High-flying Madrid-based Caballo Films, behind Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s “The Beasts” and “Riot Police” and Borja Soler’s “The Route,” has put into development a fiction series adaptation of Mabel Lozano’s prized same-titled non-fiction work.
Shaping up as a deep drill-down into the growth of prostitution in Spain into large-scale organized crime, “El Proxeneta” packs a powerful talent package of creator-writers Isabel Peña, co-writer of Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s “As Bestas” and “Riot Police,” and Eduardo Villanueva, a co-scribe on “Riot Police” and producer on “Stockholm.”
Pilar Palomero, a Spanish Academy Goya best picture winner for “Schoolgirls,” will direct the series, her first TV work beyond one episode of “Venga Juan.”
“Pilar was always on our minds for this project, given her talent, and we wanted a female gaze behind all the key points of creative responsibility,” said Villanueva.
“El Proxeneta” is co-produced by Lozano’s label Mafalda Entertainment.
“My commitment...
Shaping up as a deep drill-down into the growth of prostitution in Spain into large-scale organized crime, “El Proxeneta” packs a powerful talent package of creator-writers Isabel Peña, co-writer of Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s “As Bestas” and “Riot Police,” and Eduardo Villanueva, a co-scribe on “Riot Police” and producer on “Stockholm.”
Pilar Palomero, a Spanish Academy Goya best picture winner for “Schoolgirls,” will direct the series, her first TV work beyond one episode of “Venga Juan.”
“Pilar was always on our minds for this project, given her talent, and we wanted a female gaze behind all the key points of creative responsibility,” said Villanueva.
“El Proxeneta” is co-produced by Lozano’s label Mafalda Entertainment.
“My commitment...
- 6/26/2023
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Sergio Calderón, best known for his work on “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End”, “Men In Black” and “The Ruins” and more has died. He was 77.
A rep for Calderón confirmed the sad news Wednesday, telling Et, that the actor was surrounded by family at the time.
“We can confirm that Sergio passed away this morning,” his rep shared. “He was in the hospital previously with a bout of pneumonia, not sure that was the cause. He was surrounded by family at the time.”
Calderón played Pirate lord, Captain Eduardo Villanueva of the Adriatic Sea, in 2007’s “At World’s End”, the third instalment of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise. He also lent his voice to the “At World’s End” video game, where he again starred as the Pirate lord.
The late actor shared several shots from his time on set via social media, including photos of...
A rep for Calderón confirmed the sad news Wednesday, telling Et, that the actor was surrounded by family at the time.
“We can confirm that Sergio passed away this morning,” his rep shared. “He was in the hospital previously with a bout of pneumonia, not sure that was the cause. He was surrounded by family at the time.”
Calderón played Pirate lord, Captain Eduardo Villanueva of the Adriatic Sea, in 2007’s “At World’s End”, the third instalment of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise. He also lent his voice to the “At World’s End” video game, where he again starred as the Pirate lord.
The late actor shared several shots from his time on set via social media, including photos of...
- 6/1/2023
- by Becca Longmire
- ET Canada
Rodrigo Sorogoyen, director of “As Bestas,” “Riot Police” and the Oscar-nominated “Madre,” is bringing onto the international market “La Guerra,” a six-part drama delivering a new vision of the Spanish Civil War which looks like one of the biggest Spanish series ever made.
Sorogoyen will direct all six episodes. Isabel Peña, Sorogoyen, and Eduardo Villanueva, “Riot Police’s”writing team, have fairly definitive version of three episodes with the rest at an initial phase.
“La Guerra” was originally set up at Movistar Plus+. In an amicable settlement – Sorogoyen has gone on to direct and promote an episode of Movistar+ original “Offworld” at last week’s San Sebastián – after Movistar Plus+ pulled out of the series, Sorogoyen and Villanueva’s Madrid-based label Caballo Films have recovered the rights.
The series is believed to be sparking large interest with potential partners in Spain. Unveiling “La Guerra” at Iberseries & Platino Industria’s Financing Forum,...
Sorogoyen will direct all six episodes. Isabel Peña, Sorogoyen, and Eduardo Villanueva, “Riot Police’s”writing team, have fairly definitive version of three episodes with the rest at an initial phase.
