Cinema Mondial Tour takes HBF and JVF to Africa

PRESS RELEASE June 8, 2010

Cinema Mondial Tour: Hubert Bals Fund and Jan Vrijman Fund Films in Africa
The beginning of July marks the official start of the Hubert Bals Fund (HBF) and Jan Vrijman Fund (JVF) Cinema Mondial Tour in Tanzania, then one day later in Rwanda. The two funds, which provide support to filmmakers in developing countries, have set up a joint film programme that will tour film festivals in Africa until March 2011.
The film programme consists of a total of 12 fiction films and documentaries, all made with support from the Hubert Bals Fund and the Jan Vrijman Fund, respectively.

Cinema Mondial Tour in Africa
The films included in the programme come from various African countries, as well as other regions where the HBF and JVF are active. HBF films from Kenya, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea, Argentina and Malaysia will be screened, for example. The JVF-supported documentaries come from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Iran and Russia. All participating festivals make their own selection from the films chosen by the HBF and JVF.
A special advance screening of the Cinema Mondial Tour took place at the beginning of June during the Ecrans Noir festival in Cameroon. The official starting signal for the tour of Africa was given on 10 July during the opening of the Zanzibar International Film Festival in Tanzania. A day later, on 11 July, starts the Rwanda Film Festival, which will also screen the programme, followed by the Durban International Film Festival in South Africa. The Cinema Mondial Tour will run until mid-2011 and will visit film festivals in other African countries, including Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and Benin.

Cooperation between Hubert Bals Fund and Jan Vrijman Fund
This is the first time the Hubert Bals Fund and the Jan Vrijman Fund have worked together. Both funds have the aim of stimulating an independent film culture in developing countries. As part of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), the HBF focuses specifically on the realisation of fiction films. The JVF, which is part of the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), is geared to offering support to creative documentaries.
The policy of both funds is twofold: firstly to provide support to filmmakers in developing countries. Secondly, the financial resources made available must be spent in a developing country and both HBF and JVF stimulate the screening of the films in their countries of origin.
The aim is for the Cinema Mondial Tour to be organised in other parts of the world, such as in the Middle East and Central Asia, in the future.

Programme Cinema Mondial Tour Africa
The Hubert Bals Fund films:
Love Conquers All by Tan Chui Mui (Malaysia, 2006)
Soul Boy by Hawa Essuman (Kenya, 2010)
Un matin bonne heure by Gahité Fofana (Guinea, 2006)
Una semana solos by Celina Murga (Argentina, 2006)
Le jardin de papa by Zeka Laplaine (DR Congo, 2003)
The Jan Vrijman Fund films:
Congo in Four Acts by Dieudo Hamadi, Divita Wa Lusala and Kiripi Katembo Siku (DR Congo, South Africa, 2010)
Glimpse by Dan Jawitz and Alberto Iannuzzi (South Africa, 2005)
Santos by Rupinder Jagdev (Kenya, 2008)
Sea Point Days by Francois Verster (South Africa, 2008)
Shungu, the Resilience of a People by Saki Mafundikwa (Zimbabwe, 2009)
Tehran has no more Pomegrenates by Massoud Bakhshi (Iran, 2006)
Tishe! by Victor Kossakovsky (Russia, 2002)

The Hubert Bals Fund is supported by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hivos-NCDO Culture Foundation, the DOEN Foundation, Dioraphte Foundation and Dutch public broadcasting network NPS.

The Jan Vrijman Fund is supported by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hivos-NCDO Culture Foundation and the DOEN Foundation.

For the schedule and the most recent list of participating festivals:
Cinema Mondial Tour, IFFR-site
Cinema Mondial Tour, IDFA-site

(End of press release)

Note to the Editor, not for publication:

For further information and images of the Cinema Mondial Tour in Africa, contact Laura van Halsema: +31 (0)20 6273329 / [email protected] or Bert-Jan Zoet: +31 (0)10 8909090 / [email protected].