FAQ on HBF+Europe: Minority Co-production Support

HBF+Europe offers minority co-production support to European producers to participate in high-quality feature films by talented filmmakers from countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and certain countries in Eastern Europe. The funding is designed for international co-productions, in which at least one European and one non-European producer is involved. For more details, see here.

An application for HBF+Europe: Minority Co-production Support has to be requested before the start of production and has to be spent on (pre-)production and post-production costs. An application for HBF+Europe: Post-production Support has to be requested after the production has started and can be spent on post-production and costs for international promotion activities. 

Please note that in 2025, HBF has published the newly introduced HBF+Europe: list of eligible countries document (to be found here), clarifying the co-production structure and eligible countries for the HBF+Europe: programme. 

The applicant should be a production company that is constituted and active for at least two years in a country participating in Creative Europe Media including the list of non-EU Participating Countries, and owned – directly or by majority participation – by nationals from such countries. The track record of the applicant should demonstrate a (majority or minority) participation in at least two completed feature films, including one international or European co-produced feature film.
The applicant should apply with a project by an eligible filmmaker and main producer (i.e. a with a nationality from and who lives in one of the countries mentioned on the HBF+Europe: list of eligible countries document, to be found here).

Please note that in 2025, HBF has published the newly introduced HBF+Europe: list of eligible countries (to be found here), clarifying the co-production structure and eligible countries for the HBF+Europe: programme. This document will guide you through all the eligibility steps and considerations in detail, and also includes clarifying examples and case studies. 

Yes. To ensure that the applying producer can have a significant creative input in the project it is not possible to apply with an HBF+Europe application if shooting has already started. Since the results of the selection will only be announced three months after the deadline, we can only accept applications that go into production three months after the application deadline.

The HBF sees sustainability in more than just environmental terms: it’s about creating lasting, positive impact on people, communities and the film industry as a whole. Our approach is built around three key pillars:

• Social sustainability – supporting fair, inclusive, and respectful working conditions.
• Economic sustainability – encouraging responsible budgeting and fair pay practices.
• Environmental sustainability – reducing the environmental footprint of film productions.

We encourage producers to think about sustainability at every stage of the filmmaking process – from development to production and beyond – so that each project can create social, economic and environmental value. For 2025, the HBF’s sustainability award criteria reflects this structured approach. The 15 points previously assigned to sustainability have now been broken down into several detailed elements. You can find these listed in Appendix 3: award criteria. In order to develop a sustainability strategy that should be incorporated into different sections of your application dossier, please refer to Appendix 1: eligibility criteria and regulations for instructions and guiding questions. Both appendixes can be found on this page.

After the formal eligibility check, an external selection committee is formed to assess all eligible  applications.
The selection committee will consist of various industry professionals invited based on their expertise and complementarity to the overall composition of the committee. Professionals working for festival and industry sides of IFFR are often engaged too. All projects will be evaluated based on the information provided in the entry form, full project dossier, supporting documents, and visual materials. The HBF team will use a standardized assessment form that follows the pre-defined Award Criteria (to be found here). Each main selection criterion will receive a score, with a maximum total of 100 points possible.

Based on the overall scores, the selection committee will meet, debate and jointly form final decisions. Such committee meetings are chaired by the Head of Hubert Bals Fund.

No, there is no possibility to appeal this decision.

 It can be combined with other HBF schemes, but not with HBF+Europe: Post-production Support.

No. Projects cannot receive funding twice from similar programmes funded by Creative Europe. These programmes are:

• World Cinema Fund: WCF Europe Programme
• Torino Film Lab: TFL Co-production Fund and TFL Audience Design Fund
• IDFA Bertha Fund: IDFA Bertha Fund Europe

It is also not possible to combine the HBF+Europe: Minority Co-production Support with HBF+Europe: Post-production Support.
Should you have applied to one of these programmes, please notify us as soon as possible.

Due to the HBF’s financial obligations, the conditions and requirements as mentioned in the HBF+Europe contract need to be finished by a given date. This means that a final version of the film has been delivered and all payments and reports have been made by 1 April 2028. Please note you must submit a final expenditure plan of the HBF+Europe grant, accorded by an external auditor. The premiere of the film may take place at a later date, as long as the HBF has received all deliverables on time.