The International City of Arts and the National Center for Cinema and Animated Images (CNC for its French acronym) announced that they will offer a six-month program that will welcome filmmakers facing censorship within their country of origin or where they are located.
Both organizations made public the call that is “designed to welcome in Paris foreign filmmakers who face persecution or political violence that puts them in danger, prevents them from dedicating themselves to writing their project or makes it difficult for them to establish contacts with partners. potential to finance it.
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The project called “camera libre” is aimed at writer-directors who have already made at least one feature film selected at an international festival and who are developing a feature film project with an international vocation.
The call is open until November 6, 2022. They detail that the committee responsible for the selection of projects will meet in December 2022. Those selected will be received in residences from February 3, 2023, for a period of six months. .
Recently, Daniel Ortega introduced to the National Assembly an initiative of reforms and additions to the Law of the National Cinematheque that seeks to control all types of audiovisual material that is wanted to be produced in Nicaragua. The regime sent to reform articles 1 and 4 of Law 909 creating the National Cinematheque, as well as Law 723 on cinematography and audiovisual arts. Now the entity will have nine attributions plus 13 that already competed in the law currently in force.
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Among the 22 competencies include creating, directing and regulating the registration of audiovisual cinematographic activity, and it will also authorize the pre-production, production, production or filming, exhibition and distribution of national and foreign audiovisual and cinematographic projects.
In the reforms of article four are found «regulate, create and direct the registry of audiovisual cinematographic activity of natural and legal persons dedicated to the activity. Authorize the pre-production, production, realization or filming, exhibition and distribution of national or foreign audiovisual and cinematographic projects in Nicaragua.
The National Cinematheque is currently being directed by the former daughter-in-law of Ortega and Rosario Murillo, Idania Castillo. With this new reform, the Nicaraguan Council of Cinematography and Visual Arts will lose corresponding powers such as regulating all cinematographic activity in the country.