Hubert Bals Fund

17/08/2026

Two prizes for HBF-supported films in Locarno 🏆

A huge congratulations to two films, supported by the Hubert Bals Fund and CineMart, that have picked up major prizes at the Locarno Film Festival.

First up, the Special Jury Prize in the Concorso internazionale went to À Margem do Rio (The Riverbank) by Matheus Farias () and Enock Carvalho () (Brazil, Germany), supported by the Hubert Bals Fund for development in 2022.

Cineuropa's Muriel Del Don describes a "poignant and powerful first feature" that takes viewers on "a journey that is at once hyperrealist and dreamlike" into the mangroves of Recife, Brazil.

In the Cineasti del Presente section, the Best Emerging Director Award went to two-time Tiger Short Award-winning filmmaker Beatrice Gibson () for the CineMart 2024-presented La Nuit (At Night).

Described by Screen's Amber Wilkinson as "atmospheric and allusive", the film is set over a single night in Paris, following six women navigating the anxiety of the city after dark as dream, fiction and reality blur into one.

13/08/2026

“An act of resistance”: HBF Empowerment Award-winning Tear Gas has its world premiere in Locarno 🏆

Georgian filmmaker Uta Beria has spoken to The Hollywood Reporter on his HBF+Europe-supported feature Tear Gas following its five year production journey.

He presented the work – shot inside anti-government protests in Georgia – at IFFR Pro's work-in-progress platform Darkroom in 2025 where it picked up two prizes including the inaugural HBF Empowerment Award, worth €10,000.

Beria told THR that with funding restrictions placed on the film in Georgia, the team cut their budget, raised the remaining funds themselves and completed the film independently.

“Every member of the crew showed remarkable bravery, and I couldn’t be more grateful for their commitment under such extraordinary circumstances,” said Beria.

Read the full interview: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/tear-gas-georgia-fiction-film-shot-in-real-protests-locarno-1236663941/

04/08/2026

Hubert Bals Fund Development Support recipients 2026 🌍

IFFR’s Hubert Bals Fund (HBF) has unveiled its selection of 20 projects to receive a grant of €10,000 each under its flagship Development Support Scheme 2026.

For 2026, eight of the 20 projects have been selected following a regional focus on Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia – including the first project the HBF has supported from North Macedonia, Short Tiger Winner Anka Gujabidze's debut feature, and two projects each from Ukraine and two projects from Serbia amid their political crisis.

Take a look at the full selection:

🇨🇳 The Apple Doesn't Fall... dir. Dean Wei
🇲🇰 As Long as You Can Climb a Tree dir. Dina Duma
🇻🇪 Avisan los animales dir. Virginia Urreiztieta
🇬🇪 Bakhmaro – The Invisible Formula dir. Anka Gujabidze
🇺🇦 Carousel dir. Philip Sotnychenko (СУК \ CUC)
🇺🇦 Deus Ex Machina dir. Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy
🇩🇴 Donde duermen las abejas dir. Tomás Pichardo Espaillat, Nika Zhukova
🇧🇷 Filme De Arquivo dir. Lincoln Péricles
🇮🇳 Half Sea dir. Sheethal Namath Shyam
🇦🇿 Hear What You Remember dir. Turkan Huseyn
🇨🇳 Home, Sick dir. Xiwen Cong
🇳🇬 In the Wake of Yesterday dir. Babatunde Apalowo (Tunde Apalowo)
🇿🇦 Lady Pearl dir. Nolitha Refilwe Mkulisi
🇷🇸 The Memory of Hair dir. Dušan Zorić, Matija Gluščević
🇷🇸 Murmur dir. Mina Đukić
🇨🇺🇧🇷 A Room Outside the World dir. Marcel Beltrán
🇮🇳 Silver Linings dir. Kanishka Sonthalia, Siddesh Shetty
🇩🇴 Te vienen a quitar tus congos dir. Nelson Carlo de los Santos Arias (Nelson Ca Tituá)
🇲🇳 The Vision of Lonely Mountains dir. Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir (Guru Media Katia Khazak)

Details of the 20th project have been withheld to protect the filmmaker’s safety.

