The International Film Festival Rotterdam’s (IFFR) Hubert Bals Fund has selected 12 feature films for its development support program, providing €10,000 ($10,500) in production financing per project. The selection comes after the fund received more than 1,150 submissions, a new record.
Several IFFR alumni filmmakers are also among the winners. Brazilian filmmaker Lillah Hallah Levante Winning the IFFR 2024 Youth Jury Award will receive the following support: golden globe awarda dark musical comedy. Midhun Murali wins Special Jury Prize for Tiger kiss carriageto ensure support for his new project MTV is Mars to Venus.
Palestinian filmmaker Muayad Alayan, for Report on Sarah and Salim and a house in jerusalemreceive funding Dialogue with the sea. The film tells the story of a Palestinian man who is ordered to repay his late son’s debt.
Christopher Murray’s boulder will be one of the first Chilean feature films shot on Rapa Nui (Easter Island), while Indonesian filmmaker Camila Andini will receive funding from Hubert Bales Java’s Four Seasons. Other notable projects include Una Gunjak’s How Melissa blew a fuse and Daphne Xu’s Crocodile’s Notes. The complete selection also includes Darya Zhuk’s Exactly what it looks likeTheo Montoya False positiveErin Mikaberidz Taste of peachand Kassim Oldeker’s Goodbye now.
Tamara Tatishvili, director of the foundation, noted that the selected filmmakers have taken an active approach to storytelling amid current challenges, choosing to express themselves through their art rather than remain silent.
The Hubert Bars Fund focuses on filmmakers in countries where local film funding and infrastructure is lacking or subject to political restrictions. The fund works closely with IFFR’s other industry activities, including its talent development arm and co-production marketplace CineMart.
Previous Hubert Bals grant recipients include Payal Kapadia’s Everything we imagine is light and baby Marcelo Caetano, winner of this year’s Cannes Film Festival; Tato Kottisvili holy electricitywinner of the Golden Leopard Award for Locarno’s Concorso Cineasti del Presente program, which focuses on first and second feature films; and Mahdi Fleifer’s Travel to unknown landswhich made audiences aware of this at this year’s Thessaloniki Film Festival.
The 54th edition of IFFR will be held from January 30 to February. 9. The festival will announce its full program on December 17th.
