Hubert Bals Fund Spring Selection Round 2011

PRESS RELEASE May 13, 2011

- Hubert Bals Fund supports 22 film projects in Spring Selection Round
- Selection includes Rasoulof's Good Bye

The Hubert Bals Fund of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) has selected twenty-two film projects that receive grants for script development, digital production, postproduction, distribution or workshops. In its Spring 2011 selection, the Fund gives 302.500 Euro to projects from sixteen Asian, African or Latin-American countries (see full list below).

Among the supported projects is Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof’s GOOD BYE, that premieres May 14 in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section. In a statement about the support to this film, Hubert Bals Fund Manager Iwana Chronis says: “Because of the urgency of the situation and the quality of his film, we strongly feel that Mr. Rasoulof, like all filmmakers who are so incredibly courageous to keep on making films under difficult circumstances, earns this support.”

Furthermore, the Hubert Bals Fund is also proud to continue its support of filmmakers whose internationally successful earlier films have been realized with grants by the HBF. These filmmakers are Adrian Biniez (GIGANTE, Uruguay), Ciro Guerra (LOS VIAJES DEL VIENTO, Colombia), Nicolás Pereda (VERANO DE GOLIAT, Mexico) and Hawa Essuman (SOUL BOY, Kenya). Essuman for example now receives a grant to develop the script for her project Djin that portrays the inhabitants of a sleepy seaside town, about to be roused by Djin, a wind that stirs people’s deepest desires and blows every forty years.

In this Selection Round the Hubert Bals Fund also supports several first feature film projects of promising filmmakers such as THE BLUE WAVE by Zynep Dadak and Merve Kayan from Turkey (their short film ON THE COAST was selected for IFFR 2010), STRANGE LOVE by Indian filmmaker Natasha Mendonca, Rotterdam Tiger Award for Short Film Winner 2011 and OBLIVION VERSES by Iranian filmmaker Alireza Khatami.

Two projects in this Selection Round have had a longer connection with the IFFR. The first of these two projects is Brazilian film GIRIMUNHO by Helvécio Marins Jr. and Clarissa Campolina. GIRIMUNHO portrays a woman looking for a new life after the death of her husband and explores the rich, imaginary and magical universe of human relationships. The second project is Indonesian film POSTCARDS FROM THE ZOO by Edwin. His film tells about Lana, abandoned in the zoo when she was 3 years old and raised by a giraffe trainer. The zoo is the only world she knows. Until one day, a charming magician arrives. For the first time, she finds love and is ready to leave the zoo behind.
These projects show how the Rotterdam festival may support a film project's entire artistic and financial development stages as well as its premiere screenings. The two projects first received script development grants, then were launched internationally as CineMart Projects and now receive postproduction grants. Both are expected to see their premieres in IFFR 2012.

The Hubert Bals Fund continues its active support of African filmmaking communities. Within this Selection Round, three African projects receive grants. At the second edition of the Durban FilmMart, which was successfully launched last year, the HBF will once again hand out a Hubert Bals Fund Award to the most promising film project. The Fund also supports the IMAGINATION workshop on literary adaptations by Suka! Productions in Congo-Kinshasa and will furthermore support the distribution in several Southern African countries of Djo Tunda Wa Munga’s film VIVA RIVA! (2010, Congo-Kinshasa).
Additionally and outside this Selection Round, the Hubert Bals Fund and IDFA’s Jan Vrijman Fund co-organize for the second year the Cinema Mundial Tour: fourteen fiction and documentary films supported by both funds that travel along film festivals throughout several countries in sub-Saharan countries in Africa.

The line up of the IFFR’s Hubert Bals Fund Spring 2011 Selection Round in full:

Post-production funding or final-financing
Girimunho – Helvécio Marins Jr. & Clarissa Campolina - Brazil
Good Bye – Mohammad Rasoulof – Iran
Neighbouring Sounds – Kleber Mendonça Filho - Brazil
Postcards from the Zoo – Edwin - Indonesia
Verano - José Luis Torres Leiva – Chile

Digital production
Greatest Hits – Nicolás Pereda - Mexico
Strange Love – Natasha Mendonca - India

Script and projectdevelopment
El 5 de Talleres – Adrian Biniez - Uruguay
El abrazo de la serpiente – Ciro Guerra - Colombia
Beijing Time - Zhang Yuedong - China
The Blue Wave – Zeynep Dadak & Merve Kayan- Turkey
The Boda Boda Thieves – Donald Mugisha - Uganda
Ciego – Fernando Zuber – Argentina
Cyan Island - Weng Shou-ming - China
Djin – Hawa Essuman - Kenya
Humidity – Nikola Ljuca - Serbia
Oblivion Verses - Alireza Khatami – Iran
The River's Bend – Felipe Bragança - Brazil
Where Is My Home - Li Ruijun - China

Distribution
Viva Riva! (2010, Congo-Kinshasa) by Djo Tunda Wa Munga, distribution in several (Southern) African countries

Workshops/HBF Award
ImagiNations - Suka! Productions - Congo-Kinshasa
2nd Durban FilmMart: HBF Award - South Africa

(End of list)

Profile of the Hubert Bals Fund
Along with CineMart, the Hubert Bals Fund (HBF) is part of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR). The 41th IFFR will take place January 25 – February 5, 2012. Year-round news on IFFR, HBF and CineMart can be found on www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com.

The Hubert Bals Fund is designed to bring remarkable or urgent feature films and feature-length creative documentaries by innovative and talented filmmakers from developing countries closer to completion. The Hubert Bals Fund provides grants that often turn out to play a crucial role in enabling these filmmakers to realize their projects. Although the Fund looks closely at the financial aspects of a project, the decisive factors remain its content and artistic value. Since the Fund started in 1989, more than 900 projects from independent filmmakers in Asia, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Africa and Latin America have received support. Approximately 80% of these projects have been realised or are currently in production. Every year, the IFFR screens completed films supported by the Fund. The audience favorite among the HBF supported films screening in the festival receives the Dioraphte Award of 10,000 Euro.

The Hubert Bals Fund is supported by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dutch non-governmental development organizations Hivos Culture Foundation, the DOEN Foundation and the Dioraphte Foundation.

Grants and selection rounds
Annually, the Hubert Bals Fund has around 900.000 Euro at its disposal and is able to make individual grants of up to Euro 10,000 for script and project development, Euro 20,000 for digital production, Euro 30,000 for post-production, Euro 15,000 towards distribution costs in the country of origin or Euro 10,000 for special projects such as training workshops. Occasionally, the Hubert Bals Fund grants Awards to the most promising film project at coproduction meetings. Selection rounds take place twice a year and have application deadlines on March 1 and August 1.

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