The Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival announced its 2022 lineup including Disney’s documentary Mija and the Warner Bros. Pictures/HBO Max film Father of the Bride bookending the celebration. Laliff will run from June 1 to 5 at the Tcl Chinese Theater and Tcl Chinese 6 in Hollywood.
The full lineup includes feature films, short films, episodics, animation, master classes, and musical performances.
“Laliff Is proud to present a diverse line-up of Latino storytellers,” said Edward James Olmos, co-founder of Laliff. “The festival has seen tremendous growth, with support from both the film industry and our audience, allowing us to showcase and nurture important voices that the world needs to hear.”
In addition to Mija and Father of the Bride, the section includes A Place in the Field directed by Nicole Mejia, All Sorts directed by J. Rick Castañeda, and Blood Red Ox directed by Rodrigo Bellot.
Also part of the program:...
The full lineup includes feature films, short films, episodics, animation, master classes, and musical performances.
“Laliff Is proud to present a diverse line-up of Latino storytellers,” said Edward James Olmos, co-founder of Laliff. “The festival has seen tremendous growth, with support from both the film industry and our audience, allowing us to showcase and nurture important voices that the world needs to hear.”
In addition to Mija and Father of the Bride, the section includes A Place in the Field directed by Nicole Mejia, All Sorts directed by J. Rick Castañeda, and Blood Red Ox directed by Rodrigo Bellot.
Also part of the program:...
- 5/4/2022
- by Rosy Cordero
- Deadline Film + TV
Two hotly-favored competition frontrunners, Spain’s motherhood-focused “Lullaby” and “Utama,” shot on an awe-inspiring Bolivian Altiplano, swept the board at a historic, 25th Málaga Film Festival which said a lot about the current state of the Spanish film industry.
Running March 18-26, the Festival proved a vibrant affair, galvanised by renewed interest in the Spanish cinema after a buoyant reception for its major movies at Berlin, as well as the joy of proving the first time many industry attendees had seen each other in person in two years and backing from Spain’s Avs Hub plan for a vastly larger industry presence.
In Alauda Ruiz de Azúa’s “Lullaby,” coming after Sundance hit “Piggy” and Carla Simón’s Berlin Golden Bear triumph “Alcarrás,” Spain would look to have a third art pic breakout in just the first three months of 2022, all driven by a young generation of women cineastes, directors and producers.
Running March 18-26, the Festival proved a vibrant affair, galvanised by renewed interest in the Spanish cinema after a buoyant reception for its major movies at Berlin, as well as the joy of proving the first time many industry attendees had seen each other in person in two years and backing from Spain’s Avs Hub plan for a vastly larger industry presence.
In Alauda Ruiz de Azúa’s “Lullaby,” coming after Sundance hit “Piggy” and Carla Simón’s Berlin Golden Bear triumph “Alcarrás,” Spain would look to have a third art pic breakout in just the first three months of 2022, all driven by a young generation of women cineastes, directors and producers.
- 3/26/2022
- by John Hopewell and Pablo Sandoval
- Variety Film + TV
Portuguese actor Pêpê Rapazote is toplining Argentine helmer-scribe Leonardo Brzezicki’s second feature, “Almost in Love.”
The father-daughter drama is the third collaboration between Argentine shingle Ruda Cine and Rodrigo Teixeira’s Rt Features of Brazil, a co-producer of such stellar titles as “Call Me by Your Name,” “Little Men,” “Patti Cake$” and “Frances Ha.”
Derk-Jan Warrink and Koji Nelissen from Holland’s Keplerfilm have also boarded the film as co-producers.
The co-production comes at a time when Argentina, Brazil and other beleaguered countries in the region are refocusing or cutting back on their support for cinema, if not the arts. Banding together has been the best way for Latino producers to overcome – the hopefully temporary – setback in state funding.
“Almost in Love” follows an angst-ridden father, Santiago, whose emotional crisis is exacerbated by a complex and intense relationship with his teenage daughter who seeks to break free from him.
The father-daughter drama is the third collaboration between Argentine shingle Ruda Cine and Rodrigo Teixeira’s Rt Features of Brazil, a co-producer of such stellar titles as “Call Me by Your Name,” “Little Men,” “Patti Cake$” and “Frances Ha.”
Derk-Jan Warrink and Koji Nelissen from Holland’s Keplerfilm have also boarded the film as co-producers.
The co-production comes at a time when Argentina, Brazil and other beleaguered countries in the region are refocusing or cutting back on their support for cinema, if not the arts. Banding together has been the best way for Latino producers to overcome – the hopefully temporary – setback in state funding.
“Almost in Love” follows an angst-ridden father, Santiago, whose emotional crisis is exacerbated by a complex and intense relationship with his teenage daughter who seeks to break free from him.
