The International Film Festival Rotterdam has appointed Bianca Taal to lead the festival's Hubert Bals Fund, as current fund head Marianne Bhalotra steps down.

Taal joined Rotterdam in 2000 working on both CineMart and the Hubert Bals Fund. She became a co-head of CineMart with Marit van den Elshout in 2005; van den Elshout will now become sole manager of CineMart.

Van den Elshout, who has also been with CineMart since 2000, will now plan the 25th anniversary edition of the co-production market, to be held January 27-31, 2008 (the Rotterdam Festival will run January 23-February 3). She is attending HKIFF/Filmart/HAF through March 23 with Rotterdam programmer Gertjan Zuilhof.

In recent years, Taal had become increasingly involved in selecting projects for the Hubert Bals Fund and also representing the fund at various international events.

Bhalotra will continue to serve on the Fund's selection committee, which receives about 750 applications annually.

The Hubert Bals Fund was set up in 1988 to support features and documentaries made by film-makers in developing countries; it now distributes about $1.6m (Euros 1.2m) annually. Its nearly 600 supported productions include titles such as Uzak, Japon, Glue, Grbavica, and The Other Half (the latter is screening at HKIFF).

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