16/06/2025
Dear IEFTA Friends & Supporters,
Nineteen years ago, IEFTA was created with a clear mandate:
To engage in the art of cinema, and to support those striving to tell their stories without the means to do so.
We did that. Across borders, cultures, and crises, we stood alongside filmmakers whose work deserved the world’s attention. From refugee camps to festival red carpets, from first drafts to international premieres, we made room for stories that would otherwise go unheard.
We partnered with institutions, mentored new talent, and built real infrastructure for cinematic voices in the Global South and across diaspora communities. This was powered by a lean team of consultants and mentors whose belief in the work—and in storytellers—shaped everything we built.
Now, IEFTA is closing its doors. Not because the work is finished—but because the structure must shift.
Cinema is changing. Distribution is broken. Budgets are collapsing. AI is rewriting the rules of creation. And still—too often—the voices most worth hearing remain the least supported. Migrants, stateless people, displaced communities: they are not invisible. We just choose not to look.
That must end.
This is not a retreat. This is a reset.
We pause to rethink. To retool. To reimagine what the next version of this work looks like—one that’s faster, louder, and unapologetically aligned with where storytelling needs to go.
Thank you for supporting IEFTA’s vision and staying with it over the years.
The work ahead is bigger than any single organization. But you’ve proven that commitment, collaboration, and courage still matter. So keep pushing. Keep building. Keep backing stories that challenge the silence.
See you in the next reel.
Marco Orsini
On behalf of the International Emerging Film Talent Association
▪️See full letter and more here: https://bit.ly/3HJuWD8
