About the Hubert Bals Fund

Over more than 30 years, the fund has developed a distinguished taste for filmmakers with a forward-looking artistic vision. The HBF focuses on supporting filmmakers from Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and parts of Eastern Europe (full list here).

HBF-supported films premiere at major film festivals, reaching wide audiences and finding significant critical success.

The HBF has been especially helpful for filmmakers from countries where freedom of speech and a solid film infrastructure are lacking. The fund functions in tandem with other activities of IFFR Pro, which include training talent, providing networking opportunities, and hosting co-production market CineMart.

History

The Hubert Bals Fund was founded in 1988 and named after the first director of International Film Festival Rotterdam: Hubert 'Huub' Bals.

In 1972, Hubert Bals founded the International Film Festival Rotterdam and became its first director, until his death in 1988. During the first festival years, the plan to establish a film fund already existed. The idea was to help filmmakers - mainly from what was then called the Third World - to get their film projects off the ground. After Bals' sudden death in 1988, it was decided to name the fund in his honour and so the Hubert Bals Fund was born.

It was Bals' strong belief that the masters of cinema and innovative filmmaking were not to be expected from the Western world, but from 'developing countries'. In the past decades of the Hubert Bals Fund’s existence, the fund has stayed true to his vision. It still focuses on supporting feature films by filmmakers from Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and parts of Eastern Europe.

Accolades

Over the years, many HBF-funded films have premiered at major international film festivals, often taking home prestigious awards. The list of prizes won by HBF-funded films is extensive, please find a selection of highlights below. 

Filmmakers about the impact of the Hubert Bals Fund

Muayad Alayan

"Receiving the support of the Hubert Bals Fund was the most critical milestone for our film. It embarked us on a wonderful nurturing journey where the fund's great support, both strategic and financial, was with us in all stages of making our film. Of no less importance, the recognition of our vision by the fund gave us the visibility we needed in the industry in Europe, the Arab world and internationally, which enabled us to piece together the production partnerships we needed for the production to become a reality."

Dominga Sotomayor

"The support of the Hubert Bals Fund has been key in my work since my first feature film De jueves a domingo. My second feature film Tarde para morir joven was a small odyssey, a very challenging production, and it was impossible to finance it in Chile. I appreciate very much the support that HBF gives in the very beginning of the projects, in the ideas and risks. For me has been more than a fund."

Martín Rejtman

"I believe that my first feature, Rapado, was the first Argentinian film supported by HBF. Since then they supported almost all of my films, including my next project, La Práctica, and so many more Argentinian independent movies throughout the years. One day someone will have to tell this story, and it will be crystal clear that HBF was one of the main reasons for the very existence of what people call Nuevo Cine Argentino. Of all the film funds that exist today, the HBF is still the more generous, idiosyncratic, and free of them all."

Apichatpong Weerasethakul

"I am deeply touched and grateful for HBF over the past 20 years since I started my first movie. It has inspired filmmakers to treasure our voices and stories. Moreover, the fund has set the standard for others, including Thailand, to establish a film support system. This standard, with its adventurous spirit, is still gold."