Hubert Bals Fund selects 27 projects

"La vida útil", de Federico Veiroj (Uruguay)

The Hubert Bals Fund of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) has selected twenty-seven film projects that receive grants for script development, digital production, postproduction, distribution or workshops. In its Fall 2009 selection, the Fund gives 385 thousand Euro to projects from nineteen countries. The selection includes new films by acclaimed filmmakers such as Yeşim Ustaoğlu, Edwin and many first time filmmakers.

Six of the eight projects selected for postproduction and final financing support are expected to premiere during IFFR’s upcoming edition (January 27 – February 7, 2010): among these are Agua fría de mar (Cold Sea) from Costa Rica, Qarantina from Iraq, Jean Gentil from the Dominican Republic and Soul Boy from Kenya.

Agua fría de mar is Paz Fábrega’s début feature, set on the beaches of the Pacific during Christmas holiday season, and deals with the subtleties of femininity, class and identity in contemporary Costa Rica. The project received Hubert Bals Fund script development support in 2007 and was selected for the Hubert Bals Fund Plus programme in 2008 (with Dutch coproducer Isabella Films).

Qarantina, second film by Iraqi filmmaker and writer Oday Rasheed, tells of an Iraqi hit-man, hiding out at a poor family’s house. Sophomore effort by Cochochi-directors Laura Amelia Guzmán Conde & Israel Cárdenas, Jean Gentil received script development support in 2008. The film follows a Haitian professor on a quest for work in a Dominican town. When he does not find any, he leaves for the countryside armed with his faith. Soul Boy, first film by Kenyan filmmaker Hawa Essuman, will be part of the 39th IFFR theme section ‘Where is Africa?’

Soul Boy tells of a child living in the Kibera ghetto of Nairobi, who has one day and one night to retrieve his father´s soul.

Thirteen filmmakers are selected to receive script development grants from the Hubert Bals Fund. Among them is acclaimed filmmaker Yeşim Ustaoğlu who is preparing her new project Limbo after her international hit Pandora’s Box. While Satish Manwar’s The Damned Rain (IFFR 2009) still travels the festival circuit, he is working on his new project What’s Your Religion?

Promising projects from first time feature film makers include Remote Control (which was selected for CineMart 2009) from Mongolian director Byamba Sakhya and Lobo en medio de lobos (Wolf among Wolves) from Mexican director Natalia López. The Hubert Bals Fund has selected two alternative distribution initiatives, which both work with mobile cinemas and bring art film to large audiences outside the bigger cities. Efecto Cine (Uruguay) organizes screenings of national and Latin-American films in Uruguay, eastern Argentina and the south of Brazil. Philippine initiative Cinemanila Sine Barangay tours the country with national films and their makers, organizing seminars and establishing film libraries on their way.

The Hubert Bals Fund of the International Film Festival Rotterdam has a successful track record of discovering and supporting creative, independent filmmakers and stimulating film culture in developing countries. Twice a year, the fund makes contributions to a total of around sixty film projects. The contributions often act as seal of approval which helps finding additional investors. Many Hubert Bals Fund supported films have gained international acclaim at major film festivals and have found distribution in numerous countries.

Fall 2009, Ahasin wetei (Between Two Worlds) by Vimukthi Jayasundara screened in Venice’s Competition and Choi voi (Adrift) by Thac Chuyen Bui won the Venice FIPRESCI prize. Turkish 10 to 11 by Pelin Esmer screened in San Sebastian’s Competition and Ho Yuhang’s At the End of Daybreak won the NETPAC award during the Locarno festival.

The line up of the IFFR’s Hubert Bals Fund Fall 2009 Selection Round in full:

Postproduction & final financing Cold Sea (Agua fría de mar) by Paz Fábrega, Costa Rica Jean Gentil by Laura Amelia Guzmán Conde & Israel Cárdenas, Dominican Republic/Mexico Qarantina by Oday Rasheed, Iran Soul Boy by Hawa Essuman, Kenya Stone is the Earth (Ang Mundo sa Panahon ng Bato) by Ramon Mes De Guzman, Philippines Susa by Rusudan Pirveli, Georgia La vida útil by Federico Veiroj, Uruguay Virgin Goat by Murali Nair, India

