HBF+Europe Minority Co-Prod & Post 2025: Funding News
Hubert Bals Fund has selected five projects for the 2025 round of its HBF+Europe Minority Co-pro scheme, and three for its HBF+ Europe Post scheme.
International Film Festival of Rotterdam’s Hubert Bals Fund (HBF) has selected five projects for the 2025 funding round of its HBF+Europe: Minority Co-pro scheme, and three for its HBF+ Europe: Post scheme. The projects will each receive €60,000 to support either their production or post-production.
The selection includes support for projects from Kosovo and Armenia, returning HBF and CineMart-supported titles, including Nightsong by Maya Da-Rin and Four Seasons In Java by Kamila Andini, alongside first-time HBF support for Un Certain Regard-winning filmmaker Asmae El Moudir and Sundance-winner Don Josephus Raphael Eblahan.
Hubert Bals Fund head, Tamara Tatishvili, said: “The two 2026 editions we’ve just witnessed of IFFR and the Berlinale have brought the impact of our HBF+Europe schemes into sharp focus, no less than with Jason Jacobs and Devon Delmar’s HBF+Europe: Post-production-supported Variations On A Theme taking the Tiger Award at IFFR 2026, and Danielle Arbid’s Only Rebels Win opening the Panorama section at the Berlinale.”
HBF+Europe Minority Co-pro Support 2025:
Bleach, dir: Kaltrina Krasniqi (Kosovo, Bulgaria, Albania, Montenegro)
HBF Development Support 2022
Applicant producer: Portokal (Bulgaria)
After getting a new job as a cleaner in an advertising agency, Fatime starts exploring the possibility of friendship outside her social class.
Don’t Let The Sun Go Up On Me, dir: Asmae El Moudir (Morocco, France, Norway, Denmark, Chile)
Applicant producer: Haut et Court Doc (France)
Condemned to a life away from the sun, Fatimazahra lived at night with the “Children of the Moon”. After her passing, her sister Meriem carries forward her dreams, creating a refuge, nurturing a close-knit community, and venturing into the polar night.
Hum, dir: Don Josephus Raphael Eblahan (Philippines, US, Poland, Germany)
Applicant producer: Oma Inge Film (Germany)
Esme, a native horse rider gifted with the rare ability to mimic animal sounds, guides Professor Arceo, an animal linguist tasked to track down an eco-terrorist in the forest.
The Last Tears Of The Deceased, dir: Beza Hailu Lemma (Ethiopia, Canada, Germany, France)
CineMart 2021
Applicant producer: Die Gesellschaft DGS (Germany)
A newly ordained priest sets off on a dreamlike journey across Ethiopia to uncover the truth about his childhood death, facing revelations that could unravel his faith.
Nightsong, dir: Maya Da-Rin (Brazil, France, Portugal)
HBF Development Support 2021, CineMart 2022
Applicant producer: Still Moving (France)
On a monoculture soybean farm in southern Brazil, the friendship between a peasant child and an elderly Guarani native woman is affected by the appearance of an unknown plant resistant to pesticides.
HBF+Europe Post-production Support 2025:
Dear Ajayi, dir: Damilola Orimogunje (Nigeria, Germany)
Applicant producer: Mayana Films (Germany)
In 1990s Nigeria, two estranged sisters forced to live under the same roof while caring for their paralysed mother navigate grief, ambition, love, and the fragile bonds of family.
Four Seasons In Java, dir: Kamila Andini (Indonesia, France, Netherlands, Norway)
HBF Development 2025, CineMart 2025
Applicant producer: Ici et Là Productions (France)
A woman released from prison returns to her village to rebuild her life. Together with the marginalised, she finds the power to confront her past and redefine her own meaning of home, family and peace.
Zemfo, dir: Vahagn Khachatryan & Aren Malakyan (Armenia, Italy, Switzerland)
Applicant producer: Okta Film (Italy)
In a village of the Nagorno-Karabakh region amidst the chaos of the Armenian and Azerbaijani war, a cow gives birth to a calf, Zemfo. As villagers pack their belongings and flee their homes to escape the bombings, Zemfo is sold to Iranian animal dealers and begins a voyage from Armenia to Iraqi Kurdistan through Iran, crossing ever-shifting borders and human landscapes.
