During the 30th Sarajevo Film Festival (August 16-23), CineLink, the festival’s industry programme, will showcase works in progress. This includes eight feature films and one documentary in production or post-production from Southeast Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.
Among the contenders are Alisa Kovalenko, who competed in Sarajevo last year with “We Shall Not Fade,” which also screened at the Berlin Film Festival; Adrian Setaru, who won the Locarno Best Director award for “The Best Intentions”; Tark Aktas, who won the Locarno Best Emerging Director award for “Dead Horse Nebula”; Ralitza Petrova, who won the Locarno Golden Leopard for “No God”; Maya Vitkova, who competed at Sundance with “Victoria”; and Anna Urushadze, who won the Locarno Best First Feature award for “The Scary Mother.”
Projects will be presented to financiers, sales agents, distributors, broadcasters and festival programmers with the aim of advancing their completion and enhancing their distribution opportunities.
Here is the lineup:
“Frontline” (Poland, Ukraine, Denmark)
documentary
Directed by: Alisa Kovalenko
Producer: Kasia Kuczynska
In the heart of the Ukrainian front, a mother, soldier and filmmaker captures the fragile calm shattered by war, revealing a deeply personal and unseen side of the conflict through her dual lens.
“front line”
Courtesy of Alisa Kovalenko
“Harakiri” (Romania)
imaginary
Directed by: Adrian Sitaru, Vlad Popa
Produced by: Iriana Adnan
Harakiri tells two seemingly unrelated stories: one about the superficial, critical approach of a TV show about suicide, and the other about love and mental health at home.
“Hear the Yellow” (Türkiye)
imaginary
Director: Banu Sivaji
Producers: Yusuf Aslaniyur, Orkun Huylu
Suna returns to her Anatolian village to search for her missing cat, uncovering family secrets and reconnecting with her roots along the way.
“Honey Rabbit” (Croatia, Serbia)
imaginary
Director: Igor Gilinovich
Producer: Rhea Rajsik
Tonina's secret move to secure a coveted family estate in Hvar causes her relationship with her sister Tajana to break down. This leads to a visit filled with escalating resentment, as unspoken tensions come to a head.
“Kriegsausgabe” (Türkiye)
imaginary
Director: Tarik Aktas
Producers: Gunes Şeker, Tarık Aktas
“Kriegsausgabe” is a dystopian epic set in Mesopotamia as Kramnok, a notorious warrior, tries to escape the violence and misery he was responsible for.
“Lust” (Bulgaria, Denmark, Sweden)
imaginary
Directed by: Ralitza Petrova
Producers: Polly Angelova, Nikolai Todorov, Ralitza Petrova, Eva Jacobsen, Anna Pewald
When a daughter becomes the unwitting heir to her estranged father, all she wants is to reject the inheritance and get back to her life. But a near-death experience changes everything.
“My turn!” (Hungary)
imaginary
Directed by: Ji Zhang
Producers: Katalin Cheney, Sissy Coy
The film explores the challenges of separation through the journey of a brother and sister as they seek to break free from the constraints of tradition, maturity, and their bodies.
“One Month” (Bulgaria)
imaginary
Directed by: Maya Vitkova-Kosev
Producer: Maya Vitkova-Kosev
Sarah, an artist who still lives with her parents, and has not been in a relationship since her fiancé left her 10 years ago, has one month to find a father for her future child in order to keep her alive.
“Supporting Role” (Georgia, Estonia, Türkiye)
imaginary
Directed by: Anna Oroshadze
Producers: Davit Tsintsadze, Ivo Felt, Sofia Bindiashvili, Pacho Mburishvili, Zeynep Atakan, Andrey Epifanov, Eleonora Granata, Dato Bakhtadze
A retired Georgian movie star, accustomed to playing heroic roles, embarks on a purifying journey after being offered a supporting role as an unpleasant old man.