- 12/12/2018
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Films by Babak Jalali, Ricardo Silva and Deepak Rauniyar selected.
The Hubert Bals Fund (Hbf), which is administered by International Film Festival Rotterdam, has backed 13 projects in its latest funding round.
The Hbf Voices strand championing filmmakers who are more advanced in their careers, has selected Babak Jalali, pictured (whose film is titled Hymns), Ricardo Silva (Sleepwalk) and Deepak Rauniyar (Raja). Each project will receive script and project development funding worth €10,000.
The Nff+Hbf co-production scheme – a joint initiative by the Netherlands Film Fund and the Hubert Bals Fund – has backed two projects co-produced by Dutch producers.
Those are, Muayad Alayan’s The Reports On Sarah And Saleem, which is co-produced by KeyFilm, and Leonardo Brzezicki’s Almost In Love, which is co-produced by Keplerfilm. Both films receive a production grant of €50,000.
The Hbf Bright Future fund will grant €10,000 to eight features: Arun Karthick (Nasir); Sivaroj Kongsakul (Regretfully At Dawn); John Trengove (Estate); Omar Elzohairy (Feathers...
The Hubert Bals Fund (Hbf), which is administered by International Film Festival Rotterdam, has backed 13 projects in its latest funding round.
The Hbf Voices strand championing filmmakers who are more advanced in their careers, has selected Babak Jalali, pictured (whose film is titled Hymns), Ricardo Silva (Sleepwalk) and Deepak Rauniyar (Raja). Each project will receive script and project development funding worth €10,000.
The Nff+Hbf co-production scheme – a joint initiative by the Netherlands Film Fund and the Hubert Bals Fund – has backed two projects co-produced by Dutch producers.
Those are, Muayad Alayan’s The Reports On Sarah And Saleem, which is co-produced by KeyFilm, and Leonardo Brzezicki’s Almost In Love, which is co-produced by Keplerfilm. Both films receive a production grant of €50,000.
The Hbf Bright Future fund will grant €10,000 to eight features: Arun Karthick (Nasir); Sivaroj Kongsakul (Regretfully At Dawn); John Trengove (Estate); Omar Elzohairy (Feathers...
- 5/22/2017
- by tom.grater@screendaily.com (Tom Grater)
- ScreenDaily
What a surprising city Rotterdam is and the Festival and Cinemart are full of surprises too.
Being in The Netherlands is like a homecoming for me. My first major job in the film industry was with 20th Century Fox International and City Fox Films in Amsterdam in 1975 which is when I first attended the International Film Festival of Rotterdam, three years after its founding by Huub Bals. It was much smaller then. Iffr’s logo is a tiger, loosely based on the M.G.M. lion as an alternative. From the beginning, the festival has profiled itself as a promoter of alternative, innovative and non-commercial films, with an emphasis on the Far East and developing countries. It has become one of the most important events in the film world, an integral part of the winter circuit of Sundance, Rotterdam and Berlin Film Festivals.
“Fox and HIs Friends”
Except for my...
Being in The Netherlands is like a homecoming for me. My first major job in the film industry was with 20th Century Fox International and City Fox Films in Amsterdam in 1975 which is when I first attended the International Film Festival of Rotterdam, three years after its founding by Huub Bals. It was much smaller then. Iffr’s logo is a tiger, loosely based on the M.G.M. lion as an alternative. From the beginning, the festival has profiled itself as a promoter of alternative, innovative and non-commercial films, with an emphasis on the Far East and developing countries. It has become one of the most important events in the film world, an integral part of the winter circuit of Sundance, Rotterdam and Berlin Film Festivals.
“Fox and HIs Friends”
Except for my...
- 3/8/2017
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Though the International Film Festival Rotterdam (Iffr) is going on its 46th year and its Cinemart on its 35th, 2017 marks only the third year since festival director Bero Beyer, a former producer, continues to reshape the event into a more focused selection of film projects whose life on the film circuit will have an impact beyond the festival scene itself, a field that is becoming increasingly crowded for many reasons which would take another article to explain.
But there will be quite a discussion about this very issue.The Rotterdam Cinemart, the first co-production market ever, started in 1982 and brought the then-small international film community together in a uniquely egalitarian and intimate way that only the Dutch could offer. In many ways it became a victim of its own success, mentoring similar events in Hong Kong and So. Korea and then copied by numerous others, but without the care and warmth of the original event.
But there will be quite a discussion about this very issue.The Rotterdam Cinemart, the first co-production market ever, started in 1982 and brought the then-small international film community together in a uniquely egalitarian and intimate way that only the Dutch could offer. In many ways it became a victim of its own success, mentoring similar events in Hong Kong and So. Korea and then copied by numerous others, but without the care and warmth of the original event.
