Hubert Bals Fund in Brazil: A Margem do Rio wins in Rio as supported films head to Mostra
Hubert Bals Fund-backed A Margem do Rio by Matheus Farias and Enock Carvalho was the big winner at the 28th Festival do Rio, taking five awards including best fiction feature. Fellow HBF title The French Teacher by Ricardo Alves Jr. won three. Twelve HBF titles screened in Rio, before even more head to the 50th Mostra Internacional de Cinema em São Paulo (Thursday 15 to Thursday 29 October), where Head of the Hubert Bals Fund Tamara Tatishvili joins two talks on development support and international careers.
Festival do Rio
Several Hubert Bals Fund, IFFR Pro and IFFR 2026 films screened across the Festival do Rio (Thursday 1 to Sunday 11 October 2026) programme.
In the Première Brasil competition, A Margem do Rio (HBF Development 2022) – a queer thriller set in the mangroves of Recife, which won the Special Jury Prize at Locarno in August – took five awards: best fiction feature, best supporting actress for Renna Costa, Artia and Ísis Broken, best cinematography for Luciana Baseggio and best sound for Moabe Filho, Guma Farias, Daniel Turini and João Victor Coura, plus best film from the Felix Awards jury, which celebrates queer cinema.
The French Teacher (HBF Development 2017) won three: best actress for Grace Passô (shared with Isabel Teixeira for Days of Fire), best supporting actor for Pedro Goifman and best original soundtrack for Florencia Di Concilio.
Mostra São Paulo
Just as the Rio festival closes, a wide spread of supported titles head to Mostra Internacional de Cinema em São Paulo, which features the Displacement Film Fund short film collection and several IFFR 2026 titles including the 2026 opening film Providence and the Guitar, Big Screen Competition titles Projecto Global and The Arab, and Carlos Casas’s Krakatoa.
This year, Head of the Hubert Bals Fund Tamara Tatishvili joins Encontro de Ideias Audiovisuais, Mostra’s industry event of talks, mentoring and one-to-one meetings (Tuesday 20 to Friday 23 October). On Wednesday 21 October, she takes part in two table discussions.
In 2024, the event was the launchpad for the HBF+Brazil scheme, a unique collaboration between the Hubert Bals Fund and leading organisations for the promotion of cinema in Brazil: Spcine (a company of the Municipal Secretariat of Culture and Creative Economy of the City of São Paulo), RioFilme (a company of Rio de Janeiro City Hall), Projeto Paradiso (a national philanthropic organisation) and Embratur (the Brazilian Tourism Board).
Why support films before they even exist? with Projeto Paradiso (16.45 – 17.45)
How development support strengthens projects and careers, with Thomas Rosso (Semaine de la Critique, Next Step) and Paula Gastaud (Mediocielo Films, Incubadora Paradiso), moderated by Josephine Bourgois, Executive Director of Projeto Paradiso.
Careers in Motion (19.15 – 20.00)
Tamara joins a discussion on careers, connections and choices in international cinema, with Dutch producer Mariëtte Rissenbeek, former Executive Director of the Berlinale.
