Out Of Africa: African Projects Announced For The Hubert Bals Fund
Selected projects span Africa, Asia and Latin America, with several African titles receiving backing The Hubert Bals Fund (HBF) has announced the projects awarded €60,000 each through its HBF+Europe support schemes, with several African titles set to benefit from the funding. The HBF+Europe funding schemes, supported by the Creative Europe – MEDIA programme of the […]
Black News
Selected projects span Africa, Asia and Latin America, with several African titles receiving backing
The Hubert Bals Fund (HBF) has announced the projects awarded €60,000 each through its HBF+Europe support schemes, with several African titles set to benefit from the funding.
The HBF+Europe funding schemes, supported by the Creative Europe – MEDIA programme of the European Union, encourage European producers to participate as co-producers in film projects by filmmakers from Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and parts of Eastern Europe. The HBF+Europe: Minority Co-production Support scheme provides advanced financing for production, while HBF+Europe: Post-production Support helps consolidate funding once shooting is complete.
“Alongside new voices, we are glad to continue investing in filmmakers whose careers we have followed for years, and we’re delighted to offer them all a further helping hand to bring their projects towards completion”, said Tamara Tatishvili, Head of the HBF.
The selected African projects include:
The Last Tears of the Deceased by Beza Hailu Lemma (Ethiopia)
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.
Dear Ajayi by Damilola Orimogunje (Nigeria)
Set in 1990s Nigeria, this story follows two estranged sisters caring for their paralysed mother as they navigate grief, ambition and the fragile bonds of family. With it, Orimogunje 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 Colours of the World Are Between Black and White (directed by Babatunde Apalowo), which premiered at the 2023 Berlinale and won the Teddy Award.
The selected projects will move forward through various stages of production and post-production with the support of the HBF+Europe schemes, with funds expected to be deployed over the coming year in collaboration with European co-producers. As these films progress towards completion, several are likely to premiere at major international festivals, continuing the Hubert Bals Fund’s track record of championing globally resonant cinema and amplifying emerging voices from Africa and beyond.
