email print share on Facebook share on Twitter share on LinkedIn share on reddit pin on Pinterest

SARAJEVO 2018 Industry

Sarajevo's Avant Premieres delivers a wide-ranging programme

by 

- The fifth edition of the Sarajevo industry section aimed at distributors and exhibitors was the largest and most insightful so far

Sarajevo's Avant Premieres delivers a wide-ranging programme
A Good Day's Work by Martin Turk

The fifth edition of the Sarajevo Film Festival's Avant Premieres section, launched in 2014 with the intention of strengthening the regional cinema network, improving placements, and promoting and distributing films from the region, was its largest so far. 

The Avant Premiere Gala, in which new, highly anticipated films and TV series are screened, included the first two episodes of the Norwegian TV series Home Ground by director Arild Andresen (Handle with Care [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Arild Andresen
film profile
]
) and production companies Motlys and NRK; the first two episodes of the second season of the Croatian series The Paper by Dalibor Matanić and production company Drugi Plan, which is the first product from the Balkan region picked up by Netflix; the first three parts of the Serbian series Morning Changes Everything, directed and created by Goran Stanković, Vladimir Tagić and Milica Tomović, and produced by This and That Productions for Serbian national broadcaster RTS; and the world premiere of Slovenian director Martin Turk's Sarajevo-shot feature A Good Day's Work [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, which was developed and funded through the Sarajevo City of Film scheme and is being distributed in Bosnia by Obala Art Centar.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

The section dedicated to Balkan distributors, Avant Premiere Trailers, showcased 31 films represented in the region by Serbian companies Art Vista (two upcoming Serbian titles, South Wind and Taxi Blues) and Megacom Film (no fewer than 11 films, including Cold War [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Pawel Pawlikowski
film profile
]
, Dogman
 [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Matteo Garrone
film profile
]
and Everybody Knows [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
); Croatia's 2i Film (Pula opener Aleksi [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
and the highly anticipated new Vinko Brešan title, What a Country! [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
), Blitz (attractive titles such as Asterix: The Secret of the Magic Potion and Gilles Lellouche's Sink or Swim [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, but also F20 by Croatian director Arsen Anton Ostojić), and the independent, Split-based Kino Mediteran (Gustav Möller's The Guilty [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Gustav Möller
film profile
]
and Marcelo Martinessi's The Heiresses [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, among others); and Bosnia's Film House Sarajevo with Aida Begić's Never Leave Me [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, Obala Art Centar with the SFF competition title One Day [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Zsófia Szilágyi
film profile
]
and Birds of Passage [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, and Una Film with Universal's Johnny English Strikes Again [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
and the Serbian children's film The Witch Hunters [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
.

Finally, the Avant Premiere Lab, an educational programme founded to address the most pressing issues in film exhibition and distribution, this year focused on audience development.

In the section entitled "Creating a Sustainable Business Model", Edita Bilaver Galinec, from Croatia's Kids Meet Art, spoke about the long-term strategy for audience development, and the BFI's Laura Glanville discussed how this institution supports this particular important aspect of distribution. 

Juliette Duret, from Belgium's BOZAR Centre for Fine Arts, Csenkiné Túri Edit, from Hungary's Otthon Mozi, and Stefan Kitanov, from Bulgaria's Cinema House, described how their institutions and cinemas create popular programmes and events.

Finally, in the "Sow Today and Reap Tomorrow" section, Živa Jurančić, from Slovenia's Kinodvor, Darko Bašeski, from the Giffoni Macedonia Youth Film Festival, and Elise Jalladeau, from the Thessaloniki IFF, related their experiences with attracting young audiences and keeping them interested.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

Did you enjoy reading this article? Please subscribe to our newsletter to receive more stories like this directly in your inbox.

Privacy Policy