The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs will is to investEuros 2.5m in the Hubert Bals Fund, part of the International Film Festival ofRotterdam (IFFR).

Between 2005 to 2008, the money will be shared betweenprojects from film-makers in developing countries.

In its autumn round of funding, the fund says it will back22 film projects from 15 countries. One of these projects is Ghayer Saleh(Underexposure) by Oday Rasheed, thefirst fiction feature out of Iraq after the fall of Saddam's regime.

Together with thirty other new Hubert Bals Fund supportedfilms, Underexposure is expected toscreen at the 34th edition of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (Jan 26- Feb 6, 2005).

Hubert Bals Fund support is targeted at countries in Africa,Latin America, Eastern Europe, the Middle and Far East and South East Asia.

Projects supported include La Nina Santa (The Holy Girl) by Lucrecia Martel, Los Muertos by Lisandro Alonso and Atash (Thirst) by Tawfik Abu Wael.

The line up of the IFFR's Hubert Bals Fund Autumn 2004Selection Round:

Script and project development:
Ainour - Darezhan Omirbaev,Kazakhstan.
At The River - Eva Neymann, Ukraine.
Black Maria - Urmimala Sen, India.
Climates (Iklimler) - Nuri BilgeCeylan, Turkey.
Glue - Alexis Dos Santos, Argentina.
Hafez - Abolfazl Jalili, Iran.
Kursk - Igor Voloshin, Russia.
Life....After Death - BridgetPickering, Namibia.
The Lighthouse (Majak) - MariaSaakyan, Russia.
Men On Fire (Mardan Dar Atash) - ManaRabiee, Iran.
Morecambe Bay - Li Yang, China.
Salt Of This Sea - Annemarie Jacir,Palestine.
Sangre - Amat Escalante, Mexico.
The Sister (Rabeya) - TanvirMokammel, Bangladesh.
Yong Ding Men - Yang Chao, China.

Post production:
La Antena - Esteban Sapir,Argentina.
Bipedalism - Yevgeni Yufit, Russia.
The Forsaken Land - VimukhtiJayasundara, Sri Lanka.
The Rainmaker (Impian Kemarau) - RaviL. Bharwani, Indonesia.
Ronda Nocturna - Edgardo Cozarinsky,Argentina.
Travellers Of The Clouds - ChapourHaghighat, Iran.
Underexposure (Ghayer Saleh) - OdayRasheed, Iraq.