Italy’s Fondazione Prada is launching a film fund to sustain independent cinema. The new fund will be managed by former Directors’ Fortnight chief Paolo Moretti in collaboration with film programmer Rebecca De Pas.

The Fondazione Prada Film Fund, which is starting out with a €1.5 million ($1.6 million) pot, will support 10-12 selected feature films per year with no geographical or genre restrictions. The fund will be launched during the Venice Film Festival through a call for entries.

“Cinema is for us a laboratory for new ideas and a space of cultural education. For this reason, we have decided to actively contribute to the realization of new works and to the support of auteur cinema,” said Miuccia Prada in a statement. She is the owner of the Prada Italian luxury group and head of Fondazione Prada, the cultural institution that she established alongside her husband Patrizio Bertelli in 1993.

“For over 20 years,...