Hubert Bals fund shares the love

Ten projects get script development aid

By IAN MUNDELL

BRUSSELS -- Twenty-six films from 17 countries, mainly in Asia and Latin America, share €385,000 ($595,000) in awards announced Tuesday by the Hubert Bals Fund, part of the Intl. Film Festival Rotterdam.

One winner, Pablo Larrain's "Tony Manero," preems at Cannes in Directors' Fortnight. Set in 1978, it tells the story of a John Travolta impersonator caught between disco and dictatorship in Augusto Pinochet's Chile.

Pic is one of nine features receiving post-production aid. Others include "Turistas," by Chilean helmer Alicia Scherson, whose "Play" drew international praise in 2005, and Turkish veteran Yesim Ustaoglu's "Pandora's Box."

Ten projects get script development aid, including "Jean Gentil" from Laura Amelia Guzman and Israel Cardenas. The pair's "Cochochi" won kudos at the Miami and Toronto film festivals.

Support for digital production goes to five helmers, including fest favorite Lav Diaz of the Philippines for "The Great Desaparecido."

Finally, "War, Love, God and Madness," by Mohamed Al-Daradji, will receive assistance with distribution. Docu about the perils of filmmaking in Iraq screened in this year's Rotterdam fest.