“La Guerra” was originally set up at Movistar Plus+. In an amicable settlement – Sorogoyen has gone on to direct and promote an episode of Movistar+ original “Offworld” at last week’s San Sebastián – after Movistar Plus+ pulled out of the series, Sorogoyen and Villanueva’s Madrid-based label Caballo Films have recovered the rights.
The series is believed to be sparking large interest with potential partners in Spain. Unveiling “La Guerra” at Iberseries & Platino Industria’s Financing Forum,...
- 9/26/2022
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Atresplayer Premium, the burgeoning Ott service behind HBO Max hit “Veneno,” has renewed “The Gypsy Bride” (“La novia gitana”), whose Season 1, from “Penny Dreadful” director Paco Cabezas, world premieres at the San Sebastian Film Festival.
Atresmedia Television will produce with Banijay Iberia’s Diagonal TV, producer of Netflix hit “Heirs to the Land.”Produced by Vis with the participation of Atresmedia Television and the collaboration of the Diagonal TV, the first season of “The Gypsy Bride” will bow on Atresplayer Premium on Sept. 25.
Directed in its totality by Cabezas, whose credits also include “American Gods,” Season 1 is set in a gypsy community on Madrid’s humble outskirts as homicide inspector Elena Blanco, is called in to investigate the torture and assassination of a young woman just before her wedding.
Channelling echoes of a Lorca tragedy, the series, shot with large visual ambition by Cabezas – mixing bold panoramics and hand-held camerawork...
Atresmedia Television will produce with Banijay Iberia’s Diagonal TV, producer of Netflix hit “Heirs to the Land.”Produced by Vis with the participation of Atresmedia Television and the collaboration of the Diagonal TV, the first season of “The Gypsy Bride” will bow on Atresplayer Premium on Sept. 25.
Directed in its totality by Cabezas, whose credits also include “American Gods,” Season 1 is set in a gypsy community on Madrid’s humble outskirts as homicide inspector Elena Blanco, is called in to investigate the torture and assassination of a young woman just before her wedding.
Channelling echoes of a Lorca tragedy, the series, shot with large visual ambition by Cabezas – mixing bold panoramics and hand-held camerawork...
- 9/15/2022
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
From the 100-second tracking shot to building pulse music that opens “The Realm” to the slug-fest finale of “May God Save Us,” Oscar-nominated Rodrigo Sorogoyen (“Mother”) has filmed some of the most exhilarating shots in recent Spanish cinema.
His status as a filmmaker consolidated by a series, Movistar Plus’ “Riot Police,” “The Beasts” (“As Bestas”), which plays in Cannes Premiere, rates as one of, if not the most awaited Spanish movie of 2022.
From a brief synopsis, it might look like a return to one of Sorogoyen’s central obsessions: Violence. But that is most likely a half truth. Based on real-life events, “The Beasts,” written by Sorogoyen and co-scribe Isabel Peña, follows a married couple, Vincent and Olga, (Denis Menochet and Marina Fois) who have settled in a small village in Galicia, in Spain’s verdant North-West. They grow vegetables and rehabilitate abandoned cottages.
Disrupting established village power structures, however,...
His status as a filmmaker consolidated by a series, Movistar Plus’ “Riot Police,” “The Beasts” (“As Bestas”), which plays in Cannes Premiere, rates as one of, if not the most awaited Spanish movie of 2022.
From a brief synopsis, it might look like a return to one of Sorogoyen’s central obsessions: Violence. But that is most likely a half truth. Based on real-life events, “The Beasts,” written by Sorogoyen and co-scribe Isabel Peña, follows a married couple, Vincent and Olga, (Denis Menochet and Marina Fois) who have settled in a small village in Galicia, in Spain’s verdant North-West. They grow vegetables and rehabilitate abandoned cottages.
Disrupting established village power structures, however,...
- 5/21/2022
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
World premiering in Cannes’ Premiere section, Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s thriller “The Beasts”(“As Bestas”) has shared with Variety its poster, crafted by James Verdesoto at New York’s Indika Entertainment Advertising, who as creative director at Miramax was responsible for the original award-winning film poster of “Pulp Fiction,” as well as those for “The Piano” and “The Crying Game,” among 200 posters.
In advance of its Cannes bow, “The Beasts’” sales agent Latido Films has granted Variety an exclusive first look at its key art campaign, which may well drive to the heart of the film.
