13/06/2023 - Six drama series from North Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia, Romania, Ukraine and Turkey will be presented during the CineLink Industry Days in August

Nisan Dağ, the creator, writer and director of the Turkish series The Amazons of Istanbul

The Sarajevo Film Festival's CineLink Drama strand (12-17 August), a co-financing forum presenting series projects in development to influential broadcasters, VoD and SVoD operators, and distributors from Europe and the region, has revealed the selection for its 2023 edition.

Created, written and directed by Andrey Volkashin and Peter Vulchev for North Macedonia's OXO Production, Adventures of a Turbo-Folk Princess follows "clumsy sweetheