Two standout series from the Balkans were in the spotlight this week at the Sarajevo Film Festival, where local creators shared their recipes for turning regional stories into potential successes.
Sunday evening saw the regional premiere of “Operation Sabre,” a Serbian crime drama that premiered at this year’s Canneseries feature film competition. The series, written and directed by Goran Stankovic and Vladimir Tajic, revolves around the 2003 assassination of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Dinjić.
Snezana van Houwelingen, who produced the series for Belgrade-based This and That Productions, in collaboration with Martiška Bozilova (Agitprop) for Radio Television Serbia, said the creators had global audiences in mind from the moment they started developing the script.
“From the beginning, we thought this story had international potential, even though it was a very local event and set in Serbia,” she said. “Everything we did during the development process was tied to how you make a TV show.” [that would] “Communicating with an international audience.”
Anna Rudd, international creative director at Beta Film Group — whose distribution arm, Beta Film, represents the series globally — said her company began promoting the project as early as 2019, when it won an award during the CineLink Drama screening sessions in Sarajevo.
“From that point on, it became very clear that the film was very international,” says Rudd. The Munich-based production and distribution giant—whose regional slate includes “Know Your Soul,” a crime drama from Oscar-nominated director Jasmila Žbanić (“Quo Vadis, Aida?”), which was the big winner at this week’s Heart of Sarajevo TV Awards—quickly wondered how it could leverage its considerable international power to create a Balkan hit.
The series “I Know Your Soul” won a big award at the Heart of Sarajevo TV Awards.
Courtesy of Deblokada for BH Content Lab
“We discussed what we could add as a co-production partner,” said Rudd. “What could we contribute to bring the film to an international audience together? It was more than just a matter of collaboration.”
There’s been a shift in the way the French distribution giant approaches TV series, said Eckert Emmanuel, VP of acquisitions at MediaOne Rights. “We really want to help the producer finance the show. That’s what we’re doing more and more,” he said. “It’s very different from 10 years ago, when we just received shows” that were finished and ready to sell. “We’re more of a partner than a distributor.”
Earlier this year, the company announced its first foray into the Balkans at Series Mania, acquiring international distribution rights to “Constantine’s Crossing,” a World War II supernatural tale about the Nazis’ hunt for powerful relics that once belonged to Roman Emperor Constantine the Great.
Describing the series as “a Serbian show with vampires, werewolves, Nazis and a mysterious cross,” Emanuel admitted that the series “is not the easiest show.” He said, “What really attracted me was not only the quality of the production team, but also the script. It's always a game changer.”
Constantine's Crossing is an adaptation of Dejan Stojeljković's best-selling novel in Serbia, and is produced by Telekom Serbia and Belgrade-based Firefly Productions. The series is written by Djordje Milosavljević and Firefly co-founder Boban Gifti.G.
The show's mystical elements were exactly what its creators wanted to highlight when they set out to put it on the international market, said Jevtic, a former head of the Serbian Film Centre and an accomplished screenwriter and TV writer.
“The Constantine Pass” is a supernatural drama set during World War II.
Courtesy of Firefly Productions
“When people think about the kind of project we want to do on a very large scale, we wanted to do something that communicated with the world through genre, with a really strong local touch,” he said.
Such genre conventions have become a staple of international television production, especially as emerging industries look to create a format that will create a specific, globally recognizable identity – the equivalent of each Nordic region.
However, Beta's Rudy cautions aspiring TV content creators in Sarajevo against applying a one-size-fits-all strategy in their search for the mysterious alchemy behind creating global success.
“Here’s the bad news: There’s no recipe,” she said. “And here’s the good news: There’s a lot of creative energy.” [in a region] “This book is full of stories, and it's so fun to look at each one. We're open to anything.”
On the other hand, Emmanuel pointed out that the countries of the former Yugoslavia – which have long been associated with turmoil and conflict – would benefit from rallying around their common history and cultural identity.
“I think what is very important when we talk about the Balkans is that we are not talking about one country. Of course, we work with Serbia, Croatia and other countries. But I think we are stronger when we are united,” he said.
The Sarajevo Film Festival takes place from August 16 to 23.