The poster depicts three men entangled, close up. Two men grasp a third whose mouth opens in agony, consumed by a raw, animalistic rage, in a vertical tangle. The characters are nearly unrecognizable, anguish on their faces, the hostility of the attack quite palpable. One demonstrates subjugation to the struggle, the attackers’ clothes speckled with...
In advance of its Cannes bow, “The Beasts’” sales agent Latido Films has granted Variety an exclusive first look at its key art campaign, which may well drive to the heart of the film.
The poster depicts three men entangled, close up. Two men grasp a third whose mouth opens in agony, consumed by a raw, animalistic rage, in a vertical tangle. The characters are nearly unrecognizable, anguish on their faces, the hostility of the attack quite palpable. One demonstrates subjugation to the struggle, the attackers’ clothes speckled with...
- 5/9/2022
- by Holly Jones
- Variety Film + TV
Oscar-nominated Rodrigo Sorogoyen is set to direct rural thriller “As Bestas,” backed by a powerful alliance of of European companies.
Introduced to buyers at this week’s Cannes Marché du Film by its sales agent, Latido Films, “As Bestas” is produced by Jean Labadie’s Le Pacte in France, and in Spain Ibon Cormenzana’s Arcadia Motion Pictures and Caballo Films, Sorogoyen’s own label with Eduardo Villanueva.
Adolfo Blanco’s A Contracorriente Films handles distribution in Spain, with Le Pacte handling the release in France. “As Bestas” rolls in Galicia and León for nine weeks starting in September. It will be ready for delivery in May 2022.
Penned with Sorogoyen’s regular co-scribe Isabel Peña, “As Bestas” is set in Galicia, Spain, where a middle-aged French couple, Antoine and Olga, arrive to live in a local village, seeking greater closeness to nature. Their presence, however, inflames two locals, brothers Xan and Lorenzo,...
Introduced to buyers at this week’s Cannes Marché du Film by its sales agent, Latido Films, “As Bestas” is produced by Jean Labadie’s Le Pacte in France, and in Spain Ibon Cormenzana’s Arcadia Motion Pictures and Caballo Films, Sorogoyen’s own label with Eduardo Villanueva.
Adolfo Blanco’s A Contracorriente Films handles distribution in Spain, with Le Pacte handling the release in France. “As Bestas” rolls in Galicia and León for nine weeks starting in September. It will be ready for delivery in May 2022.
Penned with Sorogoyen’s regular co-scribe Isabel Peña, “As Bestas” is set in Galicia, Spain, where a middle-aged French couple, Antoine and Olga, arrive to live in a local village, seeking greater closeness to nature. Their presence, however, inflames two locals, brothers Xan and Lorenzo,...
- 7/8/2021
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Spanish director and screenwriter Rodrigo Sorogoyen, fresh off large acclaim, prizes and recording-breaking viewership on Movistar Plus for “Riot Police,” is preparing a follow-up series for the Telefonica Spanish pay TV/SVOD service in Spain, which will deliver Sorogoyen’s personal take on the Spanish Civil War.
The untitled series will be co-written by Isabel Peña and Eduardo Villanueva, Sorogoyen’s regular co-scribes. It will go into production in 2022.
The move is a natural one. In his breakout movie, “May God Save Us,” a grueling, grimy melancholic serial killer thriller about men who cannot control their actions, as well as “Riot Police” – the chronicle of a Police Intervention Unit bungling an eviction in a Senagalese community in Madrid, its results and cause – Sorogoyen has shown a fascination with toxic authoritarianism and violence.
There have been few more violent conflicts or chamber of military horrors than the 1936-39 Spanish Civil War,...
The untitled series will be co-written by Isabel Peña and Eduardo Villanueva, Sorogoyen’s regular co-scribes. It will go into production in 2022.
The move is a natural one. In his breakout movie, “May God Save Us,” a grueling, grimy melancholic serial killer thriller about men who cannot control their actions, as well as “Riot Police” – the chronicle of a Police Intervention Unit bungling an eviction in a Senagalese community in Madrid, its results and cause – Sorogoyen has shown a fascination with toxic authoritarianism and violence.
There have been few more violent conflicts or chamber of military horrors than the 1936-39 Spanish Civil War,...
- 3/4/2021
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
It is fitting in many ways that Movistar Plus’ “Riot Police” (“Antidisturbios”) saw its world premiere in a theater at one of Europe’s biggest film festivals: September’s San Sebastian in Spain.
