Editor

The Hubert Bals Fund of International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) has selected eleven film projects that receive grants for script development. In its spring 2013 selection round, the fund gives €100.000 to projects from nine countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

This round, the Hubert Bals Fund (HBF) supports the development of new projects by filmmakers whose earlier, internationally acclaimed films were also realized with a contribution of the HBF. Alejandro Fadel from Argentina (Los Salvajes, IFFR 2013) is working on Civil Disobedience, a surreal story about love and salvation. Also, Rusudan Pirveli from Georgia (Susa, IFFR 2010) and Matías Meyer from Mexico (Los últimos cristeros, IFFR 2012) will receive support for their new films, and projects by Iranian directors Majid Barzegar (Rainy Seasons, IFFR 2011 and Parviz, IFFR 2013) and Shireen Seno from the Philippines (Big Boy, IFFR 2013) will receive grants.

The HBF also chooses to support projects by new and promising filmmakers in this round, such as the feature debutTerritoria by Nora Martirosyan (Armenia), about three wanderers who explore the geographical, physical and political borders of the disputed Nagorno Karabakh region – where there is an airport, but no planes. In another debut, Land and Shade by Cesar Acevedo (Colombia), excessive sugar cane industrialization takes its toll on both the land and Alfonso's family.

Boost!
A selection of film projects supported by the HBF will also participate in Boost!, the coaching trajectory of the HBF, CineMartand Rotterdam Lab, in cooperation with Binger FilmLab. This year, three new partners will join the initiative: the National Film Development Corporation of India, Fundacion TyPA in Argentina and the Durban FilmMart in South Africa. Supported by MEDIA Mundus, every year five HBF-supported filmmakers are given the possibility to further develop their scripts at Binger Filmlab. Additionally these projects participate in co-production markets and workshops in India, Argentina or South Africa, after which they take part in CineMart or Rotterdam Lab during IFFR 2014. The selection of Boost! 2013 will be announced soon.

The complete Hubert Bals Fund selection spring 2013, supported with a grant for script and project development:
Civil Disobedience – Alejandro Fadel – Argentina
Territoria – Nora Martirosyan – Armenia
Land and Shade – Cesar Acevedo – Colombia
Sleeping Lessons – Rusudan Pirveli – Georgia
Wild Fire – Bikas Ranjan Mishra – India
Tobeh – Mitra Farahani – Iran
A Really Ordinary Citizen - Majid Barzegar - Iran|
Yo – Matías Meyer – Mexico
Women of the Weeping River – Sheron Dayoc – Philippines
Nervous Translation – Shireen Seno – Philippines
Wasswa – Donald Mugisha – Uganda

Profile of the Hubert Bals Fund
Just like CineMart, the Hubert Bals Fund is part of International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR). The 43rd IFFR takes place 22 January - 2 February 2014. More about IFFR, the HBF and CineMart can be found at www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com.

The Hubert Bals Fund is designed to help remarkable or urgent feature films by innovative and talented filmmakers from Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and parts of Eastern Europe on their road to completion. It 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 to grant support remain the content and artistic value. Since the founding of the fund in 1989, more than a 1.000 projects of independent filmmakers from Asia, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Africa and Latin America have received support. Every festival, the HBF film that is best rated by audiences receives the Dioraphte Award of €10.000.

The Hubert Bals Fund is supported by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, MEDIA Mundus, Dutch non-governmental development organisations Hivos, the Dioraphte Foundation and Lions Club L'Esprit du Temps.

Grants and selection rounds
In 2013, the Hubert Bals Fund has close to €500.000 at its disposal and is able to make individual grants of up to €10.000 for script and project development and €20.000 for post-production. Selection rounds take place twice a year, with application deadlines on 1 March and 1 September.

This spring, the Hubert Bals Fund limited its support to contributions for Script and Project Development only. For the Fall selection round, the Fund will take submissions into considerations for both Script and Project Development and Post-Production or Final Financing.