Digital Production Summer of Goliath (Verano de Goliat) by Nicolás Pereda, Mexico

Script and Project development The Drummer (Jibondhuli) by Tanvir Mokammel, Bangladesh Limbo (Araf) by Yeşim Ustaoğlu, Turkey Wolf among Wolves (Lobo en medio de lobos) by Natalia López, Mexico Lucía by Rubén Sierra Salles, Venezuela Modest Reception (Paziraee Saadeh) by Mani Haghighi, Iran Night Train by Koutaiba Al-Janabi, Iraq NN by Héctor Gálves Campos, Peru The Old Donkey (Lao Lv Tou) by Li Ruijun, China Postcards from the Zoo by Edwin, Indonesia Remote Control (Shuvuukhai) by Byamba Sakhya, Mongolia Villegas by Gonzalo Tobal, Argentina What’s Your Religion? (Tuhya Dharm Koncha?) by Satish Manwar, India The Winds (Ruzgarlar) by Selim Evci, Turkey

Distribution Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly by Edwin, Babibutafilm, Indonesia Efecto Cine, Coral Films, Uruguay Sine Baranguay, Cinemanila International Film Festival, Philippines

Special projects Maisha Screenwriting Lab, Maisha Foundation, Uganda Hubert Bals Fund Award at Goa Film Bazaar, India

Hubert Bals Fund selects 31 film projects

The Hubert Bals Fund of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) has selected thirty-one film projects that receive grants for script development, digital production, postproduction, distribution or workshops. In its 2009 Spring selection, the Fund gives 450 thousand Euro to projects from twenty-two countries. Among the projects are new films by Caméra d’Or winner Vimukthi Jayasundara and Philippines ’ Adolfo Alix Jr., who’s Manila, co-directed with Raya Martin, screens in Official Selection in Cannes this month.

All nine projects in the Fund’s postproduction & final financing category are expected to screen in IFFR’s 39th edition (January 27 – February 7, 2010). These include Fallen from the Sky, a visionary reflection on Sri Lanka by filmmaker Vimukthi Jayasundara. His début feature The Forsaken Land, also supported by the Hubert Bals Fund, won a Camera d’Or in Cannes 2005. Fallen from the Sky, presented at IFFR’s CineMart in 2006, touches on the realities of contemporary Sri Lanka through the symbolic story of a young man travelling from the city to the tropical countryside.

The HBF also continues to support prolific young Philippine filmmaker Adolfo Alix Jr. His upcoming film Aurora tells the story of a woman held hostage in the jungle.

Five Asian filmmakers have been granted support in the Fund’s digital production category. From Thailand, Sivaroj Kongsakul will make his début feature film Eternity produced by fellow-filmmaker Aditya Assarat (Wonderful Town). The other winners in this category are the second film by experimental filmmaker Paul Agusta from Indonesia, a new low budget project by Chinese filmmaker Ying Liang (Taking Father Home, Good Cats), a film by Philippine artist Khavn and the second feature film by Malaysian filmmaker Tan Chui Mui (Love Conquers All, VPRO Tiger Award 2007).

This Spring 2009 Selection Round, the Fund has awarded twelve filmmakers in the script development category. Of these, a vast majority is working on their feature film début. Especially Latin America and Asia continue to deliver promising young directors, gripping stories and innovative cinema.

The Hubert Bals Fund of the International Film Festival Rotterdam has a successful track record of discovering and supporting creative, independent filmmakers and stimulating film culture in developing countries. Twice a year, the fund makes contributions to a total of sixty film projects.
About 80% of these projects are realized. The contributions often act as seal of approval which helps finding additional investors. Many Hubert Bals Fund supported films have gained international acclaim at major film festivals and have found distribution in numerous countries.