Feted by the domestic press — “the best Spanish series of the year,” trumpeted newspaper El Mundo — the Movistar Plus original series has closed sales to France and Latin America with “partners of the highest caliber,” “Riot Police” producer Domingo Corral, Movistar head of original programming, said at San Sebastián.
Co-written — with regular writing partner Isabel Peña and Eduardo Villanueva — and directed by Rodrigo Sorogoyen, “Riot Police” marks just the latest entry in the seemingly unending diaspora of renowned Spanish cineastes into drama series creation. Director of the 2019 Academy Award-nominated short “Madre” and a short-lived TV director, Sorogoyen broke out as a film director with his first solo feature, 2016’s “May God Save Us,” a San Sebastian screenplay winner,...
Feted by the domestic press — “the best Spanish series of the year,” trumpeted newspaper El Mundo — the Movistar Plus original series has closed sales to France and Latin America with “partners of the highest caliber,” “Riot Police” producer Domingo Corral, Movistar head of original programming, said at San Sebastián.
Co-written — with regular writing partner Isabel Peña and Eduardo Villanueva — and directed by Rodrigo Sorogoyen, “Riot Police” marks just the latest entry in the seemingly unending diaspora of renowned Spanish cineastes into drama series creation. Director of the 2019 Academy Award-nominated short “Madre” and a short-lived TV director, Sorogoyen broke out as a film director with his first solo feature, 2016’s “May God Save Us,” a San Sebastian screenplay winner,...
- 10/13/2020
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Atresplayer Premium, the Ott platform run by Spanish media conglom Atresmedia, is prepping TV series “La Ruta,” teaming with Caballo Films, the production outfit whose partners include filmmaker Rodrigo Sorogoyen, the co-creator of Movistar Plus’ hit “Riot Police.”
“La Ruta” – a working title – is set on the La Ruta del Bakalao, a legendary zone of nightclubs lining some 19 miles of a CV-500 secondary road between the Spanish coastal city of Valencia and its beaches to its south. From 1983 to 1993, this strip of road became one of the biggest and most vibrant club-scenes in not only Spain but Europe.
The series, in early development, involves further Caballo partners such as Borja Soler as creator and co-director, and Eduardo Villanueva as producer.
Soler co-directed and Villanueva executive produced and co-wrote Sorogoyen’s “Riot Police,” one of the most acclaimed of Spanish TV series this year, which world premiered at September’s San Sebastian Film Festival.
“La Ruta” – a working title – is set on the La Ruta del Bakalao, a legendary zone of nightclubs lining some 19 miles of a CV-500 secondary road between the Spanish coastal city of Valencia and its beaches to its south. From 1983 to 1993, this strip of road became one of the biggest and most vibrant club-scenes in not only Spain but Europe.
The series, in early development, involves further Caballo partners such as Borja Soler as creator and co-director, and Eduardo Villanueva as producer.
Soler co-directed and Villanueva executive produced and co-wrote Sorogoyen’s “Riot Police,” one of the most acclaimed of Spanish TV series this year, which world premiered at September’s San Sebastian Film Festival.
- 10/12/2020
- by Emiliano De Pablos and John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Madrid — Scheduled to bow in 2021, Movistar Plus’ Original Series “Antidisturbios,” from Spain’s Academy Award-nominated Rodrigo Sorogoyen, is shaping up as one of the flagship titles on the slate of Telefonica-owned Movistar Plus, Spain’s biggest pay TV player, as well as proving indicative of deeper industry and artistic trends.
Co-written by Sorogoyen, Eduardo Villanueva and Isabel Peña – co-scribe of all Sorogoyen’s features and arguably one of the most overlooked female talents in Spain – and unveiled via a Madrid press set-visit last week, “Antidisturbios” begins focusing squarely on six members of Furgón 93, part of Spain’s Police Intervention Unit, its National Police Corps riot police. The squad is drafted in to carry out an eviction in the heart of a Senegalese community in Madrid. Captured in Ep. 1, their operation, however, goes drastically awry.
Making his solo feature debut with 2013’s “Stockholm,” few directors have consolidated so fast as the...