- 1/28/2017
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
A total of 26 film projects will participate in this year’s co-production market in Rotterdam.Scroll down for full line-up
The line-up for the 2017 edition of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (Iffr) co-production market CineMart has been revealed.
The 34th edition of the co-pro event features 26 projects and will run Jan 29 – Feb 1 as part of the Iffr Pro Days industry strand of the wider festival (Jan 25 – Feb 5).
Film-makers presenting projects at this year’s edition include Brazilian director Gabriel Mascaro, whose 2015 feature Neon Bull [pictured] won prizes in Venice and Toronto. His next project is titled Centre Of The Earth.
Also participating in the event will be UK director Ben Rivers, whose credits include The Sky Trembles And The Earth Is Afraid And The Two Eyes Are Not Brothers. His latest project, After London, is being produced by Ben Wheatley’s Rook Films. Rivers previously won Rotterdam’s Tiger Award for his 2014 short film Things.
Nepalese director...
The line-up for the 2017 edition of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (Iffr) co-production market CineMart has been revealed.
The 34th edition of the co-pro event features 26 projects and will run Jan 29 – Feb 1 as part of the Iffr Pro Days industry strand of the wider festival (Jan 25 – Feb 5).
Film-makers presenting projects at this year’s edition include Brazilian director Gabriel Mascaro, whose 2015 feature Neon Bull [pictured] won prizes in Venice and Toronto. His next project is titled Centre Of The Earth.
Also participating in the event will be UK director Ben Rivers, whose credits include The Sky Trembles And The Earth Is Afraid And The Two Eyes Are Not Brothers. His latest project, After London, is being produced by Ben Wheatley’s Rook Films. Rivers previously won Rotterdam’s Tiger Award for his 2014 short film Things.
Nepalese director...
- 12/13/2016
- by tom.grater@screendaily.com (Tom Grater)
- ScreenDaily
Argentinian director Leonardo Brzezicki gave up acting for filmmaking. And so far, the decision has paid off. His first feature "Noche" was commissioned by Cph:dox and was nominated for the Tiger Award in Rotterdam International Film Festival and his short film "The Mad Half Hour" won this year's "Best Short Film Award" in Berlinale. Indiewire recently caught up with him in Locarno, where he participated in the Filmmakers Academy, a program which focuses on emerging filmmakers from around the world. Read More: Here's Why This Costa Rican Filmmaker is Getting International Attention Brzezicki is currently developing the script of his second feature. The struggle to make a film in Argentina has only served to motivate Brzezicki more. He said he has had to work with small budgets and finance his projects with money earned from a variety of jobs. The shift from actor to filmmaker came naturally for Brzezicki. "I was never really.
- 8/20/2015
- by Andreea Pătru
- Indiewire
Includes short films from Nadav Lapid, Amit Dutta and Jennifer Reeder.Scroll down for full line-up
The 65th Berlin International Film Festival (Feb 5-15) has unveiled its line-up of shorts, comprising 27 films from 18 countries.
The titles will compete for a Golden and a Silver Bear, as well as the nomination for best short film at the European Film Awards and the first-ever €20,000 Audio Short Film Award.
This year’s members of the International Short Film Jury are documentary filmmaker and curator Madhusree Dutta from India, Turkish artist Halil Altındere, and producer and festival director Wahyuni A. Hadi from Singapore.
Screening in competition are the latest works of Nadav Lapid, Amit Dutta, Jennifer Reeder, Matt Porterfield, artist duos Daniel Schmidt & Alexander Carver, Mischa Leinkauf & Matthias Wermke in collaboration with Lutz Henke, Billy Roisz & Dieter Kovačič, among others.
A special programme, titled The Golden Night of the Short Bears, with a selection of films from 60 years of shorts at the...
The 65th Berlin International Film Festival (Feb 5-15) has unveiled its line-up of shorts, comprising 27 films from 18 countries.
The titles will compete for a Golden and a Silver Bear, as well as the nomination for best short film at the European Film Awards and the first-ever €20,000 Audio Short Film Award.
This year’s members of the International Short Film Jury are documentary filmmaker and curator Madhusree Dutta from India, Turkish artist Halil Altındere, and producer and festival director Wahyuni A. Hadi from Singapore.
Screening in competition are the latest works of Nadav Lapid, Amit Dutta, Jennifer Reeder, Matt Porterfield, artist duos Daniel Schmidt & Alexander Carver, Mischa Leinkauf & Matthias Wermke in collaboration with Lutz Henke, Billy Roisz & Dieter Kovačič, among others.
A special programme, titled The Golden Night of the Short Bears, with a selection of films from 60 years of shorts at the...
