IFFR's Hubert Bals Fund announces fall 2017 selection

The Hubert Bals Fund (HBF) of International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) selected eleven film projects from countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East for its Script and Project Development scheme. Categorised in two sections, HBF Bright Future and HBF Voices, they will receive a €72,500 grant in total. John Trengove's The Wound and Lukas Valenta Rinner's Los decentes are selected for the HBF+Europe: Distribution Support scheme and receive a contribution of €30,000 to the distribution of the film. The Creative Europe - MEDIA programme of the European Union supports the Grant provision.

The fund supports nine debut, second and third time filmmakers within the HBF Bright Future scheme. Two projects are supported in the HBF Voices section, which supports feature films by filmmakers more advanced in their careers. Worth noting, the eleven backed projects feature work by award winning filmmakers such as Hivos Tiger Award winner Jakrawal Nilthamrong (Vanishing Point, IFFR ‘15), Bright Future Award winner Melisa Liebenthal (Las lindas, IFFR ‘16) and Paz Encina (FIPRESCI Award at Cannes Un Certain Regard ’06 for Hamaca paraguaya) – currently developing a 3D-project. The selection also features five unique and promising debut projects, including Lei Lei’s Ningdu, which won the Wouter Barendrecht Award at CineMart 2017. 

HBF+Europe: Distribution Support

Through HBF+Europe: Distribution Support, the Hubert Bals Fund aims to offer financial support to the distribution of feature films by filmmakers from Africa, Asia, Latin America and parts of Eastern Europe, and to stimulate the promotion and circulation of international co-productions in Europe and beyond. Through this scheme, the HBF expects to boost the selected films' potential to find their audiences in Europe and beyond.

Script & Project Development: Bright Future

• Anatomy of Time, Jakrawal Nilthamrong – Thailand

• Cu Li Never Cries, Lan Pham Ngoc – Vietnam, Germany

• El rostro de la medusa, Melisa Liebenthal – Argentina

• La jauría, Andrés Ramírez Pulido – Colombia

• Naked Sky, Dea Kulumbegashvili – Georgia

• Ningdu, Lei Lei – Hong Kong

• The French Teacher, Ricardo Alves Jr. – Brazil

• The Whole-Timers, Pooja Gurung, Bibhusan Basnet – Nepal, France

• Yashar, Elvin Adigozel – Azerbaijan, France

Script & Project Development: Voices

• Érami: El monte que es el mundo, Paz Encina – Paraguay

• Zero One One, Mohamad Malas – Syria

Selection HBF+Europe: Distribution Support Scheme

• The Wound, John Trengove – South Africa, Germany, Netherlands, France. Selected for a contribution of €30,000 to the distribution of the film in Brazil, Norway and the United Kingdom.

• Los decentes, Lukas Valenta Rinner – Argentina, Austria. Selected for a contribution of €30,000 to the distribution of the film in Latvia, Argentina, Germany and Austria.

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 Fund’s 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 European Commission- Creative Europe-MEDIA, Hivos, Dioraphte Foundation, the Lions Club Rotterdam: L’Esprit du Temps and the Tiger Film Mecenaat.

HBF+Europe is supported by the Creative Europe – MEDIA programme of the European Union.

The 47th edition of International Film Festival Rotterdam takes place from place from Wednesday 24 January to Sunday 4 February 2018. The IFFR PRO Days (incl. the 35th CineMart) take place from Saturday 27 January to Wednesday 2 February 2018.More information on IFFR.com.