The Hubert Bals Fund (HBF) of International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) has selected 15 feature film projects for its 2025 development support scheme, including new releases from award-winning directors such as Malaysia’s Amandanel EU, Mamadoudia in Senegal, Faridabaki in Syria, and Xiaoxuanjiang in Mangolia.
Fifteen projects receiving a grant of 10,000 Euros to support development were selected from over 900 applications. The fund aims to support new and diverse voices from around the world.
HBF is supporting the project from Tanzania for the first time. Tanzania participates in many local projects that are rarely supported in the fund’s history.
Filmmakers from Syria, Albanian and Cuban are notable inclusions in this round and three other projects from sub-Saharan Africa: Mozambique, Rwanda and Senegal.
A satirical project by Tanzanian filmmaker Amil Sivij The last cow After surviving the arrows around the neck, the cattle are set in a remote Maasai village that becomes a sensation, leading to criticism of conservation and tourism at the expense of indigenous communities and ancestral lands. Shivij features Tug of war (2021) was Tanzania’s second submission to the Academy Awards. The project is co-produced by Ethiopian-Canadian producers and Tamara Dawitt, a graduate of the Rotterdam Lab.
Amanda Nell Eu Lotus feet is the fantastic body horror depicted in the story of a Malaysian folk monster known as Penangarang, which plagues pregnant women and newborns. she Tiger Stripes It won the top award at Cannes Critics Week in 2024, and is a co-produced by PRPL’s Ellen Haven and Holland, and will also co-produce future features.
From Malaysia, there is also a Kuala Lumpur set by Chris Chong Chang Hu. Motomotorcyclists’ encounters show a glimpse of humanity in a rapidly developing metropolitan city. His movie karaoke (2009) was screened in two weeks, directed by Cannes.
Inadelso Cossa’s fiction feature debut Mwadia Through the f story of a woman’s journey to save her husband, she is billed as a surreal, magical, realistic reflection on the trauma of Mozambique’s colonial era and the present. director I still smell the gunpowder at night (2024) Screened at Berlinale Forum and CPH: DOX.
Senegale filmmaker Mamadodia’s HBF-backed debut Nafi’s father In 2019 he won the Gold Paldo as the filmmaker of Locarno for this Secation. His latest project, coumba, Following the detective back to her hometown, we investigate the murder tied to Kumba, the hoofed spirit, at the first full moon of the year.
Syrian filmmaker Faridadance Visual feminist manifesto Winner of the IFFR 2025 Youth Jury Award. She is supported in the following projects: Rejoice, Exploring the sexual awakening of Arab women in their 50s.
Debugging Xiaoxuan Jiang Kill a Mongol horse It premiered the world in 2024 at Journate Degreautoly in Venice, where it won a special mention. Her new project is Girl with a cameraabout a young ambitious scholar arriving at a remote field site in Inner Mongolia, she must confront the troublesome dynamics between scholars and subjects.
Cuban film director Carlos Lechuga set in Barcelona during the 1992 Olympics amateur Follows the impossible and forbidden love between two men on the Cuban sports delegation. His debut Molume It was shown at IFFR 2013, followed by Santa and Andre (2016) and vicenta b (2022) premiered at TIFF.
Following byzantium mercenaries, Albanian/Greece director Neritanzin Kyria is supported in his feature debut The scary human voice of animals. His short film The light of light It was shown at Tiger Short Competition at IFFR 2023.
Rwanda’s past and present is the subject of Moys Ganza’s debut feature project tears, A mysterious journey through the world of the living world of YouTubers obsessed with finding self-proclaimed gibogo, unique characters, sacrifices, rituals, cursed objects, and living dead, told through the story of Mugema.
Timoteus Anggawan Kusno, a visual artist and researcher based in Indonesia and Amsterdam and subject of the IFFR 2025 focus program, is supported in his feature debut oprhaned atlas. It is set up in a remote village surrounded by forests and is billed as a politically accused of state violence, inherited trauma and vulnerable resistance to memory.
Renata Dzhalo’s No one sees us It draws out the mother’s story to explore the cruelty of Russia in the early 2000s. Olia is about to divorce her husband, who has disappeared from Guinea Bissau, the father of her child. Dzhalo’s feature debut On this land It premiered in IFFR 2025 with a bright future.
The project of Brazilian film director Stephanie Rich Mouth of the night It is a nocturnal portrait of the historic centre in Sao Paulo and its residents, following the adventures of 70-year-old Areta in search of a 24-hour locksmith. Her short Who will move? It is being shown in the IFFR 2025 Short and Mid-Length Program.
Two projects by Indian filmmakers will be awarded in a selection. Arya Rothe’s Where the shadows are waiting Manu, who is about 14 years old, embarks on a magical, realistic journey to reunite with his father in the final months of his life. Her co-director project Rifle and bag I received a special mention at the Bright Future Competition at IFFR 2020.
Suman Mukhopadhyay’s Project Immigrants It is set against the background of the division of India in 1947. Following his IFFR 2025 Big Screen Competition title, it will be his 10th feature film The story of a doll.
“We’re committed to working with people who are looking for a way to spend time at home,” said Tamara Tatishvili, head of the Hubert Bals Fund. “The development support scheme from HBF is one of the few internationally active providing this kind of trust and funding to projects in Genesis and providing important launchpads to artists.”
(Tagstotranslate)Brazil (T)Cuba (T)Festival (T)Fundraising News (T)Greece (T)India (T)Indonesia (T)Malaysia (T)Mongolia (T)Rotterdam (T)Rwanda (T)Senegal (T)Syria