Hubert Bals Fund, Karel Doormanstraat 278b, Rotterdam (2026)

22/09/2025

Solidarity capital: looking back at the Sarajevo Film Festival 🇧🇦

As well as catching up with plenty of supported filmmakers, projects and talents at the SARAJEVO FILM FESTIVAL last month, we were honoured to join the panel “Solidarity Capital: Alternative Financing for Independent Cinema.”

With shrinking public support, volatile markets and growing political pressures shaping the industry landscape worldwide, the discussion, joined by Head of the HBF Tamara Tatishvili, spotlighted collective, mission-driven financing initiatives.

The HBF was acknowledged as one of the few long-standing funds committed to supporting projects by filmmakers facing unrest and instability. We shared insights on our flagship support schemes and our crucial role as managing partner of the new Displacement Film Fund.

Later we caught up with Mehmet Bahadir Er, producer of Ukrainian filmmaker Maryna Er Gorbach's upcoming DFF-supported project.

18/09/2025

Si no ardemos, cómo iluminar la noche 🔥

Congratulations to Costa Rican filmmaker Kim Torres whose HBF+Europe-supported debut feature Si no ardemos, cómo iluminar la noche is set to premiere in the New Directors competition at the Donostia Zinemaldia - Festival de San Sebastián!

In the film, the thirteen-year-old Laura must navigate a new rural home amid forests and endless palm plantations, where violence lingers like a shadow. The project was backed by the HBF+Europe: Minority Co-production Support scheme in 2023.

In the Horizontes Latinos section, two more HBF-supported projects screen: Hiedra by Ana Cristina Barragán and Nuestra tierra by Lucrecia Martel.

Read more about them all: https://iffr.com/en/blog-autumn-festivals-2025

17/09/2025

Spying Stars by Vimukthi Jayasundara to premiere in Busan 🇱🇰

A sci-fi mediation on loss, mourning and technology, the film follows bioengineer Anandi, who returns from space only to be quarantined at a remote resort during a mysterious pandemic. Jayasundara’s debut The Forsaken Land (2005) won the Camera d’Or at Cannes.

The project was funded in 2022 through the HBF+Europe: Minority Co-production Support scheme, supported by Creative Europe MEDIA.

It's one of several supported films screening at the 부산국제영화제 Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) from 17–26 September 2025.

Competition:
🇱🇰 Spying Stars by Vimukthi Jayasundara (HBF+Europe: Minority Co-production Support 2022)

A Window on Asian Cinema:
🇸🇬 Amoeba by Siyou Tan (HBF Development 2022, NFF+HBF Co-production Support 2023, HBF+Europe: Minority Co-production Support, Dutch co-producer Volya Films)
🇮🇳 Bayaan by Bikas Ranjan Mishra (HBF Development 2013, CineMart 2013, Darkroom 2025)
🇰🇿 Becoming by Zhannat Alshanova (HBF+Europe: Minority Co-production Support, Dutch co-producer Volya Films)
🇹🇭 A Useful Ghost by Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke (HBF+Europe 2023)

World Cinema:
🇧🇷 The Blue Trail by Gabriel Mascaro (HBF Development 2014, CineMart 2017, NFF+HBF 2020)

Read more: https://iffr.com/en/blog-autumn-festivals-2025

09/09/2025

HBF+Brazil: submit your project now! 🇧🇷

In partnership with RioFilme, Spcine and Projeto Paradiso, the HBF+Brazil: Co-development Support scheme is dedicated to supporting the early development of projects by second- and third-time filmmakers from Brazil.

In the pilot year, the scheme will support up to nine fiction film projects in early development, directed by a Brazilian filmmaker and with a Brazilian production company attached, offering grants of up to €10,000 each.

The deadline is 15 September 23.59 CEST.

Find out more and submit: https://iffr.com/en/hubert-bals-fund/funding-schemes/hbfbrazil-co-development-support

05/09/2025

Independence Day of Brazil – Sete de Setembro 🇧🇷

Today is a national holiday in Brazil, with celebrations taking place across the country commemorating their independence from Portugal on 7 September 1822.

That's the perfect excuse to remind you of our new collaboration for co-development support in Brazil and the approaching call for submissions. The HBF+Brazil deadline is 15 September, and the call will be officially opened on Monday 8 September when the submission form goes live.