The line up of the IFFR’s Hubert Bals Fund Spring 2009 Selection Round in full:

Postproduction & final financing
10 to 11 ; Pelin Esmer - Turkey
Aurora ; Adolfo B. Alix Jr. - Philippines
Donkey ; Antonio Nuic - Croatia/Bosnia and Herzegovina
Fallen >From the Sky (Ahasin wataï) ; Vimukthi Jayasundara - Sri Lanka
Mundane History ; Anocha Suwichakornpong - Thailand
Sun Spots ; Yang Heng - China
The True Noon ; Nosir Saidov - Tajikistan
Vaho ; Alejandro Gerber Bicecci – Mexico
Vertigo (Choi voi) ; Bui Thac Chuyen – Vietnam

Digital Production
At the Very Bottom of Everything ; Paul Agusta - Indonesia
Blown by the Typhoon ; Ying Liang – China
Eternity (Tee Rak) ; Sivaroj Kongsakul - Thailand
K. (The One And Only Concert Of The Amazing Combo Of Commander Kulas And His Poor But Very Colorful Carabao In The Long And Unwinding Road Of Kamias) ; Khavn De La Cruz - Philippines
The Year Without a Summer ; Tan Chui Mui - Malaysia

Script and Project development
De jueves a domingo ; Dominga Sotomayor - Chile
The Dunes ; Wang Haolin - China
Instructions for Divorce ; Tamara Sulamanidze - Georgia
Leones ; Jazmin López - Argentina
Neither the Veil, Nor the Four Walls ; Afia Nathaniel - Pakistan
El Nombre de la Hija ; Tania Hermida - Ecuador
Red Spider Lily ; Weng Shou-ming - China
Solo ; Guillermo Rocamora - Uruguay
Sur ; Guido Kalwill – Argentina
Twins (Kaluha); Sherad Anthony Sanchez - Philippines
Under the Canebrakes ; Iris Elezi - Albania
Vanishing Point ; Jakrawal Nilthamrong - Thailand

Distribution
Absurd and Absurdity ; Marat Alykulov – Kyrgyzstan (Oy Art Film Producing Company, Bishkek , Kyrgyzstan )
The Damned Rain ; Satish Manwar – India (Pacific Entertainment, Pune , India )
Parque vía ; Enrique Rivero Huerta – Mexico (Interior13Cine, Mexico City , Mexico )

Workshops
DAB Coproduction Forum, Golden Apricot, 6th Yerevan International Film Festival
Narrative Master Class, Ciné Institute, Jacmel , Haiti

(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 39th IFFR will take place January 27 – February 7, 2010. Year-round news on IFFR, HBF and CineMart can be found on the festival website 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 1988, close to 750 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 Hubert Bals Fund is supported by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dutch non-governmental development organisations Hivos-NCDO Culture Foundation, the DOEN Foundation, Dioraphte Foundation and Dutch public broadcasting network NPS.

Grants and selection rounds
Annually, the Hubert Bals Fund has close to Euro 1.2 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 or Euro 15,000 towards distribution costs in the country of origin. 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 Ethiopia , Vietnam and Costa Rica . In Armenia and India , the Hubert Bals Fund participates in co-production meetings. On these occasions, Hubert Bals Fund Awards are granted to the most promising film projects.

Hubert Bals Fund announces winning film projects from the South

Rodrigo Moreno es uno de los beneficiados con el apoyo de la fundación holandesa.

The Hubert Bals Fund (HBF), Rotterdam’s fund designed to support films from the South, has announced financial contributions to 25 film projects in 19 countries for a total amount of 362,500 Euro. These include new films by acclaimed independent filmmakers Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Pablo Larraín, Rodrigo Moreno, Raya Martin, Tariq Teguia and Sinisa Dragin as well as many projects by first time filmmakers. A rich harvest of around thirty new films supported by the HBF will be selected for the upcoming 38^th International Film Festival Rotterdam, including those that picked up top prizes during the Fall 2008 festival season.

Two projects receive financial support in the HBF’s post production category and will both be selected for Rotterdam 2009. Algerian filmmaker Tariq Teguia is supported to finish Gabbla (Inland) on 35 mm. Inland, his second feature film, already screened at the past Venice film festival.

Sinisa Dragin (Serbia) won a Tiger Award 2002 for (2001). His Everyday God Kisses Us on the MouthIf the Seed Doesn’t Die, about sensitive religious issues in the Balkans, was launched as CineMart Project 2004. Supported by the Hubert Bals Fund, the film will get its world premiere in Rotterdam.

In the digital production category, funding goes to five projects. Renowned Argentinean short film and video installation maker Sebastian Diaz Morales is selected for his project El camino entro dos puntos (The Way Between Two Points) about life in a oil extraction town.


