Topkapi, Waterland selected for Hubert Bals Fund Plus

Dutch production outfits Topkapi Films and Waterland Film have been chosen for Hubert Bals Fund Plus and will now receive grants of 50,000 Euros from The Netherlands Film Fund for co-producing a Hubert Bals Fund-supported film.

HBF Plus is the scheme set up by The Netherlands Film Fund and the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) to involve Dutch producers with projects backed by IFFR’s HBF Fund. (This is the Fund that supports filmmakers from the developing world.)

Topkapi is attached as co-producer on Adrián Biniez’ The Midfielder (Uruguay) while Waterland will co-produce Martín Rejtman’s Two Gun Shots (Argentina).

The Midfielder received a script development grant from the Hubert Bals Fund in 2011. That same year, the project was selected for Boost!, the joint talent development initiative of Hubert Bals Fund, CineMart and Binger Filmlab. After taking part in the Binger On Demand programme, Biniez presented his project at CineMart 2012. Partners already aboard the project are Fernando Epstein’s Mutante Cine (Uruguay), Morocha Films (Argentina), Pandora Film Produktion (Germany) as well as Topkapi Films (The Netherlands), The Midfielder is about a lower league football player in his mid 30s, beginning to rebuild his life outside football.