Geethu Mohandas gets Hubert BALS fund
Malayalam actress Geethu Mohandas, who turned director with the critically acclaimed short film Kelkkunnundo, grabs headlines once again! Her next project has been chosen for the Hubert BALS Fund in the script and project development category.
The Hubert BALS fund, started in 1988, is designed to bring 'remarkable or urgent' feature films by talented film makers from developing countries closer to fruition. The fund is supported by the Dutch ministry of foreign affairs and Dutch NGOs.
"It is a very, very prestigious honour which is part of the Rotterdam International Film Festival in the Netherlands. Basically, at every stage, they fund international directors after they send in a complete thesis report of what your film is about, two-page synopsis, director's treatment, so on and so forth -- a huge thesis. Of the thousands of entries that come in, they choose 192 from around the world, shortlist and then award the top best 11 projects," the actress explained.
"So, for the fall selection (category), I am the only one from India in the top 11. There are different stages for receiving the Hubert BALS fund. Scripting is the first stage and project development, digital production, post production and distribution are the others stages. The prize money will be higher in each stage. For the initial stage, I won Euro 10000. This is primarily for writing the script and enabling the director to travel and do other related activities," she said.
