In its feature film selection, the 37th International Film Festival Rotterdam will include fifty world premieres, thirty international premieres and twenty-five European premieres.
International sales agents to bring world and international premieres to Rotterdam include Fortissimo, Memento, Wide Management, Trust, Match Factory and newly formed Elle Driver.
Rotterdam’s Hubert Bals Fund adds an enticing harvest of 22 new films to the festival. All of these are nominated for the newly installed Dioraphte Award (10,000 Euro) for a Hubert Bals Fund supported film screening at the festival.

The Hubert Bals Fund presents a strong harvest of twenty-two new films among which nine world premieres. Festival opener LAMB OF GOD by Lucía Cedrón (Argentina) is among the five films selected in Tiger Awards Competition. In other sections, world premieres of Brazilian feature début END OF THE LINE by Gustavo Steinberg and MY MARLON AND BRANDO by Hüseyin Karabey, a former CineMart Project from Turkey can be found. Both films have been supported by the fund in their scriptwriting and post-production stages. South African director Darrell James Roodt presents the world premiere of ZIMBABWE, a topical drama about illegal labor migrants from Zimbabwe in South Africa.
The newly installed Dioraphte Award will go to a Hubert Bals Fund supported film within the festival selection, and comes with a prize of Euro 10,000. The international jury consists of Marianne Bhalotra (former Hubert Bals Fund Manager), Amra Baksic Camo (Sarajevo’s Cinelink Program Manager) and Malaysian filmmaker Ho Yuhang (SANCTUARY Tiger Awards Competition 2005 and AS I LAY DYING Tiger Awards Competition for Short Films 2008).

Focusing on actively supporting and introducing filmmaking talent, the Rotterdam film festival presents most of its world premieres in the Competition, Sturm und Drang and Time & Tide sections.
International sales agents who have brought recent acquisitions to Rotterdam include: Elle Driver presents Brazilian success ESTOMAGO - A GASTRONOMIC STORY by Marcos Jorge (Brazil); Wide Management brings newly acquired docu RECYCLE by Jordanian/Palestinian film maker Mahmoud al Massad; Match Factory presents the international premiere of THE HEART IS A DARK FOREST, a superbly acted cinematographic drama by filmmaker/actress Nicolette Krebitz (Germany). Fortissimo have Srdjan Vuletic’ IT’S HARD TO BE NICE, his follow up to Tiger Award winning début SUMMER IN THE GOLDEN VALLEY.
In Tiger Awards Competition, Trust handle GO WITH PEACE JAMIL (Omar Shargawi) and Paris based Memento Films present WONDERFUL TOWN (Aditya Assarat) and EAT FOR THIS IS MY BODY (Michelange Quay).

World premieres presented in other sections include Wang Bing’s 840-minute video installation CRUDE OIL, part of the theme exhibition ‘New Dragon Inns’. Within the Rotterdämmerung section, New York filmmaker Paul Krik presents his ABLE DANGER, a satirical film noir involving 9/11 conspiracy theories and Tomas Alfredson’s LET THE RIGHT ONE IN, based on the bestselling novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist. The Kings & Aces section includes world premieres of new work by Michael Pilz (A PRIMA VISTA), Jon Jost (OVER HERE), Stephen Dwoskin (THE SUN AND THE MOON) and Garin Nugroho (TEAK LEAVES AT THE TEMPLES).


List of world, international and European premieres by programme section
‘HBF’=Hubert Bals Fund supported film


IFFR 2008 World premieres

VPRO Tiger Awards Competition
GO WITH PEACE JAMIL (MA SALAMA JAMIL) by Omar Shargawi (Denmark, 2008)
LAMB OF GOD (CORDERO DE DIOS) by Lucía Cedrón (Argentina/France/Chile, 2008) - HBF
LAS MENINAS by Ihor Podolchak/Dean Karr (Ukraine, 2008)
SHANGHAI TRANCE by David Verbeek (Netherlands, 2008)
THE SKY, THE EARTH AND THE RAIN (EL CIELO, LA TIERRA Y LA LLUVIA) by José Luis Torres Leiva (Chile/France/Germany, 2008) – HBF
TALE 52 (ISTORIA 52) by Alexis Alexiou (Greece, 2008)
WELLNESS by Jake Mahaffy (USA, 2008)
YEARS WHEN I WAS A CHILD OUTSIDE (TAON NOONG AKO’Y ANAK SA LABAS) by John Torres (Philippines, 2008) - HBF

