Rotterdam's Hubert Bals Fund Spring Selection 2004 supports 39 film projects


In the Spring 2004 Selection Round, the Hubert Bals Fund of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) grants a total of Euro 525,000 (USD 642,000) to thirty-nine non-Western film-makers. Among the films receiving distribution grants are Juan Pablo Rebella and Pablo Stoll's WHISKY (a former CineMart Project) and IFFR 2004 Competition discovery DAYS OF SANTIAGO. VISITING UNCLE IDRIZ, the opening film of the Sarajevo Film Festival 2004, is one of the projects receiving a grant. Among the projects receiving post-production support are STORY UNDONE by Hassan Yektapanah and Santiago Loza's CUATRO MUJERES DESCALZAS. One of the training projects receiving support from the Hubert Bals Fund is the IMAGINE Institute, based in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso), led by renowned African film-maker Gaston Kaboré.


The twenty-three new film projects receiving HBF script development grants originate from upcoming film countries like Argentina, China, Bosnia-Herzegovina and The Philippines and include projects by, among others, Zhang Ming (WEEKEND PLOT), Abolfazl Jalili (ABJAD, DELBARAN), Nariman Turebayev (LITTLE MEN) and Boris Khlebnikov (ROAD TO KOKTEBEL). In the Cannes 2004 line up four films received grants for script and project development in the past: THE HOLY GIRL (Competition), CRONICAS (Un Certain Regard), LOS MUERTOS (Directors' Fortnight) and THIRST (Critics' Week).


The projects receiving HBF grants for post-production are expected to screen during the 34th International Film Festival Rotterdam (Jan 26-Feb 6, 2005).


Actively supporting local film industry training initiatives in southern or developing countries, the Hubert Bals Fund offers a grant to, among seven others, IMAGINE in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Since February 2003, this institute offers young talent as well as professionals training courses in scriptwriting, producing and technical skills. Film-maker Gaston Kaboré took the initiative to its foundation in an effort to develop the African film industry.

The deadline for the 2004 Fall Selection of the Hubert Bals Fund has been changed tfrom September 1 to August 1.



The line up of the IFFR's Hubert Bals Fund Spring 2004 Selection Round in full:

Script and project development

ACROSS THE RIVER - Boris Khlebnikov - Russia
ALIVE - Artan Minarolli - Albania
VISITING UNCLE IDRIZ - Pjer Zalica - Bosnia-Herzegovina BARAKAT! - Djamila Sahraoui - Algeria DARK LEGEND - Zhang Ming - China DE CIERVOS Y MARIPOSAS - Maria Berns - Argentina LOS EXILIADOS - Galel Maidana - Argentina THE FAMILY THAT EATS SOIL - Khavn de la Cruz - The Philippines THE WINDOW - Ivan Bolotnikov - Russia THE GHOST IS A LONELY TRAVELLER - Anup Singh - India HEREMIAS - Lav Diaz - Philippines LOS LADRONES VIEJOS - Everardo Gonzales Reyes - Mexico THE LEGEND OF THE HOLY NET POTATO - Vipin Vijay - India LOVE AND OTHER MALADIES - Tudor Giurgiu - Romania MY BROTHER IS ARAFAT - Rashid Masharawi - Palestine LA PERMISSION - Abolfazl Jalili - Iran PLETENICA - Ines Tanovic - Bosnia-Herzegovina LA RABIA - Albertina Carri - Argentina RAISED FROM DUST - Gan Xiao'er - China SNOW - Aida Begic - Bosnia-Herzegovina SUMMER KISSES, WINTER TEARS - Ho Yuhang - Malaysia SUNNY DAYS - Nariman Turebayev - Kazakhstan TRIP - Ju An-Qi - China

