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CineLink workshop in Slano started with activities for Co-Production Market projects

The CineLink workshop in Slano started on June 20 with activities for projects of this year's selection of CineLink Co-Production Market which will present a total of 11 feature-length film projects during the 29th Sarajevo Film Festival.

For the next three days, the participants of the workshop in Slano will have the opportunity to attend the masterclass of Juraj Lerotić, whose debut feature film SAFE PLACE developed at CineLink and has so far received 15 awards, including two Hearts of Sarajevo: for best film and best actor; then Juha Kousmanen, a Finnish director and screenwriter whose films have received multiple awards at festivals such as the Cannes Film Festival and the Locarno Film Festival, Konstantinos Kontovrakis, producer and co-producer of more than 25 internationally successful films, including the TRIANGLE OF SADNESS from Ruben Östlund, two-time winner of the Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival and last year's winner of the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo Film Festival, and Giorgos Karnavas, a member of the European Academy of Film and the founder of the Synch Festival.

As for activities that include work on script development and production value, the CineLink team organized a series of meetings with mentors whose work achieved international success. Among the mentors with whom the participants will have the opportunity to develop their films are successful screenwriters and script consultants such as Franz Rodenkirchen, Francoise von Roy and Elma Tataragić, independent and influential producers of art-house films from the region such as Jelena Mitrović from Serbia, Bianca Oana from Romania, as well as Yorgos Tsourgiannis from Greece, and others.

The director, Dušan Kasalica, is among the participants in the CineLink workshop in Slano, who shared his impressions after the first day: “As a director coming from Montenegro, it makes perfect sense for Sarajevo Film Festival, as the most important festival in the region, to be my first address for all my projects. I was fortunate to participate in nearly every program of the Sarajevo Film Festival, from the Sarajevo Talent Campus, to a selection of short films. My first feature film also participated at CineLink, I had a premiere at the Sarajevo Film Festival, so I really feel that my career is inextricably linked to the Sarajevo Film Festival and it was completely logical for me to apply for another feature film at CineLink.”

Kasalica emphasizes that CineLink is the best possible way for the project to be presented to potential partners and foundations.

“On the other hand, at this stage of CineLink, it is valuable for me to hear an opinion about the project from numerous mentors with whom we look at the project from different aspects, both from the creative side and at the scenario level, as well as from the financial side. CineLink always tries to bring together a team of people who know how to approach the project in the right way. I have the impression that we always get the right mentors who understand the project, but also understand the needs of that project, as well as the way it is best to correct everything that we are working on to actually make the final of that project as good as possible," Kasalica said.

The 29th Sarajevo Film Festival will take place from 11th to 18th of August 2023.