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29 Jan – 8 Feb 2026

Hubert Bals Fund at IFFR 2026

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After a year marked by renewed energy and purpose, the Hubert Bals Fund is proud to return to IFFR 2026 with an array of supported films, projects and activities. You’ll encounter the HBF throughout the festival programme, including the first five Displacement Film Fund world premieres. This edition, we’re hosting the inaugural HBF Reunion – an informal homecoming for alumni filmmakers whose careers have been marked by HBF support can connect and find community in the spirit that only IFFR can bring.

Film still: Variations on a Theme, HBF+Europe: Post-production 2024, IFFR Tiger Competition 2026

Supported titles in the selection

Nuestra tierra by Lucrecia Martel, Argentina, United States, Mexico, France, Netherlands, Denmark

What constitutes ownership over a land? Is it a legal piece of paper? Or centuries of lived history? Lucrecia Martel’s vital documentary about the murder of Indigenous leader Javier Chocobar is a mixture of social and political cinema, exploring the remnants of colonialism in Argentina.

Film still: A Useful Ghost

A Useful Ghost by Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke, Thailand, France, Singapore, Germany

Nat comes back from the dead as a sentient home appliance, only to be rejected by her ghost-phobic, upper-class in-laws. But when she helps the family out of business trouble, Nat becomes an indispensable phantom asset – a useful ghost.

A Useful Ghost will be the subject of the Co-production Case Study in the Rotterdam Lab.

Variations on a Theme by Jason Jacobs & Devon Delmar, South Africa, Netherlands, Qatar

Ouma Hettie is an elderly goat herder in South Africa’s Kamiesberge. Drawn into a scam offering overdue reparations for her father’s unpaid wartime service, her rituals are unsettled and her independence imperilled in this lyrical portrait.

Displacement Film Fund films world premieres at IFFR 2026

Cate Blanchett, actor, producer and Global Goodwill Ambassador for UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, together with IFFR’s Hubert Bals Fund, will host the world premiere of the Displacement Film Fund’s inaugural slate of films. The five world premieres offer timely and intimate reflections on experiences of displacement.

The screening and premiere event will take place at Oude Luxor at 17.00 on Friday 30 January, and will include a Q&A session with the fund’s recipient filmmakers Maryna Er Gorbach, Mo Harawe, Hasan Kattan, Mohammad Rasoulof and Shahrbanoo Sadat, alongside Cate Blanchett who returns to IFFR to support the launch of the films. Fenix, Rotterdam’s new art museum on migration, will host the press conference on the day of the event. 

Following the world premiere of her Displacement Film Fund-supported short Super Afghan Gym, Shahrbanoo Sadat’s third feature No Good Men will open the 76th Berlin International Film Festival. The film was supported by the Hubert Bals Fund in development, and was presented at CineMart in 2021.

HBF Reunion 

On 2 February 2026, we’re launching the HBF Reunion Day to create a dedicated moment to celebrate the many journeys that began with HBF support. During this closed session, filmmakers from across the Fund’s history are invited to gather in Rotterdam for an informal get-together filled with meaningful conversations, familiar faces, new connections and the energy only IFFR can bring

  • Read about the programme

    The day kicks off with opening words from Sandra den Hamer, Director of the Netherlands Film Fund, together with IFFR Festival Director Vanja Kaludjercic and Head of the Hubert Bals Fun Tamara Tatishvili.

    The first closed session Beyond Certainty: Film, Power, and Political Meaning features a conversational keynote with Dr Natalie Sabanadze from Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London, exploring cinema’s role in the current global climate and how films carry political meaning when institutions fail or narratives are silenced.

    Next, Beyond Attention: Film, Audiences and Trust invites conversation with Rikke Flodin from the audience design service Publikum, Denmark, examining how audiences are found and engaged in an age of fragmentation and algorithmic mediation.

    Through thematic talks, informal exchanges, and uplifting receptions, we’ll celebrate the HBF’s global impact and reaffirm our commitment to championing visionary voices and underrepresented stories for years to come. Most importantly, it’s a chance to reconnect, mingle, and celebrate the talent and vitality of our community.

Pro Dialogue panel: Against the Current – Enabling Filmmakers from Restrictive Contexts

Monday, 2 February 2026, 14.30, de Doelen Studio 8, open to all press and industry badges

At a time when freedom of artistic expression is increasingly under pressure, the discussion focuses on how European public funds and other international support mechanisms can respond to current realities with responsibility, flexibility, and impact. 

  • More details about the panel

    Highlighting some of their most active support mechanisms, representatives from the French CNC, the Hubert Bals Fund and ICFR will outline their strategic approaches, while filmmakers will share first-hand perspectives on creating and sustaining work under political constraint. The panel highlights the vital role of international solidarity in safeguarding creative freedom and ensuring that diverse voices continue to be heard.

