Editor

CineMart and Hubert Bals Fund linked titles selected for Cannes 2004

Eight films linked to either or both IFFR's Hubert Bals Fund and CineMart have made it into the various Cannes 2004 programmes. This Cannes edition seven CineMart Projects have been selected and four films supported by the Hubert Bals Fund. Rotterdam supported films in Official Competition are LA NINA SANTA by Lucrecia Martel, TROPICAL MALADY by Apichatpong Weerasethakul and NOBODY KNOWS by Kore-Eda Hirokazu. The International Film Festival Rotterdam congratulates all involved with their Cannes 2004 selections.

A remarkably high number of filmmakers now appearing in Cannes have previously screened their films or made their feature débuts in Rotterdam. Korean filmmaker Hong Sang-soo who is competing with WOMAN IS THE FUTURE OF MAN, won a VPRO Tiger Award for his 1997 Rotterdam Competition début feature THE DAY A PIG FELL INTO THE WELL. IFFR 2000 presented Japanese helmer Oshii Mamoru (now competing with INNOCENCE) as 'Filmmaker in Focus' screening some of his anime features. Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul's début feature MYSTERIOUS OBJECT AT NOON world premiered in the Hubert Bals Fund programme of IFFR 2000. Uruguayan filmmakers Rebella and Stoll's début feature 25 WATTS was selected for the IFFR 2001 VPRO Tiger Awards Competition and won a VPRO Tiger Award. Ishii Katsuhito, now opening the Directors' Fortnight with THE TASTE OF TEA, brought his fiction feature début SHARK SKIN MAN AND PEACH HIP GIRL to Rotterdam to make its European bow.

The 34th International Film Festival Rotterdam takes places January 26 - February 6, 2005; the 22nd CineMart takes places January 30 - February 3, 2005. IFFR's Hubert Bals Fund provides support up to a yearly total of nearly 1 million Euro for script development, post production or distribution. HBF supported films that earned worldwide acclaim were, among others, MUNDO GRÚA (CRANE WORLD) by Pablo Trapero, 25 WATTS by Juan Pablo Rebella and Pablo Stoll, JAPÓN by Carlos Reygadas, DIVINE INTERVENTION by Elia Suleiman, UZAK by Nuri Bilge Ceylan, OSAMA by Siddiq Barmak and SILENT WATERS by Sabiha Sumar. The Hubert Bals Fund is supported by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dutch non-governmental development organisations Hivos, NCDO, DOEN Foundation and the Dutch public network NPS. CineMart is the world's first and largest co-production market for low and medium budget film projects. Each edition CineMart selects some 45 film projects to be presented to approximately 900 attending co-producers, bankers, funds, sales agents, film distributors and television buyers. CineMart is supported by MEDIA Programme of the European Union, the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, Hivos, the Dutch Film Fund and the Rotterdam Film Fund.