- 1/13/2015
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Ricky Rijneke’s Silent Ones has been named as a late addition to the main Competition line-up at Poland’s T-Mobile New Horizons International Film Festival.
Silent Ones premiered at the Rotterdam Film Festival in January where it was nominated for the Tiger Award.
The Netherlands-Hungary co-production recently screened at the Moscow International Film festival and won four awards – including best cinematography – at the European Film Festival in Lecce, Italy, in April.
The film centres on a young Hungarian woman who wakes up after a car crash to find that her younger brother has disappeared. As she promised him, she boards a cargo ship to find a new life but a chance encounter with a shady character soon complicates matters.
The New Horizons International Competition consists of 12 Polish premieres including Rotterdam competition title Noche by Leonardo Brzezicki, Locarno Fipresci award winner Leviathan by Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel, as well as this year’s Cannes’ Un Certain...
Silent Ones premiered at the Rotterdam Film Festival in January where it was nominated for the Tiger Award.
The Netherlands-Hungary co-production recently screened at the Moscow International Film festival and won four awards – including best cinematography – at the European Film Festival in Lecce, Italy, in April.
The film centres on a young Hungarian woman who wakes up after a car crash to find that her younger brother has disappeared. As she promised him, she boards a cargo ship to find a new life but a chance encounter with a shady character soon complicates matters.
The New Horizons International Competition consists of 12 Polish premieres including Rotterdam competition title Noche by Leonardo Brzezicki, Locarno Fipresci award winner Leviathan by Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel, as well as this year’s Cannes’ Un Certain...
- 7/16/2013
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Abdellatif Kechiche’s Palme d’Or winner to open T-Mobile New Horizons International Film Festival; competition titles announced.Scroll down for competition titles
Poland’s T-Mobile New Horizons International Film Festival (July 18-28) is to open with this year’s Palme d’Or winner, Blue is the Warmest Colour (La vie d’Adèle - Chapitre 1 & 2) by Abdellatif Kechiche.
The closing film will be the Polish premiere of Malgoska Szumowska’s Berlinale competition title and Teddy Award winner In the Name of.
Festival organizers also announced the films in competition at this year’s event.
The New Horizons International Competition consists of 12 Polish premieres including Rotterdam competition title Noche by Leonardo Brzezicki, Locarno Fipresci award winner Leviathan by Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel, as well as this year’s Cannes’ Un Certain Regard title Stranger by the Lake by Alain Guiraudie.
The Jury for this competition will be announced next week.
The Films in...
Poland’s T-Mobile New Horizons International Film Festival (July 18-28) is to open with this year’s Palme d’Or winner, Blue is the Warmest Colour (La vie d’Adèle - Chapitre 1 & 2) by Abdellatif Kechiche.
The closing film will be the Polish premiere of Malgoska Szumowska’s Berlinale competition title and Teddy Award winner In the Name of.
Festival organizers also announced the films in competition at this year’s event.
The New Horizons International Competition consists of 12 Polish premieres including Rotterdam competition title Noche by Leonardo Brzezicki, Locarno Fipresci award winner Leviathan by Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel, as well as this year’s Cannes’ Un Certain Regard title Stranger by the Lake by Alain Guiraudie.
The Jury for this competition will be announced next week.
The Films in...
- 6/27/2013
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
The Hubert Bals Fund of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (Iffr) has selected twenty-five film projects that receive grants for script development, digital production, postproduction, distribution or workshops. In its Fall 2012 selection round, the Fund gave 330,000 Euro to projects from seventeen Asian, Eastern European, Latin-American and African countries. (See full list below)
From many strong applications for workshop initiatives, the Hubert Bals Fund chose to support the Naas Training Workshop (Egypt), the Digital Cinema Workshops Series (Morocco) and Cinema Land (Vietnam). The Naas workshop offers a training and networking program for art house and cine club managers in the Mena region. In Morocco, the Workshop Series aims to increase digital filming skills among young film professionals. Cinema Land offers filmmaking talents expertise and training in the Central-Vietnamese cities of Danang and Hue, where there are no such facilities as yet.
In the distribution category, the Hubert Bals Fund supports the plan to screen acclaimed director Riri Riza’s Atambua 39° Celsius (pictured top) during open air screenings – the region has no cinemas - within the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara, where the film was shot.
Atambua 39° Celsius received Hubert Bals Fund support for digital production earlier this year, recently premiered in competition at the Tokyo Iff and will see its European premiere during Iffr 2013. The film offers a sensitive portrait of refugees from East Timor and of their scattered families.
One of the eleven projects selected in the script development category is Tarde para morir joven (Late To Die Young), second feature film project by Chilean filmmaker Dominga Sotomayor. Her very successful début feature film De jueves a domingo (Thursday Till Sunday), also supported in script stage by the Hubert Bals Fund, won a Hivos Tiger Award in Rotterdam and subsequently screened in many film festivals worldwide. Tarde para morir joven tells about members of an isolated community that see their existence threatened by a forest fire.