Co-written by Sorogoyen, Eduardo Villanueva and Isabel Peña – co-scribe of all Sorogoyen’s features and arguably one of the most overlooked female talents in Spain – and unveiled via a Madrid press set-visit last week, “Antidisturbios” begins focusing squarely on six members of Furgón 93, part of Spain’s Police Intervention Unit, its National Police Corps riot police. The squad is drafted in to carry out an eviction in the heart of a Senegalese community in Madrid. Captured in Ep. 1, their operation, however, goes drastically awry.
Making his solo feature debut with 2013’s “Stockholm,” few directors have consolidated so fast as the...
- 12/23/2019
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
The Hubert Bals Fund of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (Iffr) has selected twenty-five film projects that receive grants for script development, digital production, postproduction, distribution or workshops. In its Fall 2012 selection round, the Fund gave 330,000 Euro to projects from seventeen Asian, Eastern European, Latin-American and African countries. (See full list below)
From many strong applications for workshop initiatives, the Hubert Bals Fund chose to support the Naas Training Workshop (Egypt), the Digital Cinema Workshops Series (Morocco) and Cinema Land (Vietnam). The Naas workshop offers a training and networking program for art house and cine club managers in the Mena region. In Morocco, the Workshop Series aims to increase digital filming skills among young film professionals. Cinema Land offers filmmaking talents expertise and training in the Central-Vietnamese cities of Danang and Hue, where there are no such facilities as yet.
In the distribution category, the Hubert Bals Fund supports the plan to screen acclaimed director Riri Riza’s Atambua 39° Celsius (pictured top) during open air screenings – the region has no cinemas - within the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara, where the film was shot.
Atambua 39° Celsius received Hubert Bals Fund support for digital production earlier this year, recently premiered in competition at the Tokyo Iff and will see its European premiere during Iffr 2013. The film offers a sensitive portrait of refugees from East Timor and of their scattered families.
One of the eleven projects selected in the script development category is Tarde para morir joven (Late To Die Young), second feature film project by Chilean filmmaker Dominga Sotomayor. Her very successful début feature film De jueves a domingo (Thursday Till Sunday), also supported in script stage by the Hubert Bals Fund, won a Hivos Tiger Award in Rotterdam and subsequently screened in many film festivals worldwide. Tarde para morir joven tells about members of an isolated community that see their existence threatened by a forest fire.
Also selected for script development support is Teboho Edkins, a promising new talent from South Africa, who prepares his first feature length film Days of Cannibalism. Edkins previously made The Gangster Project, a 55-minute documentary/fiction hybrid that was selected for Fid Marseille and Iffr 2012. In Days of Cannibalism, Edkins again uses a clever mix of documentary and fictional elements to focus on the expanding trade relations between China and the African continent.
Milagros Mumenthaler, Golden Leopard-winner for her Hubert Bals Fund-supported first feature film Abrir puertas y ventanas (Back to Stay), has been granted digital production support for Pozo de aire (Air Pocket). This second film, backed again by the ‘Abrir’-team in Argentina and Switzerland, is a more low budget and experimental take on female lead characters and the notion of absence.
When finished in time, the films receiving postproduction grants are expected to screen at the 2013 International Film Festival Rotterdam. One of these is Yang Tidak Dibicarakan Ketika Membicarakan Cinta (What They Don’t Talk About When They Talk About Love), second feature film project by Mouly Surya, one the most promising female directors in Indonesia. Her film is a both sensitive and sensual examination of the dynamics among a group of teenagers played by visually and aurally impaired actors.
The harvest of newly finished Hubert Bals Fund-supported films will be screened during the next International Film Festival Rotterdam (23 January – 3 February 2013). The next application deadline for Hubert Bals Fund support is 1 March 2013. All information about the Fund may be found here.
