Hubert Bals Fund and Jan Vrijmans Fund to collaborate; ministry continues support for funds

PRESS RELEASE February 4, 2010
 
·        Hubert Bals Fund and Jan Vrijman Fund to collaborate
·        Ministry continues support for funds
 
IFFR’s Hubert Bals Fund and IDFA’s Jan Vrijman Fund are to collaborate on new activities. Among other new initiatives, films supported by the funds will travel, later this year, to ten film festivals in several African countries. The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs is extending its support to the Hubert Bals Fund and the Jan Vrijman Fund until 2012.
 
The Hubert Bals Fund of the International Film Festival Rotterdam and the Jan Vrijman Fund of the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam were founded to support high quality and urgent films by talented film makers from developing countries. In this, the Hubert Bals Fund focuses on supporting features and the Jan Vrijman Fund on documentaries.
 
Supporting independent film makers from developing countries will remain the main activity of both funds in the coming years. In addition, the funds wish to focus more on encouraging a local film culture in poor countries. This includes supporting and initiating more activities in the field of local distribution of independent films and in training film makers.
 
In order to increase the impact of their activities, the Hubert Bals Fund and the Jan Vrijman Fund are going to initiate cooperation in the coming period. Alongside their joint approach to financiers, in 2010 the funds are embarking on a tour of film festivals in Africa: ten features and documentaries that have been realised with support from the funds will be seen at ten festivals throughout Africa. The program, that will include Le Jardin du Papa (Zeka Laplaine, Congo), Un matin bonne heure (Gahite Fofana, Guinea), Sea Point Days (Francois Verster, South Africa) and  Shungu: The Resilience of a People, (Saki Mafundikwa, Zimbabwe), will travel to festivals in, among others, Ethiopia, Kenia, Uganda and Benin.
 
Iwana Chronis, Hubert Bals Fund Manager and Isabel Arrate Fernandez, Jan Vrijman Fund Manager, state: “In many developing countries, film festivals are one of the very few options to see independent cinema. Because of the lack of financial means or practical objections, smaller festivals have problems showing local or even international fiction and documentary feature films. In order to support these festivals and enhance the visibility of independent filmmaking locally, the Hubert Bals Fund and the Jan Vrijman Fund have joined forces to organise, later this year, an African festival tour.”
 
After the uncertain financial situation of the past years, the Hubert Bals Fund and the Jan Vrijman Fund are very pleased to have a positive decision from the ministry of Foreign Affairs. In view of the current pressure on the Ministry’s development collaboration budget, the funds are grateful for the trust.
 
After the uncertainty of the past two years, the financial basis for the funds has been guaranteed. The Hubert Bals Fund receives € 750,000.00 that is gradually lowered to € 600,000.00 in 2012. The Jan Vrijman Fund receives € 435,000.00 that is gradually lowered to € 350,000.00 in 2012.
 
In addition to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, both funds also receive support from the Hivos-NCDO Culture Fund and the DOEN Foundation. The Hubert Bals Fund also receives contributions from the Dioraphte Foundation and from Dutch public network NPS TV. Both funds have received financial support from the ministry since their foundation.
 
 
(End of press release)
 
Notes to the Editor, not for publication:
 
Press information Hubert Bals Fund and International Film Festival Rotterdam:
IFFR Press Office, Bert-Jan Zoet / Nancy van Oorschot
[email protected], +31 10 8909090
 
Press information Jan Vrijman Fund and International Documentary Festival Amsterdam
IDFA Press Office, Laura van Halsema, [email protected], +31 20 6273329