Read more and prepare your application here: https://iffr.com/en/hubert-bals-fund/funding-schemes/hbfbrazil-co-development-support

Film still: Sultry (Mormaço) by Marina Meliande (HBF 2013, IFFR 2018)

03/09/2025

Two HBF world premieres at TIFF! 🍁

We're delighted for two HBF-supported filmmakers from Singapore and India who are set to premiere their work at TIFF, starting tomorrow 4 September.

Siyou Tan’s Amoeba follows four rebellious teenage girls forming a gang in Singapore, and Bikas Ranjan Mishra’s Bayaan is a tense drama in which a rookie detective confronts abuse, power and silence.

There's also plenty of North American premieres for HBF-films continuing to impress across the festival circuit.

World premieres:
🇸🇬 Amoeba by Siyou Tan (HBF Development 2022, NFF+HBF Co-production Support 2023, HBF+Europe: Minority Co-production Support, Dutch co-producer Volya Films) – Discovery programme

🇮🇳 Bayaan by Bikas Ranjan Mishra (HBF Development 2013, CineMart 2013, Darkroom 2025) – Discovery programme

North American premieres:
🇧🇷 The Blue Trail (O último azul) by Gabriel Mascaro (HBF Development 2014, CineMart 2017, NFF+HBF 2020) – Centerpiece programme

🇬🇪 Dry Leaf by Alexandre Koberidze (Darkroom 2025) – Wavelengths

🇺🇸 The Non-Actor by Eliza Barry Callahan (world premiere IFFR 2025 Short & Mid-length) – Short Cuts

🇦🇷 Nuestra Tierra by Lucrecia Martel (HBF Development 2019, NFF+HBF 2020, Dutch Post-production Award 2021) – TIFF Docs programme

🇹🇭 A Useful Ghost by Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke (HBF+Europe 2023) – Centerpiece programme

27/08/2025

Lucrecia Martel’s latest among HBF-backed Venice premieres 🦁

The Argentinian auteur returns with Nuestra Tierra (formerly Chocobar), premiering Out of Competition at La Biennale di Venezia (27 Aug – 6 Sep) after support in three stages of production by the HBF: development, co-production via Nederlands Filmfonds+HBF, and post-production through the Dutch Post-production Award.

The hybrid documentary explores colonialism and land dispossession in Latin America, tracing the 2009 murder of Indigenous leader Javier Chocobar.

Another HBF-supported project in Venice is Cotton Queen by Suzannah Mirghani (HBF+Europe: Minority Co-production Support 2023), premiering in competition in the Settimana Internazionale della Critica. The film follows a teenage girl in a Sudanese cotton-farming village who becomes the centre of a power struggle.

HBF-backed Venice premieres:
🇦🇷 Nuestra Tierra by Lucrecia Martel – HBF Development 2019, NFF+HBF 2020, Dutch Post-production Award 2021 – Out of Competition
🇸🇩 Cotton Queen by Suzannah Mirghani – HBF+Europe: Minority Co-production Support 2023 – Settimana Internazionale della Critica

HBF projects at the Venice Gap-Financing Market:
🇵🇦 Corte Culebra by Ana Elena Tejera – HBF Development 2023, CineMart 2025
🇮🇩 Four Seasons in Java by Kamila Andini – HBF Development 2024, NFF+HBF 2025, CineMart 2025

Read more here: https://iffr.com/en/blog-iffr-venice-2025

14/08/2025

IFFR goes to Sarajevo 🇧🇦

We’re delighted to be attending the 31st Sarajevo Film Festival (16–21 August), contributing to industry conversations and celebrating a strong line-up of supported films across the programme, including two in the main feature competition.

🎤 CineLink Industry Days Talks:

19 Aug: Gatekeepers or Gardeners? How Major Festivals Cultivate and Curate the Global Film Ecosystem
IFFR Festival Director Vanja Kaludjercic joins fellow festival heads from Berlin, Tribeca and Sarajevo to discuss how major festivals balance the power of gatekeeping with the responsibility of nurturing new voices.

20 Aug: Solidarity Capital: Alternative Financing for Independent Cinema
Head of the Hubert Bals Fund Tamara Tatishvili joins colleagues to explore how the film industry is responding to numerous pressures with concerted acts of solidarity, discussing the example of the Displacement Film Fund.