The line up of the Iffr’s Hubert Bals Fund Fall 2013 Selection Round in full:
Post-production & final-financing
Noche (Night) / Leonardo Brzezicki / Argentina
O Rio nos pretence (Rio Belongs to Us) / Ricardo Pretti / Brazil
O Uivo da Gaita (The Harmonica’s Howl) / Bruno Safadi / Brazil
On Mother’s Head / Kusuma Widjaja Putu / Indonesia
Yang Tidak Dibicarakan Ketika Membicarakan Cinta (What They Don’t Talk About When They Talk About Love) / Mouly Surya / Indonesia
Larzanandeye Charbi (Fat Shaker) / Mohammad Shirvani / Iran
Something Necessary / Judy Kibinge / Kenya
Penumbra / Eduardo Villanueva / Mexico
Digital Production
A Corner of Heaven / Zhang Miaoyan / China
Pozo de aire (Air Pocket) / Milagros Mumenthaler / Argentina
Script and project development
Otra madre (Another Mother) / Mariano Luque / Argentina
Tabija / Igor Drljaca / Bosnia and Herzegovina
Elon Rabin Não Acredita na Morte (Elon Rabin Doesn’t Believe in Death) / Ricardo Alves Jr. / Brazil
Tarde para morir joven (Late To Die Young) / Dominga Sotomayor / Chile
Oscuro animal (Obscure Animal) / Felipe Guerrero / Colombia
Court / Chaitanya Tamhane / India
The Room on a Tree / Amit Dutta / India
Extraño pero verdadero (Strange But True) / Michel Lipkes / Mexico
Tempestad (Tempestuous) / John Torres / Philippines
Days of Cannibalism / Teboho Edkins / South Africa
Rüzgarli Bir Güne Agit (Requiem for a Windy Day) / Özcan Alper / Turkey
Distribution
Atambua 39° Celsius / Riri Riza / Indonesia
Workshops
Naas Training Workshop / Egypt
Digital Cinema Workshop Series / Morocco
Cinema Land / Vietnam
Profile of the Hubert Bals Fund
The Hubert Bals Fund (Hbf), along with the CineMart, is part of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (Iffr). The 42nd Iffr will take place January 23 – February 3, 2013. Year-round news on Iffr, Hbf and CineMart can be found on www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com.
The Hubert Bals Fund is designed to bring remarkable or urgent feature films and feature-length creative documentaries by innovative and talented filmmakers from developing countries closer to completion. The Hubert Bals Fund provides grants that often turn out to play a crucial role in enabling these filmmakers to realize their projects. Although the Fund looks closely at the financial aspects of a project, the decisive factors remain its content and artistic value. Since the Fund started in 1989, hundreds of projects from independent filmmakers in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and parts of Eastern Europe have received support. Approximately 80% of these projects have been realized or are currently in production. Every year, the Iffr screens completed films supported by the Fund.
The Hubert Bals Fund is supported by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Media Mundus, Dutch non-governmental development organization Hivos Culture Foundation, the Doen Foundation and the Dioraphte Foundation and Lions Club Rotterdam: L’Esprit du Temps.
Grants and selection rounds
Annually, the Hubert Bals Fund is able to make individual grants of up to Euro 10,000 for script and project development, Euro 20,000 for digital production, Euro 30,000 for post-production, Euro 15,000 towards distribution costs in the country of origin or Euro 10,000 for special projects such as workshops. Selection rounds take place twice a year and have application deadlines on March 1 and August 1.
Hubert Bals Fund-supported films in Iffr and on DVD/VOD
Most of the films supported by the Hubert Bals Fund throughout the year are screened during the International Film Festival Rotterdam in attendance of the filmmaker. Subsequently, part of the Hbf-supported films is released by the Iffr on DVD or VOD, available on www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com (VOD for viewers in the Benelux only).
From many strong applications for workshop initiatives, the Hubert Bals Fund chose to support the Naas Training Workshop (Egypt), the Digital Cinema Workshops Series (Morocco) and Cinema Land (Vietnam). The Naas workshop offers a training and networking program for art house and cine club managers in the Mena region. In Morocco, the Workshop Series aims to increase digital filming skills among young film professionals. Cinema Land offers filmmaking talents expertise and training in the Central-Vietnamese cities of Danang and Hue, where there are no such facilities as yet.
In the distribution category, the Hubert Bals Fund supports the plan to screen acclaimed director Riri Riza’s Atambua 39° Celsius (pictured top) during open air screenings – the region has no cinemas - within the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara, where the film was shot.
Atambua 39° Celsius received Hubert Bals Fund support for digital production earlier this year, recently premiered in competition at the Tokyo Iff and will see its European premiere during Iffr 2013. The film offers a sensitive portrait of refugees from East Timor and of their scattered families.
One of the eleven projects selected in the script development category is Tarde para morir joven (Late To Die Young), second feature film project by Chilean filmmaker Dominga Sotomayor. Her very successful début feature film De jueves a domingo (Thursday Till Sunday), also supported in script stage by the Hubert Bals Fund, won a Hivos Tiger Award in Rotterdam and subsequently screened in many film festivals worldwide. Tarde para morir joven tells about members of an isolated community that see their existence threatened by a forest fire.
