Introduction to the Sarajevo Film Festival
The Sarajevo Film Festival is a prominent event in the film industry, and it’s happening from August 15th to 22nd. This year, the festival’s industry platform, Cinelink, will feature eleven exciting projects, including eight fiction films and three documentary or hybrid titles. These projects will compete for a total of €120,000 in prizes, including the new Avanpost Media Award and the Cinelink Impact Award.
Featured Films and Directors
One of the featured films is "17", a drama directed by Kosara Mitic, which tells the story of a 17-year-old girl who becomes pregnant after a threesome with her classmates. The film is produced by Tomi Salkovski for Black Cat Production in North Macedonia, in co-production with Serbia’s Art & Popcorn and Slovenia’s December. Another interesting project is "Alkebulan", a documentary fiction hybrid directed by Yassine Marco Marroccu, which follows a journey to save a holy amulet from a shipwreck on the Sahara coast.
International Co-Productions
The selection also includes international co-productions, such as the Israel-Germany co-production "From Where?", a tragic comedy about a Palestinian Uber driver in Berlin and a young Israeli who gets lost in the city. Other notable projects include "Everything That Is Wrong With You" from Slovenia, Germany, and Serbia, and "The Forbidden Aunt" from Serbia.
Cinelink Industry Days 2025
The Cinelink Industry Days will take place from August 16th to 21st, where the selected projects will be presented to industry experts, including donors, sales agents, distributors, broadcasters, and festival programmers. The projects competing for the awards are:
- "17" (North Macedonia, Serbia, Slovenia) directed by Kosara Mitic
- "Alkebulan" (Hungary, Morocco, Qatar) directed by Yassine Marco Marroccu
- "Blue Bird" (Turkey) directed by Ahmet Sonmez
- "Everything That Is Wrong With You" (Slovenia, Germany, Serbia) directed by Ursa Menart
- "The Forbidden Aunt" (Serbia) directed by Bojana Novakovic
- "Grind" (Croatia, Turkey) directed by Antonio Nuic
- "Monument" (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Japan) directed by Bojan Bodruzic
- "Silence Is the Enemy of the Sea" (France, Zambia, Austria) directed by Evgeny Rodin and Dina Karman
- "From Where?" (Israel, Germany) directed by Assaf Machnes
- "Who Are We" (Serbia, Italy, Luxembourg, Bulgaria, Croatia) directed by Terzic
- "Yesterday the Eye Did Not Sleep" (Belgium, Pakistan) directed by Mainion
Conclusion
The Sarajevo Film Festival’s Cinelink Industry Days promises to be an exciting event, showcasing a diverse range of projects from talented directors and producers. With a total of €120,000 in prizes up for grabs, the competition is sure to be fierce. The festival provides a platform for industry professionals to discover new talent and innovative storytelling, and for audiences to experience the best of international cinema.
