Filipino film director and editor Carlo Francisco Manatad’s first feature film project Whether the Weather is Fine (Kun Maupay Man It Panahon) received financing from Aide aux cinémas du monde (France’s World Cinema Support) and Institut Français worth 130,000 euros.
Director Manatad teamed up with producer Armi Rae Cacanindin and co-writers Giancarlo Abrahan and Jeremie Dubois to develop the screenplay and make his first feature film under Cinematografica Films and House on Fire, a production company in France. The film is set in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan in Tacloban.
Aside from acquiring the French film fund, Whether the Weather is Fine was granted Busan’s Asian Cinema Fund for script development in 2014 and Talents Tokyo Next Masters Support Fund in 2017. The project is co-produced by Cinematografica Films, Plan C, House on Fire, Globe Studios, Quantum Films, and AAND of Singapore. It was also presented at the EAVE Ties That Bind 2015, La Fabrique Des Cinema du Monde – Festival de Cannes 2016, TorinoFilmLab – FeatureLab 360 in 2017 (where it eventually received the Co-Production Award), Cinefondation’s L’Atelier 2018, and the Sørfond Pitching Forum 2018.
Since 2014, Director Manatad and his team have been developing Whether the Weather is Fine. They are thrilled their hard work are starting to pay off and come to fruition. At present, they plan to shoot in October this year.
Producer Cacanindin said, “Fifty percent of the grant money should be spent in France. This is a great chance to collaborate with French talents, which we already started with Carlo and Jeremie working together for the script. Because why do we co-produce? It is not just about getting additional funding for our projects, but also about collaborating and learning from each other’s practices, background, and more.”
Aide aux cinémas du monde is a selective fund granted to foreign filmmakers with feature-length projects who seek support from French co-producers. It is co-managed by the Institut français and the Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée (CNC).
Almost 100 films supported by France’s World Cinema Support were selected during Cannes International Film Festival, one of the most prestigious film festivals in the world. This year, the Cannes Film Festival will take place from May 14 to 25.