Also selected for script development support is Teboho Edkins, a promising new talent from South Africa, who prepares his first feature length film Days of Cannibalism. Edkins previously made The Gangster Project, a 55-minute documentary/fiction hybrid that was selected for Fid Marseille and Iffr 2012. In Days of Cannibalism, Edkins again uses a clever mix of documentary and fictional elements to focus on the expanding trade relations between China and the African continent.
Milagros Mumenthaler, Golden Leopard-winner for her Hubert Bals Fund-supported first feature film Abrir puertas y ventanas (Back to Stay), has been granted digital production support for Pozo de aire (Air Pocket). This second film, backed again by the ‘Abrir’-team in Argentina and Switzerland, is a more low budget and experimental take on female lead characters and the notion of absence.
When finished in time, the films receiving postproduction grants are expected to screen at the 2013 International Film Festival Rotterdam. One of these is Yang Tidak Dibicarakan Ketika Membicarakan Cinta (What They Don’t Talk About When They Talk About Love), second feature film project by Mouly Surya, one the most promising female directors in Indonesia. Her film is a both sensitive and sensual examination of the dynamics among a group of teenagers played by visually and aurally impaired actors.
The harvest of newly finished Hubert Bals Fund-supported films will be screened during the next International Film Festival Rotterdam (23 January – 3 February 2013). The next application deadline for Hubert Bals Fund support is 1 March 2013. All information about the Fund may be found here.
The line up of the Iffr’s Hubert Bals Fund Fall 2013 Selection Round in full:
Post-production & final-financing
Noche (Night) / Leonardo Brzezicki / Argentina
O Rio nos pretence (Rio Belongs to Us) / Ricardo Pretti / Brazil
O Uivo da Gaita (The Harmonica’s Howl) / Bruno Safadi / Brazil
On Mother’s Head / Kusuma Widjaja Putu / Indonesia
Yang Tidak Dibicarakan Ketika Membicarakan Cinta (What They Don’t Talk About When They Talk About Love) / Mouly Surya / Indonesia
Larzanandeye Charbi (Fat Shaker) / Mohammad Shirvani / Iran
Something Necessary / Judy Kibinge / Kenya
Penumbra / Eduardo Villanueva / Mexico
Digital Production
A Corner of Heaven / Zhang Miaoyan / China
Pozo de aire (Air Pocket) / Milagros Mumenthaler / Argentina
Script and project development
Otra madre (Another Mother) / Mariano Luque / Argentina
Tabija / Igor Drljaca / Bosnia and Herzegovina
Elon Rabin Não Acredita na Morte (Elon Rabin Doesn’t Believe in Death) / Ricardo Alves Jr. / Brazil
Tarde para morir joven (Late To Die Young) / Dominga Sotomayor / Chile
Oscuro animal (Obscure Animal) / Felipe Guerrero / Colombia
Court / Chaitanya Tamhane / India
The Room on a Tree / Amit Dutta / India
Extraño pero verdadero (Strange But True) / Michel Lipkes / Mexico
Tempestad (Tempestuous) / John Torres / Philippines
Days of Cannibalism / Teboho Edkins / South Africa
Rüzgarli Bir Güne Agit (Requiem for a Windy Day) / Özcan Alper / Turkey
Distribution
Atambua 39° Celsius / Riri Riza / Indonesia
Workshops
Naas Training Workshop / Egypt
Digital Cinema Workshop Series / Morocco
Cinema Land / Vietnam
Profile of the Hubert Bals Fund
The Hubert Bals Fund (Hbf), along with the CineMart, is part of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (Iffr). The 42nd Iffr will take place January 23 – February 3, 2013. Year-round news on Iffr, Hbf and CineMart can be found on www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com.
The Hubert Bals Fund is designed to bring remarkable or urgent feature films and feature-length creative documentaries by innovative and talented filmmakers from developing countries closer to completion. The Hubert Bals Fund provides grants that often turn out to play a crucial role in enabling these filmmakers to realize their projects. Although the Fund looks closely at the financial aspects of a project, the decisive factors remain its content and artistic value. Since the Fund started in 1989, hundreds of projects from independent filmmakers in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and parts of Eastern Europe have received support. Approximately 80% of these projects have been realized or are currently in production. Every year, the Iffr screens completed films supported by the Fund.
