Mastercard Enablement Programme

Big Eyes Short Film Lab 2025: Finding Marginalized Stories from Untold Worlds

Big Eyes Talents Short Film Lab 2025 is a groundbreaking initiative dedicated to empowering marginalized women filmmakers in Sri Lanka, particularly from the Tamil plantation community. In a male-dominated and patriarchal film industry, the lab aims to provide a platform for these women to amplify their voices through storytelling. By uncovering untold narratives and showcasing the richness of Tamil plantation culture, the lab fosters diversity and inclusion in Sri Lankan cinema. The lab will support filmmakers by developing their short film projects, offering mentorship in scriptwriting, direction, and production, and helping them overcome industry barriers. Additionally, by connecting local talent with international filmmakers, we will build a collaborative network that enriches both local and global perspectives. With the help of the Mastercard Enablement Programme, we aim to provide the necessary financial support to facilitate equipment, workshops, and the production process, ensuring the sustainability and growth of these filmmakers' careers. Our goal is not only to equip aspiring filmmakers with the tools and knowledge they need but also to foster a new wave of female-led cinema that challenges the norms of the industry. Through this project, we seek to create a lasting impact by empowering women filmmakers to create art that speaks to their communities and resonates on the global stage, ensuring their voices are heard and recognized.

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Jury Statement:

The BIG EYES SHORT FILM LAB 2025 by Bavaneedha Loganathan from Sri Lanka combines innovative film promotion with practical training and global networking opportunities. In this way, the project not only makes a sustainable contribution to diversity and inclusion in Sri Lankan cinema, but also strengthens the country's cultural heritage. The medium of film has always acted as a cultural preservative. Artists and filmmakers are essential to the understanding, development and future of a free society. We recognize this initiative as ground-breaking and absolutely worthy of support as it uses the power of film to drive social change and make marginalized stories visible.

Stories in Safe Hand: Building Resilience Through Secure Filmmaking Practices

The project supports filmmakers in vulnerable situations, providing essential training, tools, and knowledge to safeguard their work and well-being. It addresses gaps in secure practices and fosters a resilient community for sustainable and impactful storytelling. With the Mastercard Enablement Programme, we aim to expand outreach, strengthen resources, and ensure sustainable impact.

Jury Statement: 

Stories in Safe Hand: Building Resilience Through Secure Filmmaking Practices by Kit Hung is not only an outstanding project, but one that is urgently needed. At a time when the number of countries whose democratic foundations continue to totter and basic human rights are increasingly restricted, it is all the more important that resilience and commitment to freedom and justice continue. Artists, free thinkers and filmmakers are the soul of a society - they are chroniclers of the times, voices of the oppressed. All the more reason why these courageous people need protection and help to carry out and continue their work safely. We hope that with this project we can further support the fight for fearless storytelling.

TranStories

TranStories is a transdisciplinary lab for members of the trans community in Peru. We created it to provide a safe space for self-expression through art and film, highlight their stories, and defy discrimination through creative workshops. The Mastercard Enablement Programme has connected us to key resources, and with their support, we plan to expand workshops and organize traveling exhibitions to amplify these voices further.

Jury Statement: 

TranStories by Carlos Ormeño Palma is an artistic lab, dedicated to empowering Peru's transgender community through creative expression and film. The project has demonstrated remarkable resilience and relevance in addressing pressing political and societal challenges. The project's ongoing evolution, driven by Carlos's deep engagement with the local community, has led to significant insights and developments. These efforts ensure that the lab continues to align with and respond to the community's needs, fostering empowerment and visibility. That is why Mastercard and Berlinale Talents decided to renew their support for TranStories to contribute to its long-term impact, enabling it to remain a powerful tool for advocacy and creative expression.

Tercer Cine

Tercer Cine is a collective space dedicated to the exhibition, promotion, and creation of cinema in Honduras. It emerged to explore new ways of connecting with audiences, using cinema to reimagine our society. Our curated programming places post-screening discussions at the core of our mission. With Mastercard's support, we have laid the foundation of the project and now aim to become a key player in alternative film exhibition in our region.