Sturm und Drang
CROSSROADS (JIE KOU) by Wang Jing (China, 2008)
FOREVER (ZA VEDNO) by Damjan Kozole (Slovenia, 2008)
LEFT (LINKS) by Froukje Tan (Netherlands, 2008)
LUCKY 7 (QI YING PIAN) by Sun Koh/K. Rajagopal/Boo Junfeng/Brian Gothong Tan/ Chew Tze Chuan/Ho Tzu Nyen/Tania Sng (Singapore, 2008)
THE SWAMP (HET MOERAS) by BarBara Hanlo (Netherlands, 2008)
OF MONSTER MODE (BAKEMONO MOYOU) by Ishii Yuya (Japan, 2008)
PHILIPPINE BLISS by Khavn (Philippines, 2008)
SHADOW OF SAND (SUNA NO KAGE) by Yusuke Kaida (Japan, 2008)
THE SKYJACKER by Jeff Pickett (USA, 2008)
A SONG OF GOOD by Gregory King (New Zealand, 2008)
TIRAMISU by Paula van der Oest (Netherlands, 2008)
TROPICAL MANILA by Lee Sang-Woo (Philippines/South Korea, 2008)
WADLEY by Matias Meyer (Mexico, 2008)
WE WENT TO WONDERLAND by Guo Xiaolu (China/United Kingdom, 2008)
WHO IS AFRAID OF KATHY ACKER by Barbara Caspar (Austria/Germany, 2008)
WORLDREVOLUTION (WELTREVOLUTION) by Klaus Hundsbichler (Austria, 2008)

Time & Tide
2KM2 - A SQUARE VIEW (2KM2 - HET HEDEN VAN DE STAD) by Carel van Hees/André van der Hout (Netherlands, 2008)
ABSURD AND ABSURDITY (ADEP AKHLAK) by Marat Alykulov (Kyrgyzstan, 2008) - HBF
AFRICA UNITE by Stephanie Black (USA/Jamaica, 2008)
THE END by Nicola Collins (USA, 2008)
END OF THE LINE (FIM DA LINHA) by Gustavo Steinberg (Brazil, 2008) – HBF
THE GOLDEN AGE OF FISH by Kevin Jerome Everson (USA, 2008)
JOAQUIN SABINA - 19 DAYS AND 500 NIGHTS (JOAQUIN SABINA - 19 DIAS Y 500 NOCHES) by Ramón Gieling (Netherlands/Spain, 2008)
THE LOST COLONY (DE VERLOREN KOLONIE) by Astrid Bussink (Netherlands, 2008)
THE MATCH (DE MATCH) by Kees Hin (Netherlands, 2008)
MEGUMI by Mirjam van Veelen (Netherlands/Japan, 2008)
MEN’S GROUP by Michael Joy (Australia, 2008)
MY MARLON AND BRANDO (GITMEK) by Hüseyin Karabey (Turkey/Netherlands/UK, 2008) - HBF
NOTHING TO LOSE (TBS) by Pieter Kuijpers (Netherlands, 2008)
THE REINACTORS by David J. Markey (USA, 2008)
THE REVUE (PREDSTAVLENIE) by Sergei Loznitsa (Germany/Russia/Ukraine, 2008) - HBF
WAR, LOVE, GOD & MADNESS by Mohamed Al-Daradji (Iraq/UK, 2008)
ZIMBABWE by Darrell James Roodt (South Africa/Zimbabwe, 2008) - HBF

Kings & Aces
A PRIMA VISTA by Michael Pilz (Austria, 2008)
OVER HERE by Jon Jost (USA, 2008)
THE SUN AND THE MOON by Stephen Dwoskin (UK, 2008)
TEAK LEAVES AT THE TEMPLES by Garin Nugroho (Indonesia, 2008)

Rotterdämmerung
ABLE DANGER by Paul Krik (USA, 2008)
LET THE RIGHT ONE IN by Tomas Alfredson (Sweden, 2008)

Exploding Cinema: New Dragon Inns
CRUDE OIL (CAI YOU RI JI) by Wang Bing (China, 2008) - HBF
NIRVANA (NIEPAN) by Yang Heng (China, 2007)


IFFR 2008 International premieres

VPRO Tiger Awards Competitie
WALTZ IN STARLIGHT (HOSHIKAGENO WALTZ) by Shingo Wakagi (Japan, 2007)
STRIZH by Abai Kulbai (Kazakhstan, 2007)

Sturm und Drang
57000 KM BETWEEN US (57000 KM ENTRE NOUS) by Delphine Kreuter (France, 2007)
DRUMBEAT (TAMBOLISTA) by Adolfo Alix Jr. (Philippines, 2007)
ESTOMAGO - A GASTRONOMIC STORY (ESTOMAGO) by Marcos Jorge (Brazil/Italy, 2007)
FANTASTIC PARASUICIDES (FANTASTIC JA-SAL-SO-DONG) by Park Soo-young/Cho Chang-ho/Kim Sung-ho (South Korea, 2007)
GIRL SPARKS by Ishii Yuya (Japan, 2007)
L... LIKE LOVE (L... KOT LJUBEZEN) by Janja Glogovac (Slovenia/Czech Republic/Austria/ Serbia, 2007)
MOMMA'S MAN by Azazel Jacobs (USA, 2008)
RAIL ROAD CROSSING (PAS A NIVELL) by Pere Vilà (Spain, 2007)
REBEL, JIRO’S LOVE (HANGYAKU JIRO NO KOI) by Ishii Yuya (Japan, 2006)
SEVEN DAYS SUNDAY (SIEBEN TAGE SONNTAG) by Niels Laupert (Germany, 2007)
STILL ORANGUTANS (AINDA ORANGOTANGOS) by Gustavo Spolidoro (Brazil, 2007)
WHAT ON EARTH HAVE I DONE WRONG?! by Niu Chen-zer (Taiwan, 2007)