Post production

O AMIGO DUNOR - Jose Eduardo Alcazar - Paraguay
ANGEL'S FALL - Semih Kaplanoglu - Turkey
O CINEMA, A ASPIRINA E OS URUBUS - Marcelo Gomes - Brazil CUATRO MUJERES DESCALZAS - Santiago Loza - Argentina FORGIVENESS - Ian Gabriel - South Africa KEPT AND DREAMLESS - Vera Fogwill & Martin Desalvo - Argentina STORY UNDONE - Hassan Yektapanah - Iran WRITING ON EARTH - Ali Mohammad Ghasemi - Iran

Distribution in country of origin

ARSENY TARKOVSKY ETERNAL PRESENCE - Viatcheslav Amirkhanian - Russia AUGUST SUN - Prasanna Vithanage - Sri Lanka Back Lot Festivals: IFFR Flies Paramaribo 2004 - Surinam DAYS OF SANTIAGO - Josué Mendez - Peru MYSTERIUM OCCUPATION - Andrei Kudinenko - Belarus PHARAOH - Sinisa Dragin - Romania TEHRAN 7:00 A.M - Amir Shahab Razavian - Iran WHISKY - Juan Pablo Rebella & Pablo Stoll - Uruguay

Workshops and Training

Media Art Workshop in Agadir - Morocco
Cinelink (Film Festival Sarajevo) - Bosnia-Herzegovina
Imagine - Burkina Faso
Cinemanila 2004 - The Philippines
Sud ecriture - Tunisia

Hubert Bals Fund Awards

Y HE AQUÍ QUE VOLVÍ EL ROSTRO AL CIELO Y ME DI CUENTA DE TODAS LAS INJUSTICIAS QUE HAY BAJO SU CAPA - Julian Hernandez - Mexico, presented during the Buenos Aires Lab at the 6th Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente, April 2004.

HBF Award to be presented during the Cinemanila International Film Festival, Philippines, June 24-July 5, 2004.



Hubert Bals Fund supported films that earned worldwide acclaim were CRANE WORLD by Pablo Trapero (Argentina), 25 WATTS by Juan Pablo Rebella and Pablo Stoll (Uruguay), JAPÓN by Carlos Reygadas (Mexico), DIVINE INTERVENTION by Elia Suleiman (Palestine) and Cannes 2003 Grand Jury Prize winner UZAK by Nuri Bilge Ceylan (Turkey). SILENT WATERS by Sabiha Sumar (Pakistan) won the 2003 Locarno Golden Leopard, while FUSE by Pjer Zalica (Bosnia-Herzegovina) again linked the Silver Leopard with the Hubert Bals Fund. In 2002, Diego Lerman's SUDDENLY (Argentina) became a succes after taking home the same award.



Profile of the Hubert Bals Fund
The Hubert Bals Fund (HBF) is, along with CineMart, part of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR). The 34th IFFR will take place January 26 - February 6, 2005. Year round news on the IFFR, the HBF and CineMart can be found on the festivalwebsite 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 fulfillment. The HBF 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, well over 500 projects from independent filmmakers in Asia, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Africa and Latin America received support. Approximately 60% of these projects have been realised or are currently in production. Every year, the IFFR screens completed films supported by the Fund in its regular sidebar 'Hubert Bals Fund Harvest': the 2004 edition comprised a total of 30 new features. Regularly, HBF supported films are selected for IFFR's VPRO Tiger Awards Competition.

The Hubert Bals Fund is supported by the Dutch Foreign Affairs Ministry, Dutch non-governmental development organisations Hivos and NCDO, DOEN Foundation and Dutch public network NPS.

Grants and selection rounds
Annually, the HBF has close to one million Euro at its disposal and is able to make individual grants of up to Euro 10,000 for script and project development, 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 with application deadlines on March 1 and August 1.

Training, workshops, the HBF Script Award
The Fund also started supporting special projects such as training initiatives for filmmakers in developing countries. At the Pusan, Sithengi, Carthage, Buenos Aires and Manila film festivals, the HBF participates in script workshops. On these occasions, HBF Script Awards of Euro 10,000 are given to the most promising film projects.