The ETISAL Fund Management has announced the details of its STEP Program to support African feature films – specifically first or second features.

Submitted to the competition were 14 different projects from 8 African countries: Namibia, Rwanda, Ivory Coast, Madagascar, Egypt, Ethiopia, Morocco and Nigeria. The jury has decided to support 5 projects in the development workshop with veteran story editor and development advisor, Isabelle Fauvel, for two weeks starting from March 1.

Starting her career as a producer, in 1993 Isabelle founded Initiative Film, a consulting company specializing in the development process. Upon becoming an artistic director, story editor of specific projects, she manages numerous professional meetings bridging different industries, especially between the publishing and the producing worlds. Within the framework of festivals and international forums she supports talents in their search for partnerships. She is also a scout for various international film labs.

These 5 projects selected for this STEP program are:

1. "Nine letters" directed by Philbert Mbabazi from Rwanda
2. "Disco Africa" directed by Luck Razanajaona from Madagascar
3. "Mercy of the Jungle" directed by Joel Karekezi from Rwanda
4. "Starting Date" directed by Yasser Shefeie from Egypt
5. "The Puppetmaster" by Nermin Salem from Egypt

Azza Elhosseiny, director of ETISAL Fund has also announced that the jury will, in the end, choose 3 projects to support in the amount of $ 5,000 each for use in the development phase of the filmmaking process. The 3 projects, selected from the above 5, will be announced at the closing ceremony of Luxor African Film Festival on March 21, 2015.