Mobility Funding Guide: Lao PDR

The Mobility Funding Guide: Funding Opportunities for International Cultural Exchange in Asia, Guide to Lao PDR provides an overview of funding available for cultural project to and from Lao PDR.

In this latest edition for Lao PDR, readers can find funding opportunities by country in most artistic and cultural disciplines. The guide could not identify funding schemes at the national level, however, there is a list of regional and international sources of funding, be they public or private. There are a total of 16 initiatives listed here: 5 initiatives with a focus on Asia or Southeast Asia, 8 with a focus on emerging and developing countries, and 3 that focus on specific countries (including those in Asia).

To make sure that the publication uses reliable sources, only regular opportunities accessible online are listed. This means that there are a number of resources that are not listed: funds for which information is only available offline, funds that are not based on open calls, and ad hoc or short-term funding.

The guide is an attempt to gather all the resources in one document and is by no means complete. Rather, it is a starting point for research into funding for mobility in the context of Lao PDR. You can learn about how to read the mobility funding guides here.

Since 2012, the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) and On the Move (OTM) have jointly presented the Mobility Funding Guides for International Cultural Exchange for the 51 countries of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM).

Download the guide of Lao PDR here and the regional guide here.

While the guide focuses on funded types of support relating to mobility and cross border travels, here are additional funding schemes available that support other project related expenses:

1. Australia-ASEAN Council

Australia-ASEAN Council (AAC) grants: Provides seed funding for innovative projects that support knowledge development. Multi-country applications with strong community outreach and lasting partnerships are encouraged to better develop relations between countries. While only Australian cultural professionals and organisations are eligible to apply, applicants must show evidence that they will be working with a Southeast Asian partner.

2. Goethe-Institut

International Co-production Fund (IKF): Supports co-productions worldwide that grow out of collaborative and dialogue-based working processes in the fields of music, dance, theatre, and performance art. The fund promotes innovative productions and international cultural exchange as well as new approaches to intercultural collaboration and networking. Individuals from the performing arts sector and particularly those from Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam are encouraged to apply to realise an International project partnership and artistic collaboration.

3. International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA)

IDFA Bertha Fund: This fund lends assistance to film documentary professionals from Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Viet Nam to produce their creative documentaries and garner international exposure. The fund supports documentaries that use strong visual treatments, focusing on both unknown and seasoned filmmakers, supporting their breakthrough from marginalised positions.

4. International Film Festival Rotterdam

Hubert Bals Fund: The Hubert Bals Fund is designed to help remarkable or urgent feature films by innovative and talented filmmakers from Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and parts of Eastern Europe on their road to completion.

5. Sørfond / The Norwegian South Film Fund

Sørfond: The fund aims to strengthen film as a cultural expression, and support freedom of speech and human rights in Development Assistance Committee (DAC) countries where these rights are limited for political, social, or economic reasons. The fund provides production support to independent film producers making fiction or documentary films, and seeks to forge close cooperation between Norwegian filmmakers and filmmakers in DAC countries.

6. The Japan Foundation, Bangkok (JFBKK)

Small Grant programme: The programme provides grants to non-profits organisations located in Thailand, Cambodia, and Lao PDR, to cover partial expenses to implement projects concerning Japan, in the fields of arts & culture and Japanese studies. Arts and culture initiatives may include international art and cultural exchange events implemented in Thailand, Cambodia, and Lao PDR, such as art exhibitions, performing arts or film screenings to promote deeper understanding of Japanese arts and culture among the people in Thailand and this region.

7. Visions Sud Est

Visions Sud Est fund: Supports film productions from Asia, Africa, Latin America and Eastern Europe and aims at making them visible in Switzerland and worldwide. It is open to production companies working on full-length (at least 70 minutes) fiction and documentary films.

8. World Cinema Fund

World Cinema Fund (WCF): Promotes filmmaking in regions with a weak film infrastructure, while fostering cultural diversity in German cinemas as well as supporting collaboration between German and producers and partners in WCF countries such as Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Viet Nam. The WCF provides support in the fields of production, post-production and distribution for feature length films and creative documentary features (minimum length 70 minutes).