08/03/2022 - The organisation and the fund have been canvassing for funding and donations as soon as war broke out

UPDATE (8 March 2022): The International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk (ICFR), the partnership established by International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) and the European Film Academy to act as the film community's collective response to cases of filmmakers facing severe risk, has set up a special "Emergency Fund for Filmmakers" for film practitioners directly in danger due to the ongoing war in Ukraine. In the past days, significant financial contributions have been pledged by Germany's key national and regional film funding bodies (€100,000), by La Scam, and by many individual donors.

More information here.

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Yesterday, the Russian army’s invasion of Ukraine threw Europe, and indeed the whole world, into a waking nightmare. After publishing Ukrainian filmmakers’ appeal to the international community, urging it not to be silent and not to stand aside (see the news), we have now contacted the International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk (ICFR). The body, launched in September 2020 at the Venice Film Festival (see the news), responds to cases of persecution or threats to the personal safety or liberty of filmmakers who are at risk as a result of their work, and aims to defend their right to continue their professional activities, by mobilising the international film community.

The ICFR’s board of directors disclosed to Cineuropa: “While we are aware of the massive scale of the humanitarian disaster that the Russian army’s invasion of Ukraine is already causing, and of our own limited resources, ICFR stands by the Ukrainian film community, and the Ukrainian people, in such trying times. ICFR, its founding partners and its wider network put themselves at the disposal of Ukrainian filmmakers now. We will not be answering the question of what Ukrainian colleagues need; we will be there for them as they define their requests.

“ICFR’s mandate includes support through lobbying the international film community for cases of filmmakers at risk, which applies automatically to almost every Ukrainian filmmaker in Ukraine today, as well as to the many anti-war filmmakers of Russia and Belarus.

“ICFR’s mandate also includes advocacy with governments to provide protective measures, or relocation and safe residency, to filmmakers at risk. In addition, ICFR will be working relentlessly to prepare its small emergency fund, to be able to help with legal fees or temporary relocation expenses, or any such small but necessary immediate funding.

“We will remain on the side of our Ukrainian colleagues, believing in their choices today, and making sure that they know the world of film stands by their side.”

Watch this space.