Films at Mostra São Paulo
HBF titles
- A Margem do Rio – dir. Matheus Farias, Enock Carvalho (Brazil) – HBF Development 2022 – Mostra Brasil
- Elephants in the Fog – dir. Abinash Bikram Shah (Nepal, France, Germany, Brazil, Norway) – HBF Development 2021, HBF+Europe: Minority Co-production Support 2023 – Perspectiva Internacional
- Few of Us (1996) – dir. Šarūnas Bartas (Lithuania, France) – Retrospectiva: Paulo Branco
- The French Teacher – dir. Ricardo Alves Jr. (Brazil, France, Portugal) – HBF Development 2017 – Mostra Brasil
- Milk Powder – dir. Carlos Segundo (France, Brazil, Germany) – HBF Development – Mostra Brasil
- Princesa Burro (working title Los Angeles) – dir. Cristóbal León, Joaquín Cociña (Chile, France, Uruguay, Netherlands, Germany) – HBF Development 2020, NFF+HBF 2023
CineMart and Darkroom
- Amor es el monstruo – dir. Neto Villalobos (Costa Rica, Peru, Panama, Chile) – Darkroom 2026 – Perspectiva Internacional
Displacement Film Fund
- Allies in Exile – dir. Hasan Kattan (United Kingdom, Syria) – Apresentação Especial
- Rotation – dir. Maryna Er Gorbach (Ukraine, Türkiye)
- Sense of Water – dir. Mohammad Rasoulof (Iran, Germany)
- Super Afghan Gym – dir. Shahrbanoo Sadat (Germany)
- Whispers of a Burning Scent – dir. Mo Harawe (Somalia, Austria, Germany)
IFFR 2026 titles
- The Arab – dir. Malek Bensmail (Algeria, France, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Belgium) – IFFR 2026 Big Screen Competition – Perspectiva Internacional
- ChaO – dir. Aoki Yasuhiro (Japan) – IFFR 2026 Limelight – Mostrinha
- Krakatoa – dir. Carlos Casas (Spain, United Kingdom, Poland, France, Indonesia) – IFFR 2026 Harbour – Perspectiva Internacional
- The Passion According to G.H.B. – dir. Gustavo Vinagre, Vinicius Couto (Brazil) – IFFR 2026 Harbour – Mostra Brasil
- Projecto Global – dir. Ivo M. Ferreira (Portugal, Luxembourg) – IFFR 2026 Big Screen Competition
- Providence and the Guitar – dir. João Nicolau (Portugal) – IFFR 2026 Limelight – Perspectiva Internacional
HBF alumni are well represented elsewhere in the Mostra line-up: Kleber Mendonça Filho, Mamadou Dia, Mariano Llinás, Mohammad Shirvani, Alain Gomis, Lav Diaz, Mani Haghighi, Cristian Mungiu, Sergei Loznitsa, Lisandro Alonso, Amos Gitai, Radu Jude, Yeşim Ustaoğlu, Visar Morina, Benjamín Naishtat, Dominga Sotomayor, Sandra Kogut, Jia Zhangke, Eliane Caffé, Shahrbanoo Sadat and Abderrahmane Sissako.
Films at Festival do Rio
HBF titles
Première Brasil: In Competition
- A Margem do Rio – dir. Matheus Farias, Enock Carvalho – HBF Development 2022
- The French Teacher – dir. Ricardo Alves Jr. – HBF Development 2017
Expectativa
- Ben’imana – dir. Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo – HBF Development 2022
- The Burning Giants – dir. Phuttiphong Aroonpheng – HBF Development 2021, CineMart 2023, NFF+HBF 2024
- Dear Ajayi – dir. Damilola Orimogunje – HBF+Europe: Post-production Support 2026
- Elephants in the Fog – dir. Abinash Bikram Shah – HBF Development 2021, HBF+Europe: Minority Co-production Support 2023
World Panorama
- Conversation with the Sea – dir. Muayad Alayan – HBF Development 2024, HBF+Europe: Minority Co-production Support 2025
- Dau – dir. Ilya Khrzhanovsky – HBF Development 2005, CineMart 2006
- No Good Men – dir. Shahrbanoo Sadat – HBF Development, CineMart 2021
- Only Rebels Win – dir. Danielle Arbid
Première Latina
- Seis meses en el edificio rosa con azul – dir. Bruno Santamaría Razo – HBF+Europe: Minority Co-production Support 2024
Cinema Circulação
- The Blue Trail – dir. Gabriel Mascaro – HBF Development, NFF+HBF 2020
IFFR 2026 titles
- Bowels of Hell – dir. Gustavo Vinagre, Gurcius Gewdner (Première Brasil: In Competition)
- A Fading Man – dir. Welf Reinhart (Expectativa)
- Guo Ran – dir. Li Dongmei (Expectativa)
- I Swear – dir. Kirk Jones (World Panorama)
HBF alumni Maíra Bühler, Rithy Panh, Benjamín Naishtat and Dominga Sotomayor also presented work in Rio.