Also selected for script development support is Teboho Edkins, a promising new talent from South Africa, who prepares his first feature length film Days of Cannibalism. Edkins previously made The Gangster Project, a 55-minute documentary/fiction hybrid that was selected for Fid Marseille and Iffr 2012. In Days of Cannibalism, Edkins again uses a clever mix of documentary and fictional elements to focus on the expanding trade relations between China and the African continent.
Milagros Mumenthaler, Golden Leopard-winner for her Hubert Bals Fund-supported first feature film Abrir puertas y ventanas (Back to Stay), has been granted digital production support for Pozo de aire (Air Pocket). This second film, backed again by the ‘Abrir’-team in Argentina and Switzerland, is a more low budget and experimental take on female lead characters and the notion of absence.
When finished in time, the films receiving postproduction grants are expected to screen at the 2013 International Film Festival Rotterdam. One of these is Yang Tidak Dibicarakan Ketika Membicarakan Cinta (What They Don’t Talk About When They Talk About Love), second feature film project by Mouly Surya, one the most promising female directors in Indonesia. Her film is a both sensitive and sensual examination of the dynamics among a group of teenagers played by visually and aurally impaired actors.
The harvest of newly finished Hubert Bals Fund-supported films will be screened during the next International Film Festival Rotterdam (23 January – 3 February 2013). The next application deadline for Hubert Bals Fund support is 1 March 2013. All information about the Fund may be found here.
The line up of the Iffr’s Hubert Bals Fund Fall 2013 Selection Round in full:
Post-production & final-financing
Noche (Night) / Leonardo Brzezicki / Argentina
O Rio nos pretence (Rio Belongs to Us) / Ricardo Pretti / Brazil
O Uivo da Gaita (The Harmonica’s Howl) / Bruno Safadi / Brazil
On Mother’s Head / Kusuma Widjaja Putu / Indonesia
Yang Tidak Dibicarakan Ketika Membicarakan Cinta (What They Don’t Talk About When They Talk About Love) / Mouly Surya / Indonesia
Larzanandeye Charbi (Fat Shaker) / Mohammad Shirvani / Iran
Something Necessary / Judy Kibinge / Kenya
Penumbra / Eduardo Villanueva / Mexico
Digital Production
A Corner of Heaven / Zhang Miaoyan / China
Pozo de aire (Air Pocket) / Milagros Mumenthaler / Argentina
Script and project development
Otra madre (Another Mother) / Mariano Luque / Argentina
Tabija / Igor Drljaca / Bosnia and Herzegovina
Elon Rabin Não Acredita na Morte (Elon Rabin Doesn’t Believe in Death) / Ricardo Alves Jr. / Brazil
Tarde para morir joven (Late To Die Young) / Dominga Sotomayor / Chile
Oscuro animal (Obscure Animal) / Felipe Guerrero / Colombia
Court / Chaitanya Tamhane / India
The Room on a Tree / Amit Dutta / India
Extraño pero verdadero (Strange But True) / Michel Lipkes / Mexico
Tempestad (Tempestuous) / John Torres / Philippines
Days of Cannibalism / Teboho Edkins / South Africa
Rüzgarli Bir Güne Agit (Requiem for a Windy Day) / Özcan Alper / Turkey
Distribution
Atambua 39° Celsius / Riri Riza / Indonesia
Workshops
Naas Training Workshop / Egypt
Digital Cinema Workshop Series / Morocco
Cinema Land / Vietnam
Profile of the Hubert Bals Fund
The Hubert Bals Fund (Hbf), along with the CineMart, is part of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (Iffr). The 42nd Iffr will take place January 23 – February 3, 2013. Year-round news on Iffr, Hbf and CineMart can be found on www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com.
The Hubert Bals Fund is designed to bring remarkable or urgent feature films and feature-length creative documentaries by innovative and talented filmmakers from developing countries closer to completion. The Hubert Bals Fund provides grants that often turn out to play a crucial role in enabling these filmmakers to realize their projects. Although the Fund looks closely at the financial aspects of a project, the decisive factors remain its content and artistic value. Since the Fund started in 1989, hundreds of projects from independent filmmakers in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and parts of Eastern Europe have received support. Approximately 80% of these projects have been realized or are currently in production. Every year, the Iffr screens completed films supported by the Fund.
The Hubert Bals Fund is supported by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Media Mundus, Dutch non-governmental development organization Hivos Culture Foundation, the Doen Foundation and the Dioraphte Foundation and Lions Club Rotterdam: L’Esprit du Temps.