Philippine talent Raya Martin, who will present his Now Showing in IFFR 2009, receives funding for his digital project How to Disappear Completely, a documentary style film following a group of actors trying to survive in the jungle. This project runs parallel to the making of his also Hubert Bals Fund supported project Independencia.

Indian filmmaker Sidharth Srinivasan, whose low budget feature The Divine Vision was banned by the Indian censor, receives support for his project Soul of Sand, a radical and potentially controversial film that deals with issues central to the rapid urbanization of Indian metropoles.

This selection round, the Hubert Bals Fund supports script development stages of new projects by already renowned filmmakers: Pablo Larraín (Tony Manero) prepares Post Mortem; Rodrigo Moreno (El Custodio) works on Reimon and Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Primitive – Uncle Boonmee is a multimedia project to be developed into a feature film, an arts installation as well as two short films. After his short films retrospective in IFFR 2007, Kleber Mendonça is now selected for support of his début feature film project The Surrounding Sounds.

The Hubert Bals Fund supports the development of two initiatives in Uruguay and Peru to screen recent national and Latin-American independent films. ‘Efecto Cine’ organizes 80 screenings in about 40 cities all over Uruguay from January to April 2009. ‘Red de microcines para el Peru’ (Network of micro cinemas for Peru) is involved in setting up cinema groups that introduce and screen independent films in neighborhoods and communities throughout Peru. Furthermore, HBF will give out a Hubert Bals Fund Award of 5,000 euro for the Best Project presented at the forthcoming Film Bazaar (Nov 26-29) organized alongside the International Film Festival of India in Goa.

Hubert Bals Fund supported films have picked up top prizes at all the important Fall 2008 festivals. In Venice, San Sebastian, Vancouver, Rio de Janeiro and Pusan, Haile Gerima (Teza), Yesim Ustaoglu (Pandora’s Box), Emily Tang (Perfect Life), Matheus Nachtergaele (The Dead Girl’s Feast) and Yang JinEr Dong) took home awards or special mentions. All filmmakers are expected to present their works during the next Rotterdam edition.

The line up of the IFFR’s Hubert Bals Fund Fall 2008 Selection Round in full:
Post production
If the Seed Doesn't Die ; Sinisa Dragin ; Serbia
Gabbla (Inland) ; Tariq Teguia ; Algeria

Script development
Aujourd'hui (Today) ; Alain Gomis ; Senegal
Berini chakre (Berina's Chakras) ; Faruk Loncarevic ; Bosnia-Herzegovina
La castración (The Castration) ; Iwan Lowenberg ; Mexico
Malaya Women Project (The Persistence of Memory) ; Francis Xavier Pasion ; Philippines
O lixo nosso de cada dia (Our Daily Garbage) ; Philippe Barcinski
Histórico de Violência (The Surrounding Sounds) ; Kleber Mendonça Filho
El placer es mio (It's My Pleasure) ; Elisa Miller ; Mexico
Post Mortem ; Pablo Larraín ; Chile
PRIMITIVE 'Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives' ; Apichatpong Weerasethakul ; Thailand
Reimon ; Rodrigo Moreno ; Argentina
Surlarin Iki Yakasi (Two Sides of the Ramparts) ; Kazim Öz ; Turkey
Wajda ; Haifa al Mansour ; Saudi Arabia
Xia Ri Tian Chang (A Long Afternoon Nap) ; Chen Tao ; China
El sueño de Sor Juana (Sor Juana's Dream) ; Gregorio Rocha ; Mexico

Digital production
18 cigarrillos y medio (18 and a half Cigarettes) ; Marcelo Tolces ; Paraguay
El Camino entre dos puntos (The Way Between Two Points) ; Sebastian Diaz Morales ; Argentina
How to Disappear Completely ; Raya Martin ; Philippines
Gesher ; Vahid Vakilifar ; Iran
Maati ke Mol (Soul of Sand) ; Sidharth Srinivasan

Distribution and special projects
- Efecto Cine, a travelling cinema: an alternative distribution system for national and Latin-American films ; Uruguay
- Red de microcines para el Peru (A Network of micro cinemas for Peru), neighborhood or community screenings of independent Peruvian and Latin-American films.
- Hubert Bals Fund Award for Best Project (5,000 euro) to be handed out at the Film Bazaar (Nov 26-29, 2008) in Goa, India