A lucky eight film projects have landed support via Hubert Bals Fund’s HBF+Europe support schemes. The HBF+Europe: Minority Co-production Support scheme provides advanced financing for production, whilst HBF+Europe: Post-production Support helps consolidate funding once shooting is complete. Among the filmmakers receiving support worth The Mother of All Lies filmmaker Asmae El Moudir landing support for Don’t Let the Sun Go Up On Me which already gathered momentum at the recent Atlas Labs at Marrakech — the docu project looks like something truly out of the ordinary. After receiving Hubert Bals Funding in 2021, Brazil’s Maya Da-Rin has been long at work on her sophomore feature titled Nightsong, while Kamila Andini (who were recently profiled) could very well receive a major Cannes Film Festival invite for Four Seasons in Java. Here are the project which we’ll be keeping a very close eye on as they populate fests such as Cannes, Locarno and Venice/TIFF.
HBF+Europe: Minority Co-production Support 2025 selection:
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, USA, Poland, Germany
Applicant producer: Oma Inge Film GmbH, 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 selection
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.
More about the minority co-production selections
From Kosovo comes an intimate character drama examining class, gender and caregiving labour with Bleach by Kosovo filmmaker Kaltrina Krasniqi following two women from vastly different social worlds whose paths cross through work. Previously backed with HBF Development Support, the female-led project marks Krasniqi’s second feature, after Vera Dreams of the Sea premiered at Venice 2021 and won the Tokyo International Film Festival Grand Prix and the Ingmar Bergman Award at Gothenburg 2022.
Set against the environmental devastation caused by agribusiness in southern Brazil, Maya Da-Rin’s Nightsong also traces an unlikely friendship, between a child and an elderly Guarani woman, disrupted by the appearance of a pesticide-resistant plant. Da-Rin’s HBF-backed debut The Fever (IFFR 2020) premiered at Locarno, winning the Golden Leopard for Best Actor and the FIPRESCI Award, and screened at over 100 festivals worldwide. Shifting between fable, suspense and the fantastic, Nightsong received HBF Development Support in 2021 and was presented at CineMart in 2022.
Another former CineMart project is Ethiopian filmmaker Beza Hailu Lemma’s The Last Tears of the Deceased, a dreamlike journey across Ethiopia in which a newly ordained priest sets out to uncover the truth about his own childhood death. The project received the Next Step Prize from La Semaine de la Critique at Cannes 2025, continuing the trajectory of Lemma’s short Alazar (2024), which premiered at Cannes Critics’ Week and won awards at the Red Sea Film Festival and FESPACO.
Filipino filmmaker Don Josephus Raphael Eblahan brings a bold genre reimagining with his debut Hum, a subversive western set in the misty highlands of the Philippines. Blending sci-fi sensibilities, techno imagery, sweeping horseback sequences and neon-lit rodeos, the film examines post-colonial conditions and their impact on Indigenous youth. Eblahan’s short The Headhunter’s Daughter (2022) won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, and proof-of-concept short Vox Humana (2024) premiered at TIFF.
Moroccan filmmaker Asmae El Moudir’s hybrid documentary odyssey Don’t Let The Sun Go Up On Me follows Meriem as she carries forward the dreams of her late sister Fatimazahra, who had xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) – a rare genetic disease that makes sunlight life-threatening. Gathering a community of young adults with XP, Meriem sets out to fulfil Fatimazahra’s dream: to live normally and visit her long-distance love Alex in Norway’s Lofoten Islands, where polar night lasts for weeks. El Moudir’s debut The Mother of All Lies won the Directing Prize in Un Certain Regard and the Golden Eye for Best Documentary at Cannes 2023.
More about the post-production selections
Shot between 2020 and 2023 in Armenia, Iran and Iraqi Kurdistan, across conflict zones, migration routes, villages, markets and refugee camps, the documentary Zemfo by Vahagn Khachatryan and Aren Malakyan follows the journey of a calf of the same name, born in a Nagorno-Karabakh village as war forces its inhabitants to flee. Zemfo’s journey becomes a lens through which to examine migration, displacement and survival, with moments of magic, empathy, and love emerging. The pair’s debut 5 Dreamers and a Horse (2022) premiered in international competition at Visions du Réel and won the Grand Prix at Perso IFF and the Jury Prize at Ethnofest.
Dear Ajayi by Nigerian filmmaker Damilola Orimogunje is set in 1990s Nigeria, following two estranged sisters caring for their paralysed mother as they navigate grief, ambition and the fragile bonds of family. With Dear Ajayi he continues his interest in exploring emotional vulnerability, silence and the unspoken tensions following his debut feature For Maria Ebun Pataki, centred on postpartum depression within a relationship, which premiered at Film Africa 2020 and won an Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Award. Orimogunje produced All the Colors of the World Are Between Black and White (dir. Babatunde Apalowo), which premiered at the 2023 Berlinale and won the Teddy Award.
Completing a slate of IFFR support that includes HBF Development support, NFF+HBF support and CineMart presentation, Four Seasons in Java by Indonesian filmmaker Kamila Andini is supported for post-production. The film follows a woman released from prison who returns to her village to confront her past alongside a community of the marginalised. Andini’s previous film Before, Now & Then premiered at the 2022 Berlinale, where Laura Basuki won a Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance.