Grants and selection rounds
Annually, the Hubert Bals Fund is able to make individual grants of up to Euro 10,000 for script and project development, Euro 20,000 for digital production, Euro 30,000 for post-production, Euro 15,000 towards distribution costs in the country of origin or Euro 10,000 for special projects such as workshops. Selection rounds take place twice a year and have application deadlines on March 1 and August 1.
Hubert Bals Fund-supported films in Iffr and on DVD/VOD
Most of the films supported by the Hubert Bals Fund throughout the year are screened during the International Film Festival Rotterdam in attendance of the filmmaker. Subsequently, part of the Hbf-supported films is released by the Iffr on DVD or VOD, available on www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com (VOD for viewers in the Benelux only).
From many strong applications for workshop initiatives, the Hubert Bals Fund chose to support the Naas Training Workshop (Egypt), the Digital Cinema Workshops Series (Morocco) and Cinema Land (Vietnam). The Naas workshop offers a training and networking program for art house and cine club managers in the Mena region. In Morocco, the Workshop Series aims to increase digital filming skills among young film professionals. Cinema Land offers filmmaking talents expertise and training in the Central-Vietnamese cities of Danang and Hue, where there are no such facilities as yet.
In the distribution category, the Hubert Bals Fund supports the plan to screen acclaimed director Riri Riza’s Atambua 39° Celsius (pictured top) during open air screenings – the region has no cinemas - within the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara, where the film was shot.
Atambua 39° Celsius received Hubert Bals Fund support for digital production earlier this year, recently premiered in competition at the Tokyo Iff and will see its European premiere during Iffr 2013. The film offers a sensitive portrait of refugees from East Timor and of their scattered families.
One of the eleven projects selected in the script development category is Tarde para morir joven (Late To Die Young), second feature film project by Chilean filmmaker Dominga Sotomayor. Her very successful début feature film De jueves a domingo (Thursday Till Sunday), also supported in script stage by the Hubert Bals Fund, won a Hivos Tiger Award in Rotterdam and subsequently screened in many film festivals worldwide. Tarde para morir joven tells about members of an isolated community that see their existence threatened by a forest fire.
Also selected for script development support is Teboho Edkins, a promising new talent from South Africa, who prepares his first feature length film Days of Cannibalism. Edkins previously made The Gangster Project, a 55-minute documentary/fiction hybrid that was selected for Fid Marseille and Iffr 2012. In Days of Cannibalism, Edkins again uses a clever mix of documentary and fictional elements to focus on the expanding trade relations between China and the African continent.
Milagros Mumenthaler, Golden Leopard-winner for her Hubert Bals Fund-supported first feature film Abrir puertas y ventanas (Back to Stay), has been granted digital production support for Pozo de aire (Air Pocket). This second film, backed again by the ‘Abrir’-team in Argentina and Switzerland, is a more low budget and experimental take on female lead characters and the notion of absence.
When finished in time, the films receiving postproduction grants are expected to screen at the 2013 International Film Festival Rotterdam. One of these is Yang Tidak Dibicarakan Ketika Membicarakan Cinta (What They Don’t Talk About When They Talk About Love), second feature film project by Mouly Surya, one the most promising female directors in Indonesia. Her film is a both sensitive and sensual examination of the dynamics among a group of teenagers played by visually and aurally impaired actors.
The harvest of newly finished Hubert Bals Fund-supported films will be screened during the next International Film Festival Rotterdam (23 January – 3 February 2013). The next application deadline for Hubert Bals Fund support is 1 March 2013. All information about the Fund may be found here.
The line up of the Iffr’s Hubert Bals Fund Fall 2013 Selection Round in full:
Post-production & final-financing
Noche (Night) / Leonardo Brzezicki / Argentina
O Rio nos pretence (Rio Belongs to Us) / Ricardo Pretti / Brazil
O Uivo da Gaita (The Harmonica’s Howl) / Bruno Safadi / Brazil
On Mother’s Head / Kusuma Widjaja Putu / Indonesia
Yang Tidak Dibicarakan Ketika Membicarakan Cinta (What They Don’t Talk About When They Talk About Love) / Mouly Surya / Indonesia
Larzanandeye Charbi (Fat Shaker) / Mohammad Shirvani / Iran
Something Necessary / Judy Kibinge / Kenya
Penumbra / Eduardo Villanueva / Mexico
Digital Production
A Corner of Heaven / Zhang Miaoyan / China
Pozo de aire (Air Pocket) / Milagros Mumenthaler / Argentina
Script and project development
Otra madre (Another Mother) / Mariano Luque / Argentina
Tabija / Igor Drljaca / Bosnia and Herzegovina
Elon Rabin Não Acredita na Morte (Elon Rabin Doesn’t Believe in Death) / Ricardo Alves Jr. / Brazil
Tarde para morir joven (Late To Die Young) / Dominga Sotomayor / Chile
Oscuro animal (Obscure Animal) / Felipe Guerrero / Colombia
Court / Chaitanya Tamhane / India
The Room on a Tree / Amit Dutta / India
Extraño pero verdadero (Strange But True) / Michel Lipkes / Mexico
Tempestad (Tempestuous) / John Torres / Philippines
Days of Cannibalism / Teboho Edkins / South Africa
Rüzgarli Bir Güne Agit (Requiem for a Windy Day) / Özcan Alper / Turkey
Distribution
Atambua 39° Celsius / Riri Riza / Indonesia
Workshops
Naas Training Workshop / Egypt
Digital Cinema Workshop Series / Morocco
Cinema Land / Vietnam
Profile of the Hubert Bals Fund
The Hubert Bals Fund (Hbf), along with the CineMart, is part of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (Iffr). The 42nd Iffr will take place January 23 – February 3, 2013. Year-round news on Iffr, Hbf and CineMart can be found on www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com.
