The Sarajevo Film Festival (which is set to unspool from 12-19 August this year) has announced the projects selected for its CineLink Co-Production Market and Drama strands, along with the creation of a new €10,000 cash prize, the Female Voices CineLink Award.

In detail, the new award will be presented by the Slovenian Film Centre, and will be granted to one project in development participating in the CineLink Co-Production or Drama strands, with the aim being to support and promote female voices from the Southeast European film industry. Nataša Bučar, head of the Slovenian Film Centre, commented on the importance of this new bursary: “The aim of the Female Voices CineLink Award is to encourage the creation of new stories revealing women’s previously unstated outlooks on the past and fresh approaches to stories from the present. Everything has already been shown before. However, the strength of every new film story and character lies in novel approaches and original perspectives. In recent years, women authors have been enriching the global audiovisual industry more than ever, and we also wish to promote the feminine worldview in our regional audiovisual works.”

The CineLink Co-Production Market will also hand out the Eurimages Co-Production Development Award (worth €20,000), the Film Centre Montenegro CineLink Award (€10,000), the Film Centre Serbia CineLink Award (€10,000) and the ARTEKino International Prize (€6,000). Meanwhile, CineLink Drama will offer two awards: the Croatian Audiovisual Centre Drama Award (€15,000) and the TV Drama Vision Pitch Award, through which the winning project will be presented at TV Drama Vision at the Göteborg Film Festival.

In order to cater to the specific needs of each project and to prepare them all for market exposure, this year, CineLink Industry Days has developed a range of activities, including the CineLink Workshop unspooling in June, one-on-one meetings during the festival (15-18 August), and subsequent online meetings taking place in September.

Here is the full list of this year’s selected projects:

Co-Production Market 2022

All They Know About Love (Turkey)
Writer-director: Melik Kuru
Producer: Irem Akbal (Bal Film)

The Boy with the Light-Blue Eyes (Greece)
Director: Thanasis Neofotistos
Writers: Thanasis Neofotistos, Grigoris Skarakis
Producer: Ioanna Bolomyti (Argonauts Productions SA)

Hear the Yellow (Turkey/France)
Writer-director: Banu Sivaci
Producer: Zeynep Koray (ZKF)
Co-producer: La Fabrica Nocturna

Mum (Serbia/Croatia)
Writer-director: Nikola Ležaić
Producers: Nikola Ležaić, Siniša Juričić (Qče)
Co-producer: Nukleus Film

Patrimonial Fears and Other Symptoms (Greece/Bulgaria)
Writer-director: Elina Psykou
Producers: Maria Drandaki (Homemade Films), Konstantinos Vassilaros (StudioBauhaus)
Co-producer: Red Carpet Films

Petty Thieves (Germany/Croatia/France)
Writer-director: Mate Ugrin
Producers: Daria Blažević, Mate Ugrin, Karsten Krause, Frank Scheuffele, Julia Cöllen, Tiphaine Robion (Fünferfilm)
Co-producers: Kadromat, In The Cut

Skateboarding is Not for Girls (North Macedonia/Belgium)
Director: Dina Duma
Writers: Dina Duma, Lidija Mojsovska
Producer: Labina Mitevska (Sisters and Brother Mitevski, Entre chien et Loup)

We All Die Naked (Albania)
Writer-directors: Iris Elezi, Thomas Logoreci
Producer: Enea Gramo (Art Film sh.p.k)

Yugoslava (Montenegro/Serbia/France)
Writer-director: Ivan Bakrač
Producers: Ivan Bakrač (Quadrifolium Films), Nikolina Vučetić-Zečević (Biberche Productions), Guillaume de Seille (Arizona Films)

CineLink Drama 2022

Brothers (Greece/Cyprus/Luxembourg)
Creator and writer: Simon Farmakas
Producers: Alexandra Hoesdorff, Désirée Nosbusch, Fenia Cossovitsa (Deal Productions)
Co-producer: Blonde s.a.

By Law (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Creator, writer and producer: Hari Šečić (Association Spektar)

Gloria (Hungary)
Creators: Balázs Zachar, Marcsi Tóth
Director: Fanni Szilágyi
Producer: Balázs Zachar (Proton Cinema)

Hela After All (Serbia/Croatia)
Creator: Saša Podgorelec
Writers: Jelena Paljan, Antonio Gabelić
Producers: Aleksandar Janković, Vojislava Janković (United media production)

Nighttime (Serbia)
Creators: Nikola Ljuca, Milan Marić
Writers: Staša Bajac, Nikola Ljuca
Producer: Milan Marić (Mechanism)

Rumpus (Croatia)
Creators: Dubravka Turić, Danijel Žeželj
Writer: Dubravka Turić
Producer: Ankica Jurić Tilić (Kinorama)

The Turkish Ambassador (Serbia)
Creator and producer: Darko Lungulov (Papa Films)