Four Projects from Georgia, Nepal, Peru, and South Africa Secure HBF+Europe Post-production Grants
The Hubert Bals Fund (HBF) has announced four recipients of its HBF+Europe: Post-production Support grants, each awarded €60,000 to aid completion. These grants, sponsored by Creative Europe MEDIA, target European co-productions with filmmakers from regions supported by HBF. This year's recipients represent diverse narratives from Georgia, Nepal, Peru, and South Africa, each collaborating with European partners in Luxembourg, Germany, Spain, and the Netherlands. The selected projects include themes of rural realism, personal identity, post-colonial reflection, and societal transformations.
Georgian filmmaker Rati Oneli's "Wild Dogs Don’t Bite" presents a revenge noir set in post-Soviet Georgia. Known for his observational documentary City of the Sun, which premiered at Berlinale Forum in 2017, Oneli brings a story exploring the harsh realities of contemporary Georgian society. Collaborating with Luxembourg-based Les Films Fauves, "Wild Dogs Don’t Bite" follows two drifters attempting to redefine their lives amid a violent, alienated environment.
Nepalese director Sahara Sharma’s "My Share of the Sky" (Ek Mutthi Badal – एक मुठ्ठी बादल), supported by German co-producer Chromosom Film, examines themes of belonging and societal pressures on women. The narrative follows a young woman questioning her future on the eve of her wedding, in a poignant reflection on patriarchal expectations and personal freedom. Sharma, who previously opened the Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival with her 2013 debut Chasing Rainbows, became the first female director to achieve this distinction in Nepal.
In a unique experimental project, Peru’s Mauricio Freyre combines his backgrounds in film, architecture, and design with "Estados generales", a 16mm film tracing a fictional voyage of botanical materials from Madrid’s Botanical Garden back to Peru. Freyre's film engages with colonial history through botanical archives, in collaboration with Spanish production partner Tasio. His multidisciplinary work includes installations like Interspecies Architecture, showcased at the 2021 Venice Architecture Biennale.
The South African project "Variations on a Theme", directed by Devon Delmar and Jason Jacobs, merges rural life with a touch of magical realism. The narrative follows an elderly goat herder tricked into believing she will receive reparations for her father’s WWII service. Produced by South Africa’s KRAAL and the Netherlands' Interakt Productions, this project combines fiction and documentary elements, a style that also characterized the duo’s earlier film Carissa, presented at Venice’s Orizzonti.
Complete List of Projects Supported
1. Variations on a Theme / Devon Delmar, Jason Jacobs / South Africa, Netherlands
- Plot: An elderly goat herder awaits reparations for her father’s WWII service, as her family disrupts her independence on her 80th birthday.
- Lead producer: KRAAL (South Africa)
- Applicant producer: Interakt Productions BV (Netherlands)
2. My Share of the Sky (Ek Mutthi Badal – एक मुठ्ठी बादल) / Sahara Sharma / Nepal, Germany
- Plot: A young woman faces generational expectations in a search for autonomy and home in a patriarchal society.
- Lead producer: Gauthali Entertainment (Nepal)
- Applicant producer: Chromosom Film GMBH (Germany)
3. Estados generales / Mauricio Freyre / Peru, Spain
- Plot: A parcel of seeds, stored at Madrid’s Botanical Garden, travels back to Peru, evoking colonial history through botany.
- Lead producer: Estudio RIEN (Peru)
- Applicant producer: Tasio (Spain)
4. Wild Dogs Don’t Bite / Rati Oneli / Georgia, Luxembourg
- Plot: Two wanderers in Georgia confront violence and societal shifts as they strive to reclaim their identities.
- Lead producer: Office of Film Architecture (Georgia)
- Applicant producer: Les Films Fauves (Luxembourg)
The HBF+Europe initiative supports diverse cinematic voices from regions underrepresented in global filmmaking, aiding post-production efforts that bring unique and thought-provoking narratives to the screen. This year’s selections emphasize both local and universal themes, presenting innovative works that bridge cultures and reveal new perspectives.