Huub Bals

Hubertus Bernardus Huub Bals was the first director and creator of the International Film Festival Rotterdam , formerly named Film International. The IFFR started small in the Calypso cinema and film theatre t Venster in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, in 1972, with only 4500 visitors andfilms. In the forthcoming years the film festival expanded gradually under the watchful cinephile eye of Bals to 150.000 visitors and multiple cinemas in 1988 Bals last festival and developed into an annual film event of great international importance, with already more than 350.000 visitors in 2010. Thanks to Bals many new film countries and continents have been introduced to The Netherlands, among which Russia, China, Taiwan, Africa and LatinAmerica.

Huub Bals was born to Hubertus Bernardus Bals and Lamberta Snellenberg in Utrecht on February 3, 1937. His parents were simple, Catholic citizens from the traditional Wijk C in Utrecht, who traded in animalwaste products. Just before the Second World War, they moved to the workingclass district Ondiep in the same city.

Source: Wikipedia