This spring, the Hubert Bals Fund (HBF) of International Film Festival Rotterdam

(IFFR) has selected 12 projects by both upcoming talents and established

filmmakers to receive €9,000 each for Script and Project Development.

Additionally, two

co-productions have been selected for the NFF+HBF Co-production Scheme and

receive €50,000 each from the Netherlands Film Fund.

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Fay Breeman, HBF manager: “This year’s selection shows HBF’s strong commitment to

supporting new talent. It’s great to see no less than four former Tiger Competition and Tiger

Short Competition nominees and winners.”

Marit van den Elshout, head of IFFR Pro: “Once again we’ve had to carefully curate from a large

pool of very strong applications. All of the selected projects offer something new and exciting

and push the boundaries of cinema in form or content, whether they are debut features by new

talents or new works by already acclaimed filmmakers. We look forward to seeing the end

results.”

Clockwise: Celosos Hombres Blancos, Cloud of the Unknown, Rapture, Figures in the Urban

Landscape

Two of the selected filmmakers receiving HBF Bright Future support have previously

participated in IFFR’s main competitions. Paraguayan filmmaker Pablo Lamar received a

special mention in the Tiger Competition of IFFR 2016 for his film

La última tierra, and will now receive support for his new feature Remanso. Chinese artist

and animation filmmaker Gao Yuan had her short-film debut in the Tiger Shorts Competition

with her film Lunar Dial at IFFR 2017, and is now supported for her first feature animation

film Cloud of the Unknown.

Other supported films by filmmakers with an IFFR history are

Celosos hombres blancos by Argentinian filmmaker Ivan Granovsky (Los territorios,

IFFR 2017), Agony of the Beasts by Iranian filmmaker Alireza Khatami

(Los versos del olvido, IFFR 2019), and Nowhere Near by Filipino filmmaker

Miko Revereza (No Data Plan, IFFR 2019; Disintegration 93-96, IFFR 2018). The

producer of Revereza’s new film is Shireen Sheno, who won the NETPAC Award at IFFR 2018

for her film Nervous Translation.

Selected feature-film debuts are Excursion by Bosnian filmmaker Una Gunjak, Figures in

the Urban Landscape by Russian filmmaker Ekaterina Selenkina, and

All We Imagine As Light by Indian filmmaker Payal Kapadia. Also selected for HBF Bright

Future: Chinese filmmaker Sheng Qiu’s My Father’s Son and Indian filmmaker Dominic

Sangma’s sophomore feature Rapture.

Chocobar by Lucrecia Martel and Guria by Levan Koguashvili receive HBF Voices support.

Many of Martel’s films have been supported by HBF in the past. Her film Zama was part of

CineMart in 2013 and won the KNF Award at IFFR 2018, where the acclaimed Argentinian

filmmaker also held a masterclass. The Georgian filmmaker Koguashvili has made several

fiction and documentary features in the past. His film Street Days premiered in IFFR 2010’s

Tiger Competition.

Clockwise: Nowhere Near, Guria, Shanghai youth, Chocobar

The NFF+HBF Co-Production Scheme is a joint initiative by the Netherlands Film Fund (NFF)

and the Hubert Bals Fund (HBF). Two grants of €50,000 are awarded to two projects with

Dutch co-production partners. Both selected projects have received HBF development support

in the past. Shanghai Youth by Chinese filmmaker Wang Bing was supported for Script and

Development in 2014. Many of his other films were supported by HBF too, including his debut

Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks. His most recent film, Mrs. Fang, screened at IFFR 2018.

The other NFF+HBF selection, Anatomy of Time by Thai filmmaker Jakrawal Nilthamrong,

received HBF development support in 2017. Nilthamrong’s films too have frequently been

supported by HBF. His latest film Vanishing Point won a

Tiger Award at IFFR 2015.

Agony of the Beasts, Alireza Khatami, Iran/Netherlands/France

All We Imagine As Light, Payal Kapadia, India/France

Celosos hombres blancos, Ivan Granovsky, Argentina

Cloud of the Unknown, Gao Yuan, China

Excursion, Una Gunjak, Bosnia and Herzogovina

Figures in the Urban Landscape, Ekaterina Selenkina, Russia

My Father’s Son, Sheng Qiu, China/France

Nowhere Near, Miko Revereza, Philippines

Rapture, Dominic Sangma, India/China

Remanso, Pablo Lamar, Paraguay/Brazil

Chocobar, Lucrecia Martel, Argentina/USA/Netherlands

Guria, Levan Koguashvili, Georgia

Anatomy of Time, Jakrawal Nilthamrong, Thailand/France/Netherlands/Germany (Dutch

co-producer: Sluizer Film Productions)

Shanghai Youth, Wang Bing, France/Hong Kong/Luxemburg/Netherlands (Dutch co-

producer: Volya Films)

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