IFFR’s Hubert Bals Fund supports 25 film projects in 18 countries

International Film Festival Rotterdam January 25 – February 5, 2011

PRESS RELEASE October 26, 2011

IFFR’s Hubert Bals Fund supports 25 film projects in 18 countries

The Hubert Bals Fund of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) has selected twenty-five film projects that receive grants for script development, digital production, postproduction, distribution or workshops. In its Fall 2011 selection, the Fund gives 352,500 Euro to projects from eighteen Asian, African and Latin-American countries.

At the recent film festivals of Venice, Toronto and San Sebastian, several new Hubert Bals fund supported films were presented to great acclaim. In Locarno, HBF-supported film ABRIR PUERTAS Y VENTANAS (BACK TO STAY) by Milagros Mumenthaler took the Golden Leopard. Now, many more filmmakers with remarkable projects have been granted Hubert Bals Fund support in its Fall 2011 Selection Round.

Postproduction
When finished in time, the six films receiving HBF postproduction grants are expected to premiere at the 2012 International Film Festival Rotterdam. Confirmed to screen is Colombian filmmaker Felipe Guerrero’s non-fiction film CORTA (CUT). As reflected in the film’s title, Guerrero’s affinity with the working rhythm of sugar cane cutters in his native region is mirrored in the practice of 16 mm filmmaking. In 2007, IFFR screened Guerrero’s medium length feature film PARAÍSO (PARADISE), an intimate portrait of modern Colombian life and its historical memory.

Digital production
This round, the digital production grants go to film projects by filmmakers whose previous works have been screened at IFFR: Argentinean filmmaker Iván Fund (who co-directed LOS LABIOS (THE LIPS) with Santiago Loza), Malaysian screen writer, cinematographer and director Woo Ming Jin (THE ELEPHANT AND THE SEA and WOMAN ON FIRE LOOKS FOR WATER), Paz Encina (HAMACA PARAGUAYA) and prolific Philippine filmmaker, musician and film festival director Khavn de la Cruz.

Script development
This Fall’s selection of script development grants again holds a promise for the future. Shahrbanoo Sadat, born in Tehran and now living in Afghanistan, is one of them. Her short film VICE VERSA ONE screened in Cannes. She now works on the script of her first feature film BASIRA.
Young Paraguyan filmmaker Federico Adorno participated in the 2011 edition of CineMart's Rotterdam Lab. He is working on the script of his first feature titled INSULAR. Kivu Ruhorahoza's short film LES EGARÉS DE L'HÉMISPHÈRE SUD (LOST IN THE SOUTH) screened in IFFR's Where is Africa-section in 2010. While the Rwandan filmmaker will present his first feature film MATIÈRE GRISE (GREY MATTER) in IFFR 2012, he is now supported also by the Hubert Bals Fund to develop the script of his second feature film JOMO.

Distribution

For the purpose of creating a higher profile for the Hubert Bals Fund supported films in Africa and beyond, the Fund has started a collaboration with two connected African film distribution platforms in development: AfricaFilm.tv (the first video-on-demand platform devoted to films from and about Africa, targeting a world audience) and MobiCINE (a mobile cinema project using three-wheel mopeds to screen films in Mali and Senegal), both organized by SOON SA from Senegal.

Workshops
The Hubert Bals Fund grants support to two film work shop projects. Fundacine's Handmade cinema in Costa Rica enables participants to make case studies of films made with micro budgets. In Ivory Coast, the Fund supports the Screenplays Rewriting and Film Directing Workshops, an initiative of the AJTEC-CI (Association des Jeunes Techniciens de la Télévision et du Cinéma de Côte d'Ivoire).

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

Postproduction/Final Financing

Los salvajes – Alejandro Fadel, Argentina

Chun Meng – Yang Lina, China

Corta – Felipe Guerrero, Colombia

La playa - Juan Andrés Arango, Colombia

Like Raining at the End of April – Wichanon Somumjarn, Thailand

Voice of My Father – Orhan Eskikoy & Zeynel Dogan, Turkey

Digital Production

Me perdi hace una semana – Iván Fund, Argentina

The Second Life of a Thief – Woo Ming Jin, Malaysia

Ejercicios de memoria – Paz Encina, Paraguay

Desaparadiso – Khavn De La Cruz, Philippines

Script & Project Development

Basira – Shahrbanoo Sadat, Afghanistan

As Close As Possible – Eduardo Crespo, Argentina

Imagination is a Form of Memory – Flavia Castro, Brazil

The Wife of the Man Who Eats Laser Beams – Helvécio Marins Jr., Brazil

Blanco en blanco – Théo Court, Chile

Los dólares de arena - Laura Amelia Guzmán & Israel Cardenas, Dominican Republic

The Seen and Unseen – Kamila Andini, Indonesia

Insular – Federico Adorno, Paraguay

Jomo – Kivu Ruhorahoza, Rwanda/Kenya

Big Father, Small Father and Other Stories – Phan Dang Di, Vietnam

Dream State – Bui Thac Chuyen, Vietnam

Distribution

Las marimbas del infierno – El otro cine Distribuidora, Costa Rica

AfricaFilms.tv/mobiCINE – SOON SA, Senegal

Workshops

Handmade cinema: case studies of films made with micro budgets – Fundacine, Costa Rica

Screenplays Rewriting and Film directing Workshops – AJTEC-CI (Association des Jeunes Techniciens de la Télévision et du Cinéma de Côte d'Ivoire), Ivory Coast

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Profile of the Hubert Bals Fund

The Hubert Bals Fund (HBF), along with the CineMart, is part of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR). The 41st 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 organization Hivos Culture Foundation, the DOEN Foundation and the Dioraphte Foundation.

Grants and selection rounds

Annually, the Hubert Bals Fund has close to Euro 1 million 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. Selection rounds take place twice a year and have application deadlines on March 1 and August 1.

Training, workshops, the Hubert Bals Fund Awards

The Fund supports training initiatives for filmmakers in co-production meetings around the world. Occasionally, the Hubert Bals Fund grants Awards to the most promising film project at these co-production meetings.

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Note to the editor: For more press information, please contact: IFFR Press Office, Bert-Jan Zoet / Nancy van Oorschot

[email protected], 31.10.8909090