The Hubert Bals Fund (HBF) of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) in the Netherlands announced on June 12 that the film projects of two Filipino movie directors were among the 10 movies selected to receive script and project development grants.
Jet Leyco’s “Leave It For Tomorrow, For Night Has Fallen” and Joanna Vasquez Arong’s “The Sigbin Chronicles” were among the 19 film projects from 15 countries in Asia, Europe, Africa, and Latin America, which made it to HBP’s Spring 2012 selection round Leyco earlier wrote and edited the films “Ex Press” and “Patlang” which was screened at the IFFR earlier this year. His work experiences include directing for the ABS-CBN News and Current Affairs as well as having trained under award-winning filmmakers Lav Diaz and Khavn dela Cruz.
For her part, Arong has been making films since 2002. Some of her works have received honors in international festivals, such as “Yugong Yishan (The Old Fool Who Moved the Mountains)”, which got the Kyobo Award at the Busan Asian Short Film Festival in 2009, and “Neo-Lounge,” which won Best Documentary at the 34th Brussels Independent Film Festival in 2007.
Founded in 1988, the HBP aims to help talented directors around the world in completing their film projects particularly those focusing in feature films and creative documentaries.