Sarajevo Film Festival's CineLink Announces New Leadership and Projects

This year, Maša Marković, who continues as Head of Industry for the third year, is joined by Ishak Jalimam, who has been appointed the new Head of CineLink. Amra Bakšić Čamo, Head of CineLink since its inception, has steped down from this role to focus on developing new projects under Sarajevo Film Festival's umbrella.

Jalimam, a Sarajevo Academy of Performing Arts graduate, brings extensive experience in production and management, with involvement in prestigious film festivals and as a producer at the Sarajevo War Theater. He has worked on numerous films that have screened at festivals like Sundance, Venice, and Sarajevo. Jalimam is the founder and president of Realstage Productions. In 2020, he received the Young Producers Award at the Sofia Film Festival—Sofia Meetings.

 

All CineLink selections this year have been finalized under new leadership, including the addition of nine new projects for presentation at the CineLink Co-Production Market and CineLink Drama. Esteemed directors and Golden Bear winners Ildikó Enyedi and Semih Kaplanoğlu will showcase their drama series in development.

 

Returning to CineLink Industry Days are alumni such as Philip Sotnychenko, whose film LA PALISIADA won the Heart of Sarajevo in 2023, and Mina Mileva and Vesela Kazakova, whose CAT IN THE WALL enjoyed success at festivals from Cannes to Locarno. Bosnian and Herzegovinian director Aida Begić, known for her film CHILDREN OF SARAJEVO, which won the Un Certain Regard - Special Distinction of the Jury in 2012, will present a new feature in development during the Co-Production Market.

 

Earlier this year, as part of the Going European program organized by CNC (Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée) in cooperation with Series Mania, Conecta Fiction Entertainment, CineLink Industry Days selected a new drama project in development by acclaimed directors Teona Strugar Mitevska and Sonja Prosenc.

 

In collaboration with the Doha Film Institute, we proudly present SELFLESS, a feature in development by Meriem Mesraoua and François d'Artemare. Thanks to the European Women's Audiovisual Network (EWA) and their inaugural Series Accelerator Programme developed in partnership with Netflix, the developing drama series I LOVE SPAIN will be presented during a pitching session on August 20 at the Sarajevo Film Festival.

 

The CineLink lineup reaffirms its significance for both emerging talent and established industry professionals.  Following a successful workshop in Slano, Croatia, which featured eight film and six drama projects in development, our completed lineup now includes 22 projects that will be presented from August 20-22 in Sarajevo.

 

The CineLink Team remains committed to enhancing production value by connecting projects with key decision-makers in production, financing, distribution, and sales while offering extensive script development support. We look forward to an exciting and dynamic showcase at the Sarajevo Film Festival.

 

 

Director: Aida Begić

Producer: Snežana van Houwelingen

Production companies: Film House Sarajevo, This and That Productions

Countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia

 

SABINA (60), a returnee from Germany, wants to rebuild the relationship with her estranged daughter by preparing a fairytale wedding for her in their hometown of Sarajevo. However, Sabina's gambling addiction threatens to destroy her efforts.

 

MATHER / PAPAN  

Directors: Mina Mileva, Vesela Kazakova

Scriptwriters: Angelina Rangelova, Mina Mileva 

Producers: Mina Mileva, Vesela Kazakova 

Production company: Activist38 Ltd. 

Co-production company: Doni Mont Ltd. 

Country: Bulgaria

 

Overweight ANDREA writes slogans for sex toys for a French company in Bulgaria. Her aim to have a child as a gender fluid person in the Balkans will meet a few obstacles but a mystical ancestor helps.

 

Director: Meriem Measraoua

Producer: François d'Artemare

Production company: Les films de l'après-midi

Countries: France, Algeria, Qatar

 

Set in Oran, Algeria, SELFLESS portrays a woman who adopts extreme measures to save the illusory refuge of her marriage.

 

Director/Writer: Philip Sotnychenko

Producer: Valeria Sochyvets

Co-producer: Klementina Remeikaite

Production Company: Contemporary Ukrainian Cinema

Co-production company: Afterschool

Countries: Ukraine, Lithuania

 

The russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a reporter that copes with alcohol problems can't make a choice between his lover and his wife, trying not to repeat the mistakes of his parents.

 

Director/Scriptwriter: Mehmet Bahadir Er 

Producer: Mehmet Bahadir Er, Maryna Er Gorbach 

Production company: PROTIM V.P 

Country: Turkey 

We are perfect with our differences and shortcomings. Perfection is harmony. 

 

 

Creator, writer: Katalin Besenyei

Director: Ildikó Enyedi

Producer: Ákos Erdős

Production company: Paprika Studios Kft.

Country: Hungary

 

The ballad of two sex trafficking survivors setting out on a journey to free one of their sisters and to take revenge on the mafia who held them captive.

 

Creator/Director/Writer: Semih Kaplanoğlu

Producer: Suzan Guverte

Production company: Kaplan Film Production & Guverte Film

Country: Turkey

 

In 1909, the secrets of the 8 days between the day it was decided to depose the last Ottoman Sultan Abdülhamit II and his exile from Istanbul to Thessaloniki, in which the Sultan and his family were isolated from the world in Yıldız Palace are investigated by journalist Richard Lordman, who, 20 years after the event, finds the Sultan's diary, which is thought to be missing.

 

Creators: Teona Strugar Mitevska, Sonja Prosenc

Writers: Teona Strugar Mitevska, Sonja Prosenc

Producers: Labina Mitevska, Sonja Prosenc, Teona Strugar Mitevska

Production companies: Monoo, Sisters and Brother Mitevski

Countries: Slovenia, North Macedonia, Belgium

 

In an eerie post-socialist apartment complex where residents vanish without a trace, two vampire queens, a mother and a daughter, both over 50, both addicts, are on a mission to purify the world.

 

Creator: Begoña Soler

Producer: Alejandra Mora

Production company: Quatre Films Audiovisuales

Country: Spain

 

GLORIA (42), is a nihilistic artist in a slump. INMA (53) is the strict manager of I love Spain, an emblematic souvenir shop-museum. Their lives come together when they each inherit half of the shop, which is also lacking direction. Their continuous conflicts end up giving way to a bizarre friendship.

For a detailed overview of the previously announced projects for the CineLink Co-Production Market, please visit HERE, and for the CineLink Drama selection, please visit HERE.