Time & Tide
BIUTIFUL CAUNTRI by Esmeralda Calabria/Andrea D'Ambrosio/Peppe Ruggiero (Italy, 2007)
THE EXISTENCE (ISTNIENIE) by Marcin Koszalka (Poland, 2007)
THE HEART IS A DARK FOREST (DAS HERZ IST EIN DUNKLER WALD) by Nicolette Krebitz (Germany, 2007)
HELLO, STRANGER (CHEREUM MANNAN SARAMDEUL) by Kim Dong-Hyun (South Korea, 2007)
THE IMPOSTER WHO WASN'T (MITHYA) by Rajat Kapoor (India, 2007)
IT'S HARD TO BE NICE (TESKO JE BITI FIN) by Srdjan Vuletic (Bosnia and Herzegovina/Germany/UK/Serbia/Montenegro/Slovenia, 2007)
JUNK FILMS: THE COLLECTED SHORT SHOCKUMENTARIES OF TSURISAKI KIYOTAKA by Tsurisaki Kiyotaka (Japan, 2007)
LIFE TRACK (GUE-DO) by Jin Guang Hao (China/South Korea, 2007)
LISTENER'S TALE by Arghya Basu (India, 2007)
ONE OF US CANNOT BE WRONG (UNO DE LOS DOS NO PUEDE ESTAR EQUIVOCADO) by Pablo Llorca (Spain, 2007)
STANDING UP by Waise Azimi (Afghanistan, 2006)
THE WILD BULL (VALU) by Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni (India, 2007) - HBF

Kings & Aces
OWN DEATH (SAJAT HALAL) by Péter Forgács (Hungary, 2007)
TWO MOTHERS - THE SEARCH BEGAN IN RIGA (MEINE MÜTTER - SPURENSUCHE IN RIGA) by Rosa Von Praunheim (Germany, 2007)

Filmmaker in Focus: Svetlana Proskurina
THE BEST OF TIMES (LUCHSHEE VREMYA GODA) by Svetlana Proskurina (Russia, 2008)

Cinema Regained
HALF EMPTY OR HALF FULL (HANSHIN HANGI) by Takefuji Kayo (Japan, 2007)



IFFR 2008 European premieres

VPRO Tiger Awards Competitie
EAT, FOR THIS IS MY BODY (MANGE, CECI EST MON CORPS) by Michelang Quay (France/Haiti, 2007)
FLOWER IN THE POCKET by Liew Seng Tat (Malaysia, 2007)
FUJIAN BLUE (JIN BI HUI HUANG) by Weng Shou-ming (China, 2007) – HBF
THE KING OF PING PONG (PINGPONG-KINGEN) by Jens Jonsson (Sweden, 2007)
WONDERFUL TOWN by Aditya Assarat (Thailand, 2007) - HBF

Sturm und Drang
881 by Royston Tan (Singapore/Japan, 2007)
BARE-ASSED JAPAN (MUKIDASHI NIPPON) by Ishii Yuya (Japan, 2006)
FALLING FROM EARTH by Zeneddine Chadi (Lebanon/France, 2008) – HBF
THIS WORLD OF OURS (ORETACHI NO SEKAI) by Nakajima Ryo (Japan, 2007)

Time & Tide
BURNED HEARTS (AL QUOLOUB AL MOUHTARIQUA) by Ahmed El Maanouni (Morocco, 2007)
MARGOT AT THE WEDDING by Noah Baumbach (USA, 2007)
MARRAKECH INSHALLAH by Steffen Fisker Pierce/Christian Pierce (USA/Morocco, 2006)
NOTHING PERSONAL (Nichego lichnogo) by Larisa Sadilova (Russia, 2007)
L’ORA DI PUNTA by Vincenzo Marra (Italy, 2007)
OUT OF COVERAGE (Kharej altagtia) by Abdullatif Abdulhamid (Syria, 2007)
RECYCLE by Mahmoud al Massad (Netherlands/USA/Jordan/Germany/Spain/Switzerland/France, 2007)
UNFINISHED SKY by Peter Duncan (Australia, 2007)
UNFINISHED STORIES by Pourya Azarbayjani (Iran)
WHERE IS THAT HOME NOW? (WELCHE RICHTUNG GEHT'S NACH HAUSE?) by Anna Hoffmann (Kazakhstan/Germany, 2007)

