this spring, the hubert bals fund (hbf) of international ...€¦ · this spring, the hubert bals...
TRANSCRIPT
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.
⏲
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)