Hubert Bals Fund: Realizing Dreams

The Hubert Bals Fund is designed to bring remarkable or urgent feature films by innovative and talented filmmakers from developing countries closer to completion. The HBF 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 1988, close to 750 projects from independent filmmakers in Asia, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Africa and Latin America have received support. Approximately 80% of these projects have been realised or are currently in production. Every year, the IFFR screens completed films supported by the Fund.

Grants and selection rounds
Annually, the Hubert Bals Fund has close to €1.2 million at its disposal and is able to make individual grants of up to €10,000 for script and project development, €20,000 for digital production, €30,000 for post-production or €15,000 towards distribution costs in the country of origin. Selection rounds take place twice a year, with application deadlines on March 1 and August 1.

Hubert Bals Fund Plus
Additionally, in order to offer Dutch producers the possibility to get involved more often in international productions, and to support the ‘Hubert Bals Fund projects’ in the stage of actual production, the Hubert Bals Fund Plus has been set up by the Dutch Film Fund and the Hubert Bals Fund of the International Film Festival Rotterdam. In 2006 the Dutch Film Fund has made € 200.000 available for the Hubert Bals Fund Plus. Applications can be granted with a maximum of € 50.000.

Training, workshops, the Hubert Bals Fund Award 
The Fund supports training initiatives for filmmakers in Ethiopia, Vietnam and Costa Rica. In Armenia and in India, the Hubert Bals Fund participates in co-production meetings. On these occasions, Hubert Bals Fund Awards are granted to the most promising film projects.

Hubert Bals Fund supported films at the International Film Festival Rotterdam and Dioraphte Award
Each edition, the International Film Festival Rotterdam screens a large part of the year's harvest of completed films supported by the fund. Hubert Bals Fund supported films may be selected in Competition or in the main sections Bright Future, Spectrum or Signals.
Every Hubert Bals Fund supported film screening in the festival is eligible for the Dioraphte Award of 10.000 Euro. The winning film will be the one receiving the highest ranking in the audience votes.
Read more about the harvest here.

Hubert Bals Fund supported films at major international film festivals
Over the years, the interest for HBF supported films steadily increased. Many international film festivals keep a close eye on completed HBF supported films and select them for their programmes. Each year, HBF supported films are screened at, among others, the Cannes, Venice, Locarno, Toronto and Pusan film festivals. 


The Hubert Bals Fund is supported by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dutch non-governmental development organisations Hivos-NCDO Culture Foundation, the DOEN Foundation, Dioraphte Foundation and Dutch public broadcasting network NPS.