Sata Cissokho Eyes Greater Support for African Filmmakers as New Berlinale World Cinema Fund Chief

The World Cinema Fund (WCF) at the Berlin International Film Festival supports film projects from Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, the Middle East, Central and Southeast Asia, and the Pacific, as well as Bangladesh, Nepal, Mongolia, and Sri Lanka. Since 2004, it has backed over 400 projects across development, production, and distribution.

Sata Cissokho, born and raised in France with Senegalese heritage, brings over a decade of experience in international film sales and acquisitions. She has a long track record of championing discoveries from the Global South, including "This Is Not a Burial, It's a Resurrection" by Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese and "Omen" by Congolese-Belgian musician and filmmaker Baloji. For Cissokho — who gave the Keynote address at the Berlinale — equity-only funding models are not a neutral evolution of the industry; they are a structural barrier that disproportionately affects filmmakers from regions where public financing infrastructure is weak or absent.