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Jury Statement: 

Tercer Cine by Laura Bermúdez is a collective space dedicated to the alternative exhibition and promotion of thought-provoking films. By bringing these films to communities in Honduras that would otherwise lack access, the project initiates meaningful conversations about crucial societal issues. We are proud to continue our support for this initiative in recognition of the remarkable impact and unwavering dedication of Tercer Cine. Driven by Laura’s dynamic and reflective approach, the project achieved significant milestones in 2024, including organizing a Human Rights Festival with 20 public screenings across diverse venues and 16 year-round screenings, collectively reaching over 1,300 attendees. By supporting this project, we aim to further amplify its reach and strengthen the connections it fosters through the transformative power of film.

Radioxity Stop Motion Animation Academy

The Radioxity Stop Motion Animation Academy is about enabling manpower and local capacity to execute world class stop motion animated projects telling beautiful African stories. With skills taught by industry legends, the new generation will use the beautiful art of stop motion to diversify the presentation of the African culture.

Learn more on their website and Instagram. 

Jury Statement:
The Radioxity Stop Motion Animation Academy is a school specialised exclusively in stop motion animation for African content creators. It would be the first of its kind in Nigeria, professionalising the local industry and expanding its scope, to make sure Nigerian voices will be heard in other parts of the world. We loved this project because it finds new talent and connects them with professionals in the lesser known field of stop motion animation to bring new horizons and stimulate new voices, bringing their stories to the rest of the world.

Return to the Source: Film Workshop & Residency Programme

Return to the Source aims to teach marginalised youth about history and African cinema, to get African artists collaborating and working with each other in interdisciplinary ways using film and history as a meeting point. This is done by using an investigation of real-life physical sites related to traumatic colonial history in Namibia, that are engaged with by youth from the descendants of these affected communities. I want to use the funds to teach students about African approaches to film production, primarily “The return to the source” as a uniquely African film genre with Souleymane Cisse’s Yeleen (1986) as the best example. This type of film searches for precolonial African traditions that can contribute to the solution of contemporary problems, and for a new film language. Students learn about colonial violence in Namibia — and its relevance to the sites we explore — e.g: hanging trees, colonial monuments, etc. Students produce a film/visual work as their artistic outcome, inspired by the aforementioned sites and making use of a precolonial or alternative epistemology in their approach.

Jury Statement:
To return to the source means to learn about film and history and heal from the wounds of the past. It is a workshop and residency programme that uses film as a therapeutic tool to navigate colonial sites in marginalised communities in Namibia, to teach youth about history and African cinema. We were unanimous in our love for this project that combines film education and history to heal communities by returning to the source of precolonial African solutions of contemporary problems.

UnderCurrent

Lighting departments in India, as in many parts of the world, have almost no women technicians. This makes it hard for women to envision themselves in these roles, let alone break in. We created UnderCurrent to change this and build a more equitable Indian film industry. Our trainees receive hands-on instruction from industry mentors and are placed in on-set internships.

Jury Statement:
UnderCurrent is a training programme for women and non-binary people in the grip and electrical department of the Indian film industry, aiming to increase their representation, to create better working conditions for them and to support feminist narratives. Mastercard and Berlinale Talents decided to renew their support for UnderCurrent because of the success of the first edition of the Lab in 2023, which already had a huge impact on the participants and the productions they continued to work on after their internships. We are committed to supporting UnderCurrent and systemic change in the Indian film industry for the long term.

Sunshine Cinema

Sunshine Cinema, a 2020 recipient of the Mastercard Enablement Programme fellowship. This support emerged during the uncertainty of the cinema industry's future. Sunshine CInema pioneers solar-powered mobile cinemas, empowering over 100 youths across South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Kenya reaching 1000s of direct audience members a year. Through training in impact facilitation rural young people are trained as Sunbox Ambassadors, they conduct free screenings, fostering dialogue on key issues like gender equality and active citizenship. The program focused on economic development, and participants earn income from digital marketing gig work during the training. The Mastercard provided vital leadership, financial support, and mentorship, enabling growth and informing their Spark Impact training approach to working with alumni to play it forward.

Jury Statement:
Sunshine Cinema is a solar-powered cinema network that supports the training and employment of young people in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Kenya. Young people are provided with mobile kits called 'The Sunbox' to spark conversations in their communities, inspired by the power of African film. We want to continue our support of the initiative to celebrate the amazing impact of Sunshine Cinema. In the last two years alone, they have trained more than 80 impact facilitators and reached 80,000 beneficiaries with more than 100 films in 4 countries. We believe this is not the end of the story and want to support the initiative to empower and reach even more people in Southern Africa.

