In 2011, the Hubert Bals Fund (HBF) joined forces with International Film Festival Rotterdam’s (IFFR) CineMart and Binger Filmlab in organizing a special development program titled Boost!, for HBF-supported projects.
Since then, each year, five makers of projects selected for HBF Script and Project Development support are offered the opportunity to continue developing their project at Binger Filmlab, as part of the Binger On Demand program.
At Binger Filmlab, the filmmakers are offered mentoring based on the specific needs of the project and filmmaker, and focused on the further development of their film projects.
During IFFR (next year’s installment takes place from January 22-February 2), the five Boost! projects will be presented at CineMart, the festival’s co-production market, where they will be offered special pitching and project development sessions prior to having one-on-one meetings at the market with professionals from the film industry.
The program comes with a (maximum) €10,000 grant (about $14,000) from the HBF.
The 2013/2014 selections for Boost! follow below:
- Wild Fire by Bikas Ranjan Mishra (India)
- White Sun by Deepak Rauniyar (Nepal)
- La tierra y la sombraby by César Acevedo (Colombia)
- Wasswa by Donald Mugisha (Uganda)
- Tjovitjo by Vincent Moloi (South Africa)
Both Donald Mugisha and Vincent Moloi should be familiar to long-time readers of this blog, as we’ve been following other projects they’ve worked on – The Boda Boda Thieves, for Mugisha and Berea, part of the African Metropolis omnibus project for Moloi.
This certainly won’t be the first time both filmmakers have been acknowledged in this fashion, stamping them storytellers to watch. I look forward to eventually seeing their work for the first time.
Congratulations to all 5 filmmakers selected.