🎥 Supported titles in the programme:

– Sorella di Clausura by Ivana Mladenović (CineMart 2022, Darkroom 2025) – Competition Programme
– Wind, Talk to Me by Stefan Đorđević (IFFR 2025 Tiger Competition) – Competition Programme
– Upon Sunrise by Stefan Ivančić (IFFR 2025 World Premiere, Short & Mid-length) – Short Film Competition Programme
– Desire Lines by Dane Komljen (HBF Development 2018, NFF+HBF 2022) – In Focus programme
– Fiume o Morte! by Igor Bezinović (IFFR 2025 – Tiger Award Winner) – Dealing with the Past programme
– Perla by Alexandra Makarová (IFFR 2025 World Premiere, Tiger Competition) – Adriatic Audience Award
– Romería by Carla Simón (CineMart 2021) – Kinoscope
– The Blue Trail by Gabriel Mascaro (HBF Development, NFF+HBF, CineMart 2017) – Kinoscope programme
– Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World by Kevin Walker & Irene Zahariadis (IFFR 2025 Tiger Short Competition) – European Shorts

See you in Sarajevo!

12/08/2025

Gabriel Mascaro on the impact of HBF support 🇧🇷🎙️

From the rural vaqueiros of Neon Bull to the later-in-life rebels of The Blue Trail, the work of Gabriel Mascaro weaves the contradictions of contemporary Brazil into neon-soaked dreams.

Celebrating the launch of the HBF+Brazil scheme (together with Projeto Paradiso, Spcine & RioFilme), we spoke to the Recife-born filmmaker about the impact of HBF, CineMart and IFFR support on his career.

Neon Bull is available to watch until 26 August in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, as part of the HBF+Brazil collection on IFFR Unleashed.

Read the full interview here: https://iffr.com/en/blog-gabriel-mascaro-the-right-to-dream

📸 Gabriel Mascaro at IFFR 2016 by Bas Czerwinski

24/07/2025

Hubert Bals Fund unveils latest support ✨

15 bold and original feature film projects have been selected for the latest round of IFFR’s Hubert Bals Fund Development Support scheme – including the Fund's first-ever supported project from Tanzania. Each project will receive a grant of €10,000 to support the next steps in its development.

The HBF continues to champion breakthrough talent and underrepresented voices from around the world – from Cuba to Albania, Indonesia to Rwanda – and several IFFR alumni are supported with their new projects.

Development Support 2025 complete selection:

🇨🇺 Amateur, Carlos Díaz Lechuga, Cuba, Spain
🇬🇷 The Appalling Human Voice of the Animals, Neritan Zinxhiria, Greece, Albania
🇧🇷 Boca da noite, Stephanie Ricci, Brazil
🇸🇳 Coumba, Mamadou Dia, Senegal
🇭🇰 Girl With a Camera, Xiaoxuan Jiang, Hong Kong, China
🇮🇳 The Immigrants, Suman Mukhopadhyay, India
🇹🇿 Last Cow, Amil Shivji, Tanzania, Canada
🇲🇾 Lotus Feet, Amanda Nell Eu, Malaysia
🇲🇾 Moto, Chris Chong Chan Fui, Malaysia
🇲🇿 Mwadia, Inadelso Cossa, Mozambique
🇰🇿 Nobody to See Us, Renata Dzhalo, Kazakhstan, France, Moldova
🇮🇩 Orphaned Atlas, Timoteus Anggawan Kusno, Indonesia
🇸🇾 The Rapture, Farida Baqi, Syria, Lebanon, Germany, Netherlands
🇷🇼 Tears, Moise Ganza, Rwanda
🇮🇳 Where Shadows Wait, Arya Rothe, India, Italy

Read the full selection here: https://iffr.com/en/blog-hbf-development-support-2025

07/07/2025

Hubert Bals Fund at FIDMarseille ☀️

We're delighted to see plenty of HBF presence (both new and old) at the 36th FIDMarseille, starting tomorrow (8–13 July).

🇵🇪 Estados Generales (2025) by Mauricio Freyre
Peruvian filmmaker Mauricio Freyre's Estados Generales has its world premiere after support from the HBF+Europe: Post-production Support scheme last year (Creative Europe). The sensual botanical journey screens in the First Film Competition.

🇸🇩 The Dam (2022) by Ali Cherri
Lebanese artist Ali Cherri presents a special screening of the HBF Development-supported The Dam in tandem with his exhibition Les Veilleurs at the Musée d’art contemporain de Marseille. The mystical film follows Maher, a bricklayer working on the Merowe dam in northern Sudan.

🇷🇴 Radu Jude Retrospective
The festival celebrates the back-catalogue of prolific, provocative Romanian director Radu Jude, including his debut feature The Happiest Girl in the World (2009), a bitter, gritty comedy co-produced by the Dutch Circe Films.

Find out more here: https://fidmarseille.org/en/

Hubert Bals Fund

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