Sarajevo Film Festival’s industry section CineLink has revealed the first projects selected for its co-production market.
CineLink has selected eight feature film projects from Southeast Europe to take part in the CineLink Workshop, running from June 16–20, with one additional project set to join the others in the CineLink Co-Production Market, running Aug. 16–21. The program aims to connect filmmakers with decision-makers in production, financing, distribution and sales. In addition, the program offers script development support through tailored consultations and expert-led sessions.
This year’s projects are thematically connected through their “exploration of trauma, drawing parallels between contemporary struggles and historical events,” according to a statement. “They delve into the tension between the need for belonging and the quest for individual identity, offering a search for meaning amid chaos, and inviting audiences to discover beauty in vulnerability and strength in connection.”
The statement adds: “Seeking a responsible and thoughtful way to speak about the present moment, authors are turning to historical themes and increasingly to adapted material, which offers them a sense of security that there is a story worth telling, but also the way it supposed to be told.”
Director Andrei Tănase and producer Anamaria Antoci present their second feature, “Agatha Candy,” which follows their first feature “Day of the Tiger, which premiered at International Film Festival Rotterdam and screened in competition at the Sarajevo Film Festival.
David Kapac returns with “Pogana,” his second feature co-written with Andrija Mardešić, his collaborator on their debut “The Uncle,” which premiered at Karlovy Vary Film Festival.
Two projects from Turkey are also part of the lineup: the historical drama “That Country” by Yusuf Elbaşı, produced by Burak Çevik (“Belonging,” “Forms of Forgetting”), and the coming-of-age film “Rain Country” by Sarajevo Talents alumna Zeynep Köprülü.
Azerbaijani filmmaker Hilal Baydarov (“Sermon to the Fish,” “In Between Dying”) returns with his new drama, “Stone Over Stone,” after winning the Heart of Sarajevo for best documentary. Romania’s Miruna Minculescu joins with “Bright Gray,” produced by Oana Iancu and first presented through Sarajevo festival’s Pack & Pitch program.
From Hungary, Dorka Vermes (“Arni,” Venice Film Festival) returns with “Places Half Empty,” and Kalman Nagy presents “The Shame of the Boberly Family,” produced by Johannes Schubert, known for “Club Zero” by Jessica Hausner. Austria’s Simon Maria Kubiena presents “The Flowering of the Chimera,” his feature debut after the success of his short “Catching Birds.”
The CineLink Co-Production Market presents the following awards: Eurimages Co-Production Development Award (€20,000); Film Center Montenegro CineLink Award (€10,000); Film Center Serbia CineLink Award (€10,000); ARTEKino International Prize (€6,000); and CineLink Female Voices Award (€20,000).
CineLink Co-Production Market selected projects:
AGATHA CANDY
Director and Writer: Andrei Tănase
Producers: Anamaria Antoci, Anda Ionescu, Ana Voicu
Production Company: Tangaj Production
Country: Romania
While investigating the case of a teenage girl left for dead in the woods, Luminița (34), a small-town police officer, risks being swallowed into a dark, sinister world, where the unlawful meets the occult.
BRIGHT GREY
Director: Miruna Minculescu
Writers: Miruna Minculescu, Iulia Lumânare
Producers: Oana Iancu, Ana Ciobanu
Production Company: The East Company Productions
Co-Production Company: Contrast Films
Countries: Romania, Bulgaria
Caught in a tangled situation with present and former lovers, Călina tries to find purpose as both a mother and a humanbeing on a charity trip to the frontier of a war that doesn’t belong to her, but scares her less than her own.
PLACES HALF EMPTY
Director: Dorka Vermes
Writer: Sára Törley-Havas
Producers: Evelyn Balogh, Botond Lelkes
Production Company: Non Lieu Kft.
Country: Hungary
A controversial and intimate portrait of a queer relationship in the context of Orbán’s Hungary.
POGANA
Director: David Kapac
Writers: Andrija Mardešić, David Kapac
Producers: Rea Rajčić, Tina Tišljar
Production Company: Eclectica
Co-Production Companies: Vertigo
Countries: Croatia, Slovenia
On a faraway Dalmatian island in the 1920s Pogana, a woman from the inlands, is sold to be the new wife of a widowed sailor with five children. When the sailor is lost at sea, Pogana is left at the mercy of the cruel villagers and their customs.
RAIN COUNTRY
Director: Zeynep Köprülü
Writers: Zeynep Köprülü, Haziran Düzkan
Producers: Utku Zeka, Zeynep Köprülü, Cansu Menlikli
Production Company: Periferi Film
Country: Turkey
In early 2000’s İstanbul, high school senior Gül’s secret is exposed after her classmate’s suicide, turning her life upside down. Gül embarks on a journey to find her inner strength for independence and growth.
STONE OVER STONE
Director: Hilal Baydarov
Writers: Hilal Baydarov, Georg Tiller
Producers: Maéva Ranaïvojaona, Georg Tiller, Hilal Baydarov
Production Company: Subobscura Films
Co-production Company: Ucqar Film
Countries: Austria, Azerbaijan
Living and working in the decaying confines of a construction site, a young couple struggles to secure a hopeful future for their unborn child, trapped in a cycle of poverty and exploitation as they search for redemption amidst the rubble.
THE SHAME OF THE BORBÉLY FAMILY
Director: Kálmán Nagy
Writer: Kálmán Nagy
Producers: Andi G. Hess, Johannes Schubert
Production Company: Schubert
Co-Production Company: Lupa Pictures
Countries: Austria, Hungary
In a small Hungarian town, the life of Tamás and Éva’s family shatters when their 17-year-old son attacks his teacher with a knife. The family must face the consequences of the violent act.
THAT COUNTRY
Director and Writer: Yusuf Elbaşı
Producer: Burak Çevik
Production Company: Fol Films
Country: Turkey
In the mid-19th century, a Turkish painter and a German photographer set out to capture images of the Ottoman homeland. Lost in the mountains, they search for the purpose that led them there.
THE FLOWERING OF A CHIMERA (WT)
Director and Writer: Simon Maria Kubiena
Producers: Elli Leeb, Fabian Leonhardt
Production Company: Chimera Film
Countries: Austria, Germany
After a dark event, Jakob’s family is unable to face what he did and grows increasingly distant from him. Things start to change when the 18-year-old forms an unusual connection with Marius, a factory colleague who is over 30 years older than him. But as the two of them draw closer, Jakob’s past rises to the surface.
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