    Panellists:

      • Aboozar Amini, filmmaker, Afghanistan/Netherlands

      • Maryna Er Gorbach, filmmaker (Rotation, IFFR 2026 – Displacement Film Fund) Ukraine

      • Olivier Henrard, General Director of CNC, France

      • Sara Ishaq, filmmaker and general manager of the International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk, and filmmaker, Yemen/Netherlands

      • Tamara Tatishvili, Head of Hubert Bals Fund, Georgia/Belgium

    Moderator by Sandra den Hamer, Director of the Netherlands Film Fund

Check the full lineup of IFFR Pro Dialogues, which also feature HBF alumn Mamadou Dia on the panel African Indies – A Continent of New Directions on 3 February.

IFFR Pro

CineMart x HBF

New for 2026, six Hubert Bals Fund Development Support recipients have been handpicked for the first CineMart x HBF lineup. The strand creates a market platform for the filmmakers championed by the Hubert Bals Fund from territories where film infrastructure is lacking or restrictive – those who dare to question, imagine and challenge the status quo, formalising a longstanding connection that brings these projects to the market each year.

  • Read the projects

    Birdwoman, dir. Lipika Singh Darai, India, France
    Produced by: Salt For Sugar Films

    Coumba, dir. Mamadou Dia, Senegal, France
    Produced by: Maayo, Les Films du Bilboquet

    Daughters of the Sea, dir. Martika Ramirez Escobar, Philippines, Spain
    Produced by: This Side Up, Arkeofilms, Alba Sotorra Cinema Productions

    Golden Balls, dir. Lillah Halla, Brazil, Uruguay
    Produced by: Manjericão Filmes, Cimarrón Cine, Arissas

    Neon Phantom, dir. Leonardo Martinelli, Brazil
    Produced by: Duas Mariola Filmes

    Vika, dir. Tamar Shavgulidze, Georgia, Netherlands
    Produced by: Nushi Film GEO, GoGoFilm

Darkroom

Darkroom is IFFR Pro’s work-in-progress platform for the international industry to access exclusive previews of recently or nearly completed films seeking completion or gap funding, sales agents and festival selections. Each project has either an attached Rotterdam Lab graduate producer or received previous support from CineMart or the Hubert Bals Fund.

WIP film still: Marina

Brazilian filmmakers Laís Santos Araújo (Infantaria, Best Film Berlinale Generation14Plus) and Pethrus Tibúrcio (Tell Her What Happened to Me, IFFR 2025) co-direct the Hubert Bals Fund-supported coming-of-age drama Marina, where a teenage girl’s dreams for her 15th birthday party come up against structural violence, class difference and racial inequality.

IFFR Pro Awards

On Wednesday 4 February during the IFFR Pro Awards Ceremony, a number of awards are given to outstanding projects presented at CineMart and Darkroom. This edition, we’re presenting two HBF awards.

  • HBF x PUBLIKUM Audience Outreach Award

    We’re pleased to announce the the HBF x PUBLIKUM Audience Outreach Award (€9,000), presented to a HBF-supported film project that demonstrates strong potential to engage a clearly defined or underserved audience.

    The award offers tailored consultancy from PUBLIKUM, supporting the project at a critical stage of development where audience insight can meaningfully inform creative choices, positioning and communication strategies. By strengthening the project’s audience awareness and impact readiness, the award helps filmmakers translate artistic vision into clear audience connection and market presence.

  • HBF Empowerment Award

    Thanks to a private donor, the Hubert Bals Fund is once again granting the HBF Empowerment Award (€10,000) to a Darkroom project. The award empowers filmmakers who come from politically challenging contexts or whose work addresses themes such as freedom of expression, displacement, human rights and/or underrepresented communities.

Kleber Mendonça Filho and more HBF alumni

The Brazilian filmmaker (Neighbouring Sounds HBF Development 2008; Post-production 2011; IFFR Tiger Competition 2012) returns to Rotterdam to present the acclaimed The Secret Agent, nominated for four Academy Awards including for Best Picture. He’ll join Spanish filmmaker Carla Simón for a Big Talk on Saturday 31 January 2026 at 18.00. 

Elsewhere, Indonesian filmmaker Garin Nugroho, who has been supported on a number of occasions by the Hubert Bals Fund including for Opera Jawa (2006), brings the European premiere of Siapa Dia in the Limelight programme – a joyous remembrance of Indonesian film and political history. 

Magellan by HBF-alumni Lav Diaz screens in the Harbour programme, Ukrainian filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa (HBF supported for My Joy and The Revue) brings Two Prosecutors in Limelight, and the Tiger Competition jury features two HBF-alumni, Marcelo Gomes and Sara Ishaq.

HBF+Brazil

IFFR 2026 will also mark a celebration of the first selection of 10 projects for the pilot edition of HBF+Brazil: Co-development Support, a unique new collaboration between the Hubert Bals Fund and leading organisations for the promotion of cinema in Brazil: Spcine, RioFilme, Projeto Paradiso and Embratur, the Brazilian Tourism Board, which HBF has newly welcomed as a partner to the initiative. More details will follow shortly.

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