The Hubert Bals Fund is designed to bring remarkable or urgent feature films and feature-length creative documentaries by innovative and talented filmmakers from developing countries closer to completion. The Hubert Bals Fund provides grants that often turn out to play a crucial role in enabling these filmmakers to realize their projects. Although the Fund looks closely at the financial aspects of a project, the decisive factors remain its content and artistic value. Since the Fund started in 1989, hundreds of projects from independent filmmakers in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and parts of Eastern Europe have received support. Approximately 80% of these projects have been realized or are currently in production. Every year, the Iffr screens completed films supported by the Fund.
The Hubert Bals Fund is supported by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Media Mundus, Dutch non-governmental development organization Hivos Culture Foundation, the Doen Foundation and the Dioraphte Foundation and Lions Club Rotterdam: L’Esprit du Temps.
Grants and selection rounds
Annually, the Hubert Bals Fund is able to make individual grants of up to Euro 10,000 for script and project development, Euro 20,000 for digital production, Euro 30,000 for post-production, Euro 15,000 towards distribution costs in the country of origin or Euro 10,000 for special projects such as workshops. Selection rounds take place twice a year and have application deadlines on March 1 and August 1.
Hubert Bals Fund-supported films in Iffr and on DVD/VOD
Most of the films supported by the Hubert Bals Fund throughout the year are screened during the International Film Festival Rotterdam in attendance of the filmmaker. Subsequently, part of the Hbf-supported films is released by the Iffr on DVD or VOD, available on www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com (VOD for viewers in the Benelux only).
- 12/11/2012
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
The International Film Festival Rotterdam announced the first seven films selected for its Hivos Tiger Awards Competition. The complete line up of the fifteen first or second feature length films will be presented by January 8. The festival runs January 23-February 3, 2013. “The films in last year’s Hivos Tiger Awards competition, like Clip, De jueves a domingo, Egg and Stone or Neighbouring Sounds have collected great interest and prizes at festivals and theatres throughout the world. It looks as if we will be able to present an equally strong selection in our upcoming Hivos Tiger Awards Competition," Rutger Wolfson, Director of the International Film Festival Rotterdam said. "These films are powerful and convincing. I expect these will become the breakthrough works for the young filmmakers." The first seven films selected for the Hivos Tiger Awards Competition 2013 are: Noche (Night) / Leonardo Brzezicki / Argentina, 2013 World...
- 11/29/2012
- by Peter Knegt
- Indiewire
Court by Chaitanya Tamhane and The Room on a Tree by Amit Dutta have been selected for Script and Project Development of Hubert Bals Fund (Hbf) Fall 2012.
Post completion, the films will be made a part of the International Film Festival Rotterdam under the competition section or the main sections Bright Future, Spectrum or Signals.
Both these projects have also been selected for the National Film Development Corporation’s annual co-production market at Film Bazaar 2012.
Tamhane’s first short Six Strands was screened at International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2011. It has toured many festivals including Clermont-Ferrand International Film Festival 2011, Slamdance 2011and Edinburgh International Film Festival 2011.
Amit Dutta’s The Room on a Tree too has also been selected for New Cinema Network, the co-production market at Rome Film Festival.
Hubert Bal Fund was founded in 1988 to help independent film makers from developing countries complete their projects. So far the fund...
Post completion, the films will be made a part of the International Film Festival Rotterdam under the competition section or the main sections Bright Future, Spectrum or Signals.
Both these projects have also been selected for the National Film Development Corporation’s annual co-production market at Film Bazaar 2012.
Tamhane’s first short Six Strands was screened at International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2011. It has toured many festivals including Clermont-Ferrand International Film Festival 2011, Slamdance 2011and Edinburgh International Film Festival 2011.
