The renowned Italian fashion house Prada is making a significant move into the film production arena by establishing the Fondazione Prada Film Fund, aimed at supporting independent cinema. This new initiative will be overseen by Paolo Moretti, the former chief of Directors’ Fortnight, in partnership with film programmer Rebecca De Pas.

Kicking off with a budget of €1.5 million ($1.6 million), the Prada fund plans to back 10-12 feature films annually, with no restrictions on geography or genre. The fund will officially launch at the Venice Film Festival through a call for entries.

“For us, cinema serves as a laboratory for new ideas and a platform for cultural education. That’s why we’ve chosen to actively participate in the creation of new works and support author-driven cinema,” stated Miuccia Prada, owner of the luxury group and head of Fondazione Prada, which she co-founded with her husband, Patrizio Bertelli, in 1993.

“For over 20 years, the Fondazione has explored these narratives in various ways, championing a free, demanding, and visionary concept of cinema,” she continued. “Through this fund, we aim to deepen and expand our dialogue with creative and contemporary experimentation.”

According to a statement from Fondazione Prada, the selection of projects supported by the fund will be based solely on quality, originality, and vision, with the goal of making a tangible contribution to the film’s critical development, production, and post-production stages.

Moretti shared with Variety that the Prada fund will focus on films “that strive to discover new storytelling methods and embrace new challenges.” He emphasized that projects aiming to portray the world in innovative and contemporary ways often struggle to secure financing and trust from an industry that can be quite conservative.

In contrast to the Prada-supported Miu Miu Women’s Tales series of shorts, which is part of the Venice Days section and loosely inspired by Miu Miu’s fashion, the projects under the Prada Film Fund will have no connection to the fashion brand.

“We will not require anyone to wear Prada in the films we support,” Moretti stated, emphasizing that there will be no creative restrictions and that the fund is open to directors at all stages of their careers.

“Our intention is to support a diverse and varied selection of films, akin to the spirit of a festival’s lineup,” Moretti added. Selected projects will also receive a Fondazione Prada Film Fund Foundation label, signifying quality.

The Fondazione Prada, located in a Milan arts center featuring a bar designed by Wes Anderson, has long been engaged in the film sector. It recently showcased a major exhibit of storyboards from over 50 renowned filmmakers and animators, including Martin Scorsese, Hayao Miyazaki, Federico Fellini, Steven Spielberg, Wes Anderson, and Alfred Hitchcock.

Under Moretti’s leadership, the Cinema Godard movie theater has enhanced its screening series and hosted onstage discussions with notable directors such as Alfonso Cuarón, Xavier Dolan, Luca Guadagnino, Werner Herzog, Jia Zhangke, and Rebecca Zlotowski, among others.