TransStories

Carlos is a Peruvian filmmaker and founder of La Fiebre Films. "TranStories" is a creative lab with the aim of empowering the Peruvian trans community through the force of filmmaking. Each year 20 Peruvian trans women will explore their resilience by making short explorative documentaries, telling their own stories using their own words, bodies, and thoughts.

Learn more.

Jury Statement:
Facing exclusion and harassment, this will be an opportunity for trans women to change history using their own stories, in short explorative documentaries, avoiding victimization and stereotypes.

WE FILM MX

Miguel is an independent Mexican filmmaker and activist. WE FILM MX is a digital platform for female journalists, activists, and human rights defenders. Its aim is to provide training and tools for the creation of audiovisual projects that can be used to broadcast their activities, expose or prove police abuses and to produce campaigns and documentaries in a country in a humanitarian crisis. It is a tool for democracy.

Jury Statement:
A feminist project that gives documentary filmmakers the tools to safely address human rights topics in risky political contexts and advocate against all sorts of violence.

Majoaneng (Academy of Images and Letters)

Phillip Leteka is a short story writer, filmmaker and a Fulbright Scholar based in Maseru, Lesotho. Majoaneng (Academy of Images and Letters) is an intensive programme which provides training, space, support and equipment to young dedicated individuals who are interested in developing their filmmaking craft in the thick of Lesotho’s non-existent film industry.

Learn more on their website. 

Jury Statement:
This project gives people who may have never entered a cinema in their life, access to movies. By having completed a first prototype round of this project already, Phillip has built up the necessary connections and cooperations to build a successful programme that will flourish with the support of this fund.

Girls' Sexual Abuse Prevention Program (GSAP)

At least 1000 young girls from marginalised communities of Sindh & Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will be empowered to prevent, recognize, and react smartly towards advances of sexual abuse. Moreover, through social media, thousands of Sindhi and Pashto speaking parents will be sensitised to identify and intervene without shame and victim blaming.

Jury Statement:
“Having considered the details of the Girls’ Sexual Abuse Prevention Program, the clarity of their goals and immediate need to act are both very compelling. The fact that they have structured the program in a solid, cadenced way to tackle such an important issue also inspires confidence.”

Learn more about the project on their website, Facebook or Instagram.

Third Cinema Honduras

-Creating a space for independent cinema screenings & open dialogues and reflections through cinema with the Central American community to achieve an impact on our social imaginary. -Offering new opportunities for professional and human development through the knowledge of filmmaking and the power of stories.

Jury Statement:
“Third Cinema Honduras brings films to communities that would otherwise not have access to them. The project promotes love and interest in the arts and highlights the importance of identity representation within film. We welcome that Third Cinema Honduras has already shown how well it works as an initiative with great dedication and hope to contribute to greater sustainability with our funding.”

Learn more about the project on their website, Facebook or Instagram.

UnderCurrent

Growing numbers of competent women and non-binary people in grip and electric can dramatically change the work culture on Indian sets. This behind-the-camera change can support the increasing numbers of feminist narratives being produced. Not just that, grip and electric work is well paid with strong labor protections (even for workers who aren’t in the union).

Jury Statement:
“The concept of "UnderCurrent" has inspired us! A concrete and factual idea that is well thought out from A to Z. The focus on the entry of women in the Grip & Electric sector in Indian filmmaking is a thoughtful and realistic approach to social change. We trust the concept has the right approach to make a lasting impact on the industry of an entire country. And to change the world, you also have to stay down-to-earth.”

Learn more about the project on their website. 

Sunshine Cinema

A solar-powered cinema network with screenings in rural communities in Sambia, Simbabwe and Malawi. Young people are provided with mobile kits called 'The Sunbox' and are trained to become media facilitators, sparking conversation in their communities inspired by the power of African film.

Learn more about the project on their website, Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. 

Documentary Association of Pakistan

A pilot mentorship and training scheme in the city of Quetta. Working with ten emerging documentary makers from the Hazara, Baloch and Pashtun ethnic communities, the project's aim is to overcome sectarian and ethnic division in an otherwise vibrant cultural centre of Pakistan.

Learn more about the project on their website, Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. 

The Seeds Project

An educational project for indigenous children in the Peruvian Andes. Through screenings and classes at rural schools, protagonists from Diego's documentary "Mothers of the Land" pass on their knowledge of traditional organic farming practices and pride in their Quechua heritage.

Learn more about the project on their website, Facebook or Instagram.