The Hubert Bals Fund is supported by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Media Mundus, Dutch non-governmental development organization Hivos Culture Foundation, the Doen Foundation and the Dioraphte Foundation and Lions Club Rotterdam: L’Esprit du Temps.
Grants and selection rounds
Annually, the Hubert Bals Fund is able to make individual grants of up to Euro 10,000 for script and project development, Euro 20,000 for digital production, Euro 30,000 for post-production, Euro 15,000 towards distribution costs in the country of origin or Euro 10,000 for special projects such as workshops. Selection rounds take place twice a year and have application deadlines on March 1 and August 1.
Hubert Bals Fund-supported films in Iffr and on DVD/VOD
Most of the films supported by the Hubert Bals Fund throughout the year are screened during the International Film Festival Rotterdam in attendance of the filmmaker. Subsequently, part of the Hbf-supported films is released by the Iffr on DVD or VOD, available on www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com (VOD for viewers in the Benelux only).
- 12/11/2012
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Court by Chaitanya Tamhane and The Room on a Tree by Amit Dutta have been selected for Script and Project Development of Hubert Bals Fund (Hbf) Fall 2012.
Post completion, the films will be made a part of the International Film Festival Rotterdam under the competition section or the main sections Bright Future, Spectrum or Signals.
Both these projects have also been selected for the National Film Development Corporation’s annual co-production market at Film Bazaar 2012.
Tamhane’s first short Six Strands was screened at International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2011. It has toured many festivals including Clermont-Ferrand International Film Festival 2011, Slamdance 2011and Edinburgh International Film Festival 2011.
Amit Dutta’s The Room on a Tree too has also been selected for New Cinema Network, the co-production market at Rome Film Festival.
Hubert Bal Fund was founded in 1988 to help independent film makers from developing countries complete their projects. So far the fund...
Post completion, the films will be made a part of the International Film Festival Rotterdam under the competition section or the main sections Bright Future, Spectrum or Signals.
Both these projects have also been selected for the National Film Development Corporation’s annual co-production market at Film Bazaar 2012.
Tamhane’s first short Six Strands was screened at International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2011. It has toured many festivals including Clermont-Ferrand International Film Festival 2011, Slamdance 2011and Edinburgh International Film Festival 2011.
Amit Dutta’s The Room on a Tree too has also been selected for New Cinema Network, the co-production market at Rome Film Festival.
Hubert Bal Fund was founded in 1988 to help independent film makers from developing countries complete their projects. So far the fund...
- 11/15/2012
- by NewsDesk
- DearCinema.com
Glenn Close delivers a moving acceptance speech upon receiving Lifetime Achievement honors at the San Sebastian Film Festival today. (via Twitter pal, Eduardo Villanueva)...
- 9/18/2011
- by Ryan Adams
- AwardsDaily.com
Indian director Ashim Ahluwalia's feature film project "Miss Lovely" has been selected for production funding during winter granting cycle of the Global Film Initiative.
Ahluwalia's project is one of the five projects selected from 68 applicants from 34 countries.
The grant is meant to be utilized for post production such as laboratory, sound mixing and advanced post production requirements. Projects are selected on the basis of their artistic merit.
Here is the complete list of selected projects:
Miss Lovely (India) by Ashim Ahluwalia
Ninah’s Dowry (Cameroon) by Victor Viyuoh
Red Princesses (Princesas Rojas) (Costa Rica) by Laura Astorga Carrera
Shadows And Faces (Golgeler Ve Suretler), (Turkey) by Dervis Zaim
Tramp (Trampas) (Mexico) by Eduardo Villanueva Jimenez.
Ahluwalia's project is one of the five projects selected from 68 applicants from 34 countries.
The grant is meant to be utilized for post production such as laboratory, sound mixing and advanced post production requirements. Projects are selected on the basis of their artistic merit.
Here is the complete list of selected projects:
Miss Lovely (India) by Ashim Ahluwalia
Ninah’s Dowry (Cameroon) by Victor Viyuoh
Red Princesses (Princesas Rojas) (Costa Rica) by Laura Astorga Carrera
Shadows And Faces (Golgeler Ve Suretler), (Turkey) by Dervis Zaim
Tramp (Trampas) (Mexico) by Eduardo Villanueva Jimenez.
- 4/1/2010
- by NewsDesk
- DearCinema.com
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