HBF Plus links Dutch producers to projects from Brazil, China and Serbia

International Film Festival Rotterdam / The Netherlands Film Fund

PRESS RELEASE 12 December 2012

HBF Plus links Dutch producers to projects from Brazil, China and Serbia

Dutch producers Viking Film, Lemming Film and Revolver Film have been selected for Hubert Bals Fund Plus. Each receives a grant of 50,000 Euro from The Netherlands Film Fund for co-producing a Hubert Bals Fund-supported film. Viking Film co-produces Gabriel Mascaro’s BULL DOWN! (Brazil); Revolver Film co-produces Weng Shou-ming’s DU, ZOOEY, AND MA (China) and Lemming Film co-produces Serbian project HUMIDITY by Nikola Ljuca.

Now in its seventh year, the successful HBF Plus programme of The Netherlands Film Fund and the International Film Festival Rotterdam gets Dutch producers involved in Hubert Bals Fund-supported, international co-productions.
Earlier this year, Dutch companies Topkapi Films and Waterland Film have been selected for Hubert Bals Fund Plus. Topkapi co-produces Adrián Biniez’ THE MIDFIELDER (Uruguay) and Waterland co-produces Martín Rejtman’s TWO GUN SHOTS (Argentina).

Brazilian video artist and documentary filmmaker Gabriel Mascaro is working on his first fictional feature film. Set amidst Northeastern Brazil’s landscape and cultural traditions, BULL DOWN! is the story of self-discovery of Iremar, a modern-day cowboy.
Mascaro received a script development grant from the Hubert Bals Fund in 2010 and presented his project at CineMart 2011.

DU, ZOOEY, AND MA will be Weng Shou-ming’s second feature film. His successful début feature FUJIAN BLUE was awarded in Vancouver, competed in Rotterdam’s Hivos Tiger Awards Competition and was shown at festivals worldwide. Both FUJIAN BLUE and DU, ZOOEY, AND MA are supported by the Hubert Bals Fund. DU, ZOOEY, AND MA, a homage to film-noir - features a bizarre family and a tense, thriller-like plot.

Nikola Ljuca’s first feature film project HUMIDITY was supported by the Hubert Bals Fund in 2011, then profited from selection for Boost!, the special coaching trajectory initiative from the Hubert Bals Fund, CineMart and Binger Filmlab and was subsequently launched internationally at CineMart 2012 where it won the Eurimages Co-Production Development Award. Through the eyes of a rich young man whose wife has suddenly disappeared, HUMIDITY shows the divided world of contemporary Serbia.

Hubert Bals Fund Plus
Since 2006 The Netherlands Film Fund has yearly made € 200,000 available for Hubert Bals Fund Plus, set up in collaboration with the International Film Festival Rotterdam to encourage Dutch producers to get involved internationally and to support HBF-projects in their production stage.
Applications can be granted with a maximum of € 50,000 for a Hubert Bals Fund project that already received script and project development support, co-produced by a Dutch producer. The next selection round takes place Spring 2013.

The Hubert Bals Fund of the International Film Festival Rotterdam supports filmmakers from developing countries with contributions in the stages of script development, post-production and distribution. Annually 20 to 40 film productions are realized with the support of the Hubert Bals Fund.

Approximately half of the films realized with support of the Hubert Bals Fund are made in cooperation with European co-producers. The International Film Festival Rotterdam offers Dutch producers the opportunity to participate in international and artistically acclaimed productions through the extensive network of the Hubert Bals Fund and at the same time further support projects that were selected by the HBF.

More information:
www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com
www.filmfonds.nl
(End of press release)
Press information: IFFR Press Office, Bert-Jan Zoet, [email protected], +31 10 8909090
The Netherlands Film Fund, Jonathan Mees, [email protected], +31 20 5707681