Visions Sud Est Fund
Swiss fund supporting the production and post-production of feature-length fiction and documentary films from Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe.
Overview
Visions Sud Est is a Swiss film support program that funds the production and post-production of feature-length films from the Global South and Eastern Europe. Supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and other Swiss cultural bodies, the program makes annual calls for applications and typically supports 10 to 12 new projects per cycle. Both fiction and documentary feature films of at least 70 minutes in length are eligible.
The fund operates alongside the Visions du Reel film festival held in Nyon, Switzerland, one of the leading international documentary festivals. A Visions Sud Est award is presented annually at the festival, connecting the fund's activities to the festival's programming and giving supported films a pathway to Swiss and European audiences.
What It Funds
Production support provides up to 20,000 Swiss francs for projects in production. This level of funding is intended to help films in active production cover key costs -- field production expenses, equipment access, travel, or key technical crew -- that would otherwise be out of reach.
Post-production support provides up to 10,000 Swiss francs for projects that have completed principal photography and are in post-production. Post-production grants can cover editing, color grading, sound design, subtitling, and the preparation of international deliverables.
Projects that have already received support from related programs -- such as the Open Doors Grant at the Locarno Film Festival or the Visions Sud Est Award at Visions du Reel -- are noted in the eligibility criteria, so filmmakers should check the current guidelines if they have received support through those channels.
Eligibility
Projects must be feature-length films of at least 70 minutes and must be in production or post-production. Fiction and documentary formats are both eligible. Projects from Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe are the primary focus. Filmmakers must demonstrate a concrete production budget and a financing plan that shows the Visions Sud Est grant as one component of a broader funding structure.
Who Should Apply
Fiction and documentary filmmakers from Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe with a feature-length project in production or post-production that needs targeted financial support. The fund is particularly well suited to projects that have secured partial financing and need an additional grant to reach completion or to cover the costs of international post-production and delivery.
See Also
For documentary filmmakers building international financing strategies, see Documentary Financing: Building Your Stack. For understanding European documentary markets and co-production structures, see Distribution Deals: What Filmmakers Need to Know.
