NFF+HBF selected directors (from left to right): Ali Jaberansari, Dominga Sotomayor, Wanuri Kahiu

PRESS RELEASE

Rotterdam, 10 November 2016

Film projects by three Dutch producers have been selected for the NFF+HBF coproduction scheme. Circe Films, Rinkel Film and Viking Film will each receive a contribution of €50,000 from the Netherlands Film Fund towards the realisation of the coproduction of a film supported by IFFR’s Hubert Bals Fund (HBF).

Tehran, City of Love (Iran) is the second feature film by Iranian filmmaker Ali Jaberansari (Falling Leaves), produced by Tiger Award-winning filmmaker Babak Jalali (Radio Dreams, IFFR 2016). The project was selected earlier this year by BoostNL, the experts programme set up by IFFR’s CineMart and Holland Film Meeting (Netherlands Film Festival), providing filmmakers with long-term advice and support during all phases of the production process. The makers of Tehran: City of Love have carried off the Warnier Posta Prize, one of the HFM 2016 Project in Development Awards. The film features three intertwined stories of lonely characters in search of love and connection. Babak Jalali’s Here & There Productions (UK) produces the project, in coproduction with French producer Mandra Films and Viking Films from the Netherlands.

The Chilean film Late to Die Young, the third feature film by Dominga Sotomayor, is set in a remote commune far away from the big city. Three kids are confronted with a forest fire that threatens their sense of solidarity – and their lives. The Chilean maker won an IFFR Tiger Award in 2012 for her debut film De jueves a domingo. In 2014 she again picked up a Tiger Award, this time for the short La isla, which she made together with the Polish filmmaker Katarzyna Klimkiewicz. The film will be produced by Cinestación (Chile) in coproduction with RT Features (Brazil) and Circe Films (The Netherlands).

Jambula Tree, by Kenyan Wanuri Kahiu, tells the story of two Kenyan girls in a Catholic school who fall in love and are forced to choose between the acceptance of their families and their love for each other. Kahiu gained recognition for her short film Pumzi (2010), which was selected for festivals all over the world and won the Award of the City of Venice at the Venice Film Festival 2010. Jambula Tree is her second fiction film and will be produced by Big World Cinema. The South African-based production company is known for supporting and stimulating young African filmmakers. Jambula Tree will be coproduced by Awali Entertainment (Kenya), MPM Films (France) and Dutch producer Rinkel Film.

- End of Press Release - 

The NFF+HBF Coproduction Scheme (previously HBF Plus) is a joint programme of the Netherlands Film Fundand IFFR’s Hubert Bals Fund that has been successfully stimulating Dutch producers to get involved in international coproductions supported by the Hubert Bals Fund. Since 2006, the Netherlands Film Fund annually reserves € 200,000 for NFF+HBF and selects four film projects per year.

The Hubert Bals Fund (HBF) of International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) provides financial support to remarkable feature films by innovative and talented filmmakers from Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and parts of Eastern Europe. Since the Funds establishment in 1988, more than 1,100 projects have received support. Each year, a rich harvest of films supported by the HBF is presented at IFFR and at various major festivals around the world.  

The Hubert Bals Fund is supported by the Creative Europe-MEDIA programme of the European Commission, the Human Rights Fund of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hivos, the Dioraphte Foundation and the Lions Club Rotterdam: L’Esprit du Temps.