January, following its premiere the series is screened in fifteen to twenty cities across the United States, in collaboration with various cultural and cinematic organizations and institutions, before going into general distribution through GFI's distribution-partner, First Run Features.The Acquisitions program acquires eight to ten feature-length narrative films per year for presentation in the Global Lens Film Series. Films acquired by GFI are discovered through the Granting program and also through independent festivals and sales-initiatives, such as the International Film Festival Rotterdam, Berlinale, and CineMart, and all films are selected for their artistic excellence, authentic self-representation and accomplished storytelling. Documentary and/or short films are not considered.
The Granting program awards up to twenty grants each year to filmmakers whose projects are nearing completion or in post-production. Projects awarded grants by the Global Film Initiative are often acquired for presentation in the Global Lens Film Series, and since its inception, the Granting program has supported the production of a number of award-winning films, many of which have been nominated as official country selections in the Foreign Language category of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' awards ceremony, the Academy Awards.
Global Lens 2011
- A Useful Life by Federico Veiroj, Uruguay, 2010
- Belvedere by Ahmed Imamović, Bosnia & Herzegovina, 2010
- Dooman River by Zhang Lu, China, 2009
- Soul of Sand by Sidharth Srinivasan, India, 2010
- Street Days by Levan Koguashvili, Georgia, 2010
- The Invisible Eye by Diego Lerman, Argentina, 2010
- The Tenants by Sérgio Bianchi, Brazil, 2009
- The White Meadows by Mohammad Rasoulof, Iran, 2009
- The Light Thief by Aktan Arym Kubat, Kyrgyzstan, 2010
Global Lens 2010
- Adrift by Bui Thac Chuyen, Vietnam, 2009
- Becloud by Alejandro Gerber Bicecci, Mexico, 2009
- Gods by Josué Méndez, Peru, 2008
- Leo's Room by Enrique Buchichio, Uruguay, 2009
- Masquerades by Lyes Salem, Algeria, 2008
- My Tehran for Sale by Granaz Moussavi, Iran, 2009
- Ocean of an Old Man by Rajesh Shera, India, 2008
- Ordinary People by Vladimir Perisic, Serbia, 2009
- The Shaft by Zhang Chi, China, 2008
- Shirley Adams by Oliver Hermanus, South Africa, 2009
Global Lens 2009
- Getting Home by Zhang Yang, China, 2007
- I Am From Titov Veles by Teona Strugar Mitevska, Macedonia, 2007
- Mutum by Sandra Kogut, Brazil, 2007
- My Time Will Come by Víctor Arregui, Ecuador, 2008
- The Photograph by Nan Achnas, Indonesia, 2007
- Possible Lives by Sandra Gugliotta, Argentina, 2007
- Sleepwalking Land by Teresa Prata, Mozambique, 2007
- Song From the Southern Seas by Marat Sarulu, Kazakhstan, 2008
- Those Three by Naghi Nemati, Iran, 2007
- What A Wonderful World by Faouzi Bensaïdi, Morocco, 2006
Global Lens 2008
- All for Free by Antonio Nuić, Croatia, 2006
- The Bet Collector by Jeffrey Jeturian, Philippines, 2006
- Bunny Chow by John Barker, South Africa, 2006
- The Custodian by Rodrigo Moreno, Argentina, 2006
- The Fish Fall in Love by Ali Raffi, Iran, 2006
- Kept and Dreamless by Vera Fogwill and Martín Desalvo, Argentina, 2005
- The Kite by Randa Chahal Sabbag, Lebanon, 2004
- Let The Wind Blow by Partho Sen-Gupta, India, 2005
- Wang Chao by Wang Chao, China, 2006
- Opera Jawa by Garin Nugroho, Indonesia, 2006The fifth string by Selma Bargach , Morocco, 2010
Global Lens 2007
Another Man's Garden by João Luis Sol de Carvalho, Mozambique, 2006Dam Street by Li Yu, China, 2005On Each Side by Hugo Grosso, Argentina, 2006Enough! by Djamila Sahraoui, Algeria, 2006Fine Dead Girls by Dalibor Matanić, Croatia, 2002Kilometre Zero by Hiner Saleem, Iraqi Kurdistan, 2005Of Love and Eggs by Garin Nugroho, Indonesia, 2004The Sacred Family by Sebastián Campos, Chile, 2005A Wonderful Night in Split '''' by Arsen Anton Ostojic, Croatia, 2004- Global Shorts 2007, from Various Directors
Global Lens 2006
Almost Brothers by Lúcia Murat, Brazil, 2004Border Cafe by Kambozia Partovi, Iran, 2005Cinema, Aspirins and Vultures by Marcelo Gomes, Brazil, 2005In the Battlefields by Danielle Arbid, Lebanon, 2004Max and Mona by Teddy Mattera, South Africa, 2004The Night of Truth ' by Fanta Régina Nacro, Burkina Faso, 2004Stolen Life by Li Shaohong, China, 2005- ''Thirst