IFFR’s Hubert Bals Fund unveils new script and project selections

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Nelson Carlo de los Santos Arias

Source: Courtesy of IFFR

Nelson Carlo de los Santos Arias

The Hubert Bals Fund (HBF) of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) has selected 11 film projects from countries across Middle East, Eastern Europe, Africa, Latin America and Asia for its latest script and project development programme.

Two sections, HBF Bright Future and HBF Voices, will see the selected films receive grants totalling €99,000.

HBF Bright Future is supporting nine projects, all of which are debuts with the exception of Pepe, La Imaginación En El Tercer Cine by Dominican director Nelson Carlo de los Santos Arias. His debut Cocote premiered at Locarno 2017.

The selection also includes Rwandan filmmaker Samuel Ishimwe, whose short film Imfura won the Silver Bear for best short film at the Berlinale in 2018.

See full list below.

Meanwhile, 1948 by Felipe Guerrero and A Road With No End by Mouly Surya will receive HBF Voices support, a grant intended for filmmakers more advanced in their careers.

Colombian filmmaker Guerrero received HBF for his previous films, Corta in 2012 and Oscuro Animal in 2016, both of which received their world premieres in Rotterdam.

Both of Indonesian filmmaker Surya’s previous films were also previously screened at IFFR: What They Talk About When They Talk about Love in 2013, and Marlina The Murderer In Four Acts in 2018, following its premiere at Cannes.

Two projects receive co-pro support

In addition, two projects have been selected for the NFF+HBF Co-production Scheme and will receive €50,000 each from the Netherlands Film Fund.

The first is La Memoria Del Monte by Paraguayan director Paz Encina, which will be co-produced by Revolver Amsterdam. The film, which touches on issues surrounding indigenous groups in Paraguay, previously received the HBF Script and Project Development grant in 2017.

Encina pitched her first feature, Hamaca Paraguaya, at CineMart in 2005 and the film went on to receive its world premiere at the Cannes in 2006, where it received the FIPRESCI Award.

The second project is La Hija De Todas Las Rabias by Nicaraguan director Laura Baumeister, co-produced with Dutch production company Halal.

The film, which follows a neglected eight-year-old child named Maria in Nicaragua, was previously selected for the HBF Script and Project Development grant in 2018.

Baumeister’s short film Isabel Im Winter was screened at Cannes in 2016 and her recent short film Ombligo de auga received its world premiere at IFFR earlier this year.