Read more via: https://iffr.com/en/blog-hubert-bals-fund-unveils-projects-selected-for-expanded-2026-development-support-scheme

29/07/2026

HBF+Brazil Q&A session: Mon 3 August 💬

Ahead of the second edition of HBF+Brazil: Development Support Initiative, join the Hubert Bals Fund at Brazilian partners for an online Q&A on Monday 3 August at 11.00 (Brazilian time).

The session covers the call's criteria and how the initiative works – ideal if you're a Brazilian filmmaker developing your second or third fiction feature and want to prepare a strong application. It will be held in English.

Thanks to our partners for their continued support on the initiative: RioFilme, Spcine, Projeto Paradiso and Embratur.

Register for the session: https://linktr.ee/projetoparadiso

20/07/2026

15/07/2026

Three HBF-supported titles in the Locarno competition lineups 🐅

We're delighted for the filmmakers from Chile, Brazil and Georgia whose HBF-supported work is set to premiere in the Locarno Film Festival competitions!

Among them is Uta Beria’s Tear Gas, following sixteen-year-old Elene in a Georgian refugee settlement as a day of peaceful protest unravels into violence. The film is the first-ever recipient of the HBF Empowerment Award, a new €10,000 prize that was established in 2025 which supports filmmakers in politically challenging contexts and/or on themes of freedom of expression, displacement and human rights. The jury described it as "strikingly urgent, [with] raw emotional depth and fearless storytelling".

Concorso Internazionale:
🇨🇱 Princesa B***o dir. Cristóbal León, Joaquin Cociña (HBF Development 2020, NFF+HBF 2023)
🇧🇷 A Margem do Rio dir. Matheus Farias, Enock Carvalho (HBF Development 2022)

Concorso Cineasti del Presente:
🇬🇪 Tear Gas dir. Uta Beria (HBF+Europe: Minority Co-production 2023, Darkroom 2025, HBF Empowerment Award 2025)

09/06/2026

HBF+Europe: Post-production Support call 📣

The latest HBF+Europe: Post-production Support call is intended to support European minority co-productions in bold film projects by filmmakers from Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and parts of Eastern Europe that are in the post-production stage and do not have any world premiere confirmed until mid-September 2026.

The projects should aim for their festival premiere and/or theatrical release from mid-September 2026 onwards.

Apply before Monday 22 June 2026, 17.00 CEST via: https://iffr.com/en/hubert-bals-fund/funding-schemes/hbfeurope-post-production-support

HBF+Europe is supported by the Creative Europe – MEDIA programme of the European Union.

Film still: Variations on a Theme by Jason Jacobs and Devon Delmar (HBF+Europe: Post-production Support 2024)

28/05/2026

Hubert Bals Fund at Cannes 2026 ⛵✨

We're just back from a very busy and rewarding edition at Cannes, where we're reflecting on a packed schedule of announcements, panels and meetings, next to two prizes for HBF-supported films.

We revealed the second cohort of the Displacement Film Fund, with HBF returning as Management Partner, and announced the second edition of HBF+Brazil with a full house panel – with thanks once again to our partners Projeto Paradiso, RioFilme, Spcine and Embratur.

Beyond the announcements, Cannes is built on meetings and presentations where much of our year takes shape. We presented the HBF at La Fabrique Cinéma and connected with alumni and partners like the International Emerging Film Talent Fund (IEFTF).

HBF-supported films shone across the selections, and we were proud to stand alongside partners including CNC and the Norwegian Film Institute, with whom we co-funded The Station (dir. Sara Ishaq). We're delighted that Ben'imana (dir. Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo) and Elephants in the Fog (dir. Abinash Bikram Shah) both took home prizes.

Our thanks to all the filmmakers, partners and colleagues – see you next time!

26/05/2026

HBF-supported film Ben’imana wins Caméra d'or prize at Cannes 🏆🇷🇼

Congratulations to Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo, who won the Caméra d'or prize in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes. The film was backed by our Hubert Bals Fund with Development Support (2022).

With her debut feature, self-taught Kigali-born filmmaker Dusabejambois becomes the first Rwandan filmmaker in the Cannes Official Selection, presenting a portrait of Rwanda as it strives to rebuild itself following the 1994 Tutsi Genocide.

Through predominantly female characters, the film explores intergenerational trauma as love and hate, resentment and reconciliation intertwine. The film is an African majority co-production, with a cast composed almost entirely of non-professional actors.