Amit Dutta’s The Room on a Tree too has also been selected for New Cinema Network, the co-production market at Rome Film Festival.
Hubert Bal Fund was founded in 1988 to help independent film makers from developing countries complete their projects. So far the fund...
- 11/15/2012
- by NewsDesk
- DearCinema.com
Strand Releasing
NEW YORK -- As this Argentine movie well demonstrates, alienation and disaffection are much more attractive qualities when the people concerned are young, sexy and free of inhibitions. This highly stylized, opaque portrait of the relationship between a bisexual male hustler and a struggling female rock singer is difficult to take, except for the sexiness of its two leads. "Smokers Only" is receiving an exclusive theatrical engagement at New York's Quad Cinema.
Director Veronica Chen, making her feature debut, has quite clearly been influenced by the French New Wave, with this film being particularly Godardian in its jump cuts, off-kilter camera angles and use of various photographic styles. These serve to compensate for the impoverished screenplay, which, if you removed the pauses and montages, probably doesn't run more than a few pages. The story, such as it is, concerns Reni (Cecilia Bengolea), a not-so-talented singer for a rock band that has just kicked her out, and Andres (Leonardo Brezicki), a good-looking young man whom she first encounters when she sees him turning a trick in a well-lighted ATM vestibule.
Soon the pair have hooked up, with Reni embarking on a fairly dramatic career change by joining her new lover as a sexual tag team for hire. Unfortunately, the relationship runs into trouble when she becomes fed up with her new lover's unwillingness to commit himself emotionally.
The film's hackneyed message is not helped by the thin characterizations, nonexistent plot and pretentious visual style.
NEW YORK -- As this Argentine movie well demonstrates, alienation and disaffection are much more attractive qualities when the people concerned are young, sexy and free of inhibitions. This highly stylized, opaque portrait of the relationship between a bisexual male hustler and a struggling female rock singer is difficult to take, except for the sexiness of its two leads. "Smokers Only" is receiving an exclusive theatrical engagement at New York's Quad Cinema.
Director Veronica Chen, making her feature debut, has quite clearly been influenced by the French New Wave, with this film being particularly Godardian in its jump cuts, off-kilter camera angles and use of various photographic styles. These serve to compensate for the impoverished screenplay, which, if you removed the pauses and montages, probably doesn't run more than a few pages. The story, such as it is, concerns Reni (Cecilia Bengolea), a not-so-talented singer for a rock band that has just kicked her out, and Andres (Leonardo Brezicki), a good-looking young man whom she first encounters when she sees him turning a trick in a well-lighted ATM vestibule.
Soon the pair have hooked up, with Reni embarking on a fairly dramatic career change by joining her new lover as a sexual tag team for hire. Unfortunately, the relationship runs into trouble when she becomes fed up with her new lover's unwillingness to commit himself emotionally.
The film's hackneyed message is not helped by the thin characterizations, nonexistent plot and pretentious visual style.
- 12/24/2002
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
IFP/West Los Angeles Film Festival
Destined this fall for art houses via Strand Releasing, debuting Argentine director Veronica Chen's unsatisfying slice of the sex world in Buenos Aires has little to attract more than dedicated cineastes intrigued at the bisexual milieu of streetwalkers. A young woman (Cecilia Bengolea) in need of friends finds one in the impulsive hustler (Leonardo Brezicki) she watches service male clients.
A singer with punkish disregard for playing by the rules who is willing to experiment with being a whore, Bengolea's lost soul is buffeted by the minimal writing and uninspiring filmmaking that relies far too much on montages. There are more than enough moments that get across the somnolent landscape peopled by midnight sellers (and buyers) of pleasure, but that's really all there is. The leads are so unmemorable, despite several attempts at lengthy dialogue scenes, that one eventually resents having to inhale this gutter romancer's secondhand material.
Destined this fall for art houses via Strand Releasing, debuting Argentine director Veronica Chen's unsatisfying slice of the sex world in Buenos Aires has little to attract more than dedicated cineastes intrigued at the bisexual milieu of streetwalkers. A young woman (Cecilia Bengolea) in need of friends finds one in the impulsive hustler (Leonardo Brezicki) she watches service male clients.
A singer with punkish disregard for playing by the rules who is willing to experiment with being a whore, Bengolea's lost soul is buffeted by the minimal writing and uninspiring filmmaking that relies far too much on montages. There are more than enough moments that get across the somnolent landscape peopled by midnight sellers (and buyers) of pleasure, but that's really all there is. The leads are so unmemorable, despite several attempts at lengthy dialogue scenes, that one eventually resents having to inhale this gutter romancer's secondhand material.
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.