Each project will receive contributions from IFFR’s fund towards script and project development.

International Film Festival Rotterdam’s Hubert Bals Fund (HBF) has selected 11 projects in its spring selection round.

From 11 different countries, each project will receive contributions towards script and project development. Overall, the fund will grant contributions totalling €110,000 ($150,000), with the selection made from 270 applications received.

Five of the projects are debuts, including Arab Abu Nasser and Tarzan Abu Nasser’s Dégradé, and Rungano Nyoni’s I Am Not a Witch.

Iranian film-maker Mohammad Shirvani’s third feature The Unwelcomed Whirling Wind in Our Stomach will also receive support from the HBF.

The other projects backed are:

  • Another Trip to the Moon (Ismail Basbeth, Indonesia)
  • The Calm (Song Fang, China)
  • La Omisión (Sebastián Schjaer, Argentina)
  • Something Useful (Pelin Esmer, Turkey)
  • The Boyfriend (Ashim Ahluwalia, India)
  • The Winds Know That I’m Coming Back Home (José Luis Torres Leiva, Chile)
  • The Wound (John Trengove, South Africa)
  • Tiempo compartido (Sebastián Hofmann, Mexico)