Solidarity Capital: Alternative Financing for Independent Cinema

Shrinking public support, volatile markets, and growing political pressures have become common ground for filmmakers around the world. The industry’s answer has been concerted acts of solidarity: a producer‑pooled fund in Budapest that channels support toward independent projects; the Hubert Bals Fund’s new Displacement Film Fund from Rotterdam, created to amplify the work of exiled storytellers; and the UNIQA SEE Future Foundation, a corporate‑philanthropic initiative investing in women‑led productions across the Balkans. These initiatives show how swiftly a community can mobilise—yet goodwill alone cannot sustain an entire sector. Can such lifelines mature into a dependable, revolving layer of finance without eroding creative autonomy, or will reliance on patch‑work aid normalise crisis mode and stall deeper structural reform? The session explores how mission‑driven capital might scale, how independence can be protected when support arrives with a cause, and whether solidarity can move from the margins into the mainstream.