New projects by art-house favourites Peter Greenaway, Catherine Breillat, Ulrich Seidl, Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Alexandr Sokurov head a strong line-up at the forthcoming Cinemart co-production market in Rotterdam (Jan 27-31, 2002).

Underlining Cinemart's ability to put together financing for the top art-house pictures of the year, the International Film Festival Rotterdam (Jan 23-Feb 3, 2002) will showcase recent Cinemart beneficiaries which have marked the festival circuit in 2001. They include Fruit Chan's Hollywood Hong Kong, Andres Wood's Loco Fever, Zhang Yang's Quitting, Ryosuke Hashiguchi's Hush, Merzak Allouache's The Other World and Luis Fernando Carvalho's To The Left Of The Father. (For full Cinemart 2002 line-up, see below.)

Earlier this week it was announced that the Russian government would invest $1m in Greenaway's $11m trilogy, The Tulse Luper Suitcase, marking a novel piece in the director's usual financing jigsaw. The cash will be channelled through the Studio 12-A production outfit.

The IFFR announced that its theme for the forthcoming event will be the question "What (is) Cinema'". The theme will be developed through a series of debates and screenings of films intended to demonstrate the width of the film-making spectrum. In addition to special sidebars - "The Desert Of The Real" and "Looking Glass" - the topic will be examined through screening of pictures by David Lynch, Jean-Luc Godard, Alexandr Sokurov and Mike Figgis.

The festival, which has yet to announce its main competition line-up, unveiled special tributes "Filmmakers In Focus" to US experimentalist Stan Brakhage, Zacharias Kunuk, director of Atanarjuat The Fast Runner, and the social critic Goran Markovic.

The HBF Harvest Section will screen 22 films that received financing from the Hubert Bals fund in the last couple of years. (For full list of recent funding recipients see below.)

CINEMART 2002
Title (director, production company, country)

Mehdi D'Alger (Said Ould-Kelifa, Cine-Sud Promotion, Algeria)
Sangre (Lisandro Alonso, Hernán Musaluppi, Argentina)
La Nina Santa (Lucrecia Martel, Alvaro Urtizberea, Argentina)
The Black Dog (Steve Jacobs, Wild Strawberries, Australia)
Der Grasel (Ulrich Seidl, The Co-Production Office, Austria)
25 Degres En Hiver (Stephane Vuillet, Man's Film Production, Belgium)
Kod Amidze Idriza (Namik Kabil, Noe Productions, Bosnia Herzegovina)
Underground Man (Joshua Dorsey, Before the Flood Productions., Canada)
Springtime In A Small Town (Tian Zhuangzhuang, Bill Kong, China)
Scenes Intimes (Catherine Breillat, Flach Film, France)
L' Ecole (Lucile Hadzihalilovic, Ex Nihilo, France)
Kutaisi Kalaika (Eldar Shengelaia, Georgian Cinema Centre, Georgia)
Father And Son (Aleksandr Sokurov, Zero Film/Lumen Films, Germany/Russia)
Ren Min Gong Che (Fruit Chan, Golden Network Ltd./ Nicetop Independent Ltd., Hong Kong)
Tian Ya (Yan Yan Mak, Hua Lian Zhan Dui Production, Hong Kong)
Eye (Danny & Oxide Pang, Applause Pictures, Hong Kong/Thailand)
Twist With Destiny (Sudhir Mishra, Artcam International, India)
The Photograph (Nan Triveni Achnas, Trix Images, Indonesia)
Abjad (Abolfazl Jalili, Novem Productions, Iran)
Jellyfish Alert (Kurosawa Kiyoshi, Uplink Co, Japan)
Unakami No Sekai (John Williams, 100 meter films, Japan)
Okhotnik (Serik Aprymov, East Cinema, Kazakhstan)
Al Harami (Borhane Alaouie, Jacques Le Glou Audiovisuel, Lebanon)
Terra Incognita (Ghassan Salhab, Agat Films & Cie, Lebanon)
El Cobrador (Paul Leduc, Salamandra Producciones, Mexico)
Mille Mois (Faouzi Bansaidi, Gloria Film Production, Morocco)
Atlantis (Digna Sinke, SNG Film BV, The Netherlands)
Figner, The End Of A Silent Century (Nathalie Alonso Casale, Fu Works, The Netherlands)
Gestolen Uurtjes (Heddy Honigmann, Pieter van Huystee Film & TV, The Netherlands)
The Paradise Girls (Fow Pyng Hu, Motel Films, The Netherlands)
The Strength Of Water (Armagan Ballantyne, Filmwork, New Zealand)
Soldiers Of The Rock (Norman Maake, Garth Holmes, South Africa)
P.I.G. (Zinaid & Jean Meeran, DV8, South Africa)
Eastern (Jean-François Amiguet, Harpo Films, Switzerland)
Bulutlari Beklerken (Yesim Ustaoglu, Silkroad Production, Turkey)
The Hybrid (Nichola Bruce, Earthly Delights Films Ltd., United Kingdom)
The Tulse Luper Suitcase (Peter Greenaway, Kasander Film Company, UK/Netherlands)
Whisky (Juan Pablo Rebella & Pablo Stoll, Ctrl Z Films, Uruguay)
The Giggle Factor (Jamie Babbit, Andrea Sperling & Point Blank, USA)
Chain (Jem Cohen, Mary Jane Skalski, USA)
Dreamland (Dante Harper, Cambrai Liberation Collective, USA)
Yes (Alison Maclean, Process, USA)
Soldatskiye Tantsi (Boris Frumin, Boris Frumin, USA / Russia)

HUBERT BALS FUND SELECTION 2001

Script and project development
Al-Ajeebah - Sobhi al-Zobaidi, Palestine
The Angel Of The Right Shoulder - Djamshed Usmonov, Tadjikistan/Russia
Burying Denim - Mufadzi Nkomo, Zimbabwe
Celebration Of Life - Antra Cilinska, Latvia
Cronicas - Sebastian Cordero, Ecuador
La Danse Du Vent - Taieb Louhichi, Tunesia
Dr. Vidal's Wound - Cristina Fasulino, Argentina
GrbavicA - Jasmila Zbanich, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Los Guantes Magicos - Martin Rejtman, Argentina
Lejanias / Distant Places - Alejandro Saderman, Venezuela
Nina - Heitor Dhalia, Brazil
La Nina Santa - Lucrecia Martel, Argentina
Opera Campesino - Pastor Vega, Cuba
Oriental Fever - Elie Khalife, Lebanon
El Paititi - Luis Sampieri, Argentina
Parapalos - Ana Poliak, Argentina
Perrera - Manuel Nieto, Uruguay
What Is It Worth' (Quanto Vale Ou E Por Quilo') - Sergio Bianchi, Brazil
Ram Goes Courting - Duan Jinchuan/Jiang Yue, China
Rene Goes To Hollywood - Aleko Tsabadze, Georgia/Russia
Sangre - Lisandro Alonso, Argentina
Thirst - Tawfeek Abu Wael, Palestine
Time Of Impunity (Tiempo De Impunidad) - Alejandra Islas, Mexico
El Tiempo De Juan - Ariel Rotter, Argentina
Waiting For The Clouds - Yesim Ustaoglu, Turkey
Well Tuned Corpses - Benjamin Filipovic, Bosnia-Herzegovina
White Lies - Diego Sabane, Argentina

Post Production
Chronicle Of Love And Pain - Elia Suleiman, Palestine
Deserted Station - Ali-Reza Raissian, Iran
Japon - Carlos Reygadas, Mexico
Jiyan - Jano Rosebiani, Turkey
Lalsalu - Tanvir Mokammel, Bangla Desh
Occident - Cristian Mungiu, Romania
Le Prix Du Pardon - Mansour Sora Wade, Senegal
Soldiers Of The Rock - Norman Maake, South Africa
Tirana, An Zero - Fatmir Koçi, Albania

Distribution
25 Watts - Juan Pablo Rebella, Pablo Stoll, Uruguay
Bolivia - Adrian Caetano, Argentina
Domesticas - Fernando Meirelles / Nando Olival, Brazil
Lumumba - Ice Media / Film Resource Unit, South Africa