Kings and Aces
UNAS FOTOS EN LA CIUDAD DE SYLVIA by José Luis Guerín (Spain)

Cinema Regained
A PLACE IN THE CINEMA (UN LUGAR EN EL CINE) by Alberto Morais (Spain, 2007)
TRUMBO by Peter Askin (USA, 2007)

Rotterdämmerung
APPLESEED: EX MACHINA (APPLESEED SAGA: EX MACHINA) by Aramaki Shinji (Japan, 2007)

Exploding Cinema: New Dragon Inns
ONLY CHILD, UPWARD, DOWNWARD, FORWARD, BACKWARD, RIGHTWARD AND LEFTWARD (DU SHENG ZI) by Cui Zi'en (China, 2007)
THE TRUTH BE TOLD: THE CASES AGAINST SUPINYA KLANGNARONG by Pimpaka Towira (Thailand, 2007)



Hubert Bals Fund Harvest within the 37th International Film Festival Rotterdam:

VPRO Tiger Awards Competition

FUJIAN BLUE (JIN BI HUI HUANG) - Weng Shou-ming; China, European premiere
LAMB OF GOD (CORDERO DE DIOS) – Lucía Cedrón; Argentina, World premiere
THE SKY, THE EARTH AND THE RAIN (EL CIELO, LA TIERRA Y LA LLUVIA) – José Luis Torres Leiva; Chile, World premiere
WONDERFUL TOWN - Aditya Assarat: Thailand, European premiere
YEARS WHEN I WAS A CHILD OUTSIDE (TAON NOONG AKO’Y ANAK SA LABAS ) – John Torres; Phillippines, World premiere

Kings & Aces

DEATH IN THE LAND OF ENCANTOS (KAGADANAN SA BANWAAN NING MGA ENGKANTO) – Lav Diaz; Phillippines
HAFEZ – Abolfazl Jalili; Iran

Sturm und Drang

ALICE’S HOUSE (A CASA DE ALICE) – Chico Teixeira; Brazil
FALLING FROM EARTH – Zeneddine Chadi; Lebanon
MUTUM – Sandra Kogut; Brazil
THE OTHER (EL OTRO) – Ariel Rotter; Argentina

Time & Tide

3 DAYS TO FOREVER (3 HARI UNTUK SELAMANYA) – Riri Riza; Indonesia
ABSURD AND ABSURDITY (ADEP AKHLAK) – Marat Alykulov; Kyrgystan, World premiere
END OF THE LINE (FIM DA LINHA) – Gustavo Steinberg; Brasil, World premiere
HAPPY DESERT (DESERTO FELIZ) – Paulo Caldas; Brasil
MY MARLON AND BRANDO (GITMEK) – Hüseyin Karabey; Turkey, World premiere
PURE COOLNESS (BOZ SALKYN) – Ernest Abdyjaparov; Kyrgystan
THE REVUE (PREDSTAVLENIE) – Sergei Loznitsa; Ukraine, World premiere
SHUGA (CHOUGA) – Darezhan Omirbaev; Kazakhstan
THE WILD BULL (VALU) – Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni; India, International premiere
ZIMBABWE – Darrell James Roodt; South Africa, World premiere

Exploding Cinema: New Dragon Inns

CRUDE OIL (CAI YOU RI JI) – Wang Bing; China, World premiere


Profile of the Hubert Bals Fund
Along with CineMart, the Hubert Bals Fund (HBF) is part of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR). The 37th IFFR will take place January 23 – February 3, 2008. Year-round news on IFFR, HBF and CineMart can be found on the festival website 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 completion. The Hubert Bals Fund 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 nineteen years ago, close to 700 projects from independent filmmakers in Asia, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Africa and Latin America have received support. Approximately 80% of these projects have been realised or are currently in production. Every year, the IFFR screens completed films supported by the Fund.

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

Grants and selection rounds
Annually, the Hubert Bals Fund has close to Euro 1.2 million at its disposal and is able to make individual grants of up to Euro 10,000 for script and project development, Euro 20,000 for digital production or Euro 30,000 for post-production. Selection rounds take place twice a year and have application deadlines on March 1 and August 1.

Training, workshops, the Hubert Bals Fund Awards
The Hubert Bals Fund supports special projects such as training initiatives for filmmakers, and local or regional filmdistribution projects in developing countries.
In 2007 the Fund supported numerous workshops in Ethiopa, Philippines, Costa Rica and Uganda. In Armenia, Indonesia and the Philippines, the Hubert Bals Fund participated in co-production meetings. On these occasions, Hubert Bals Fund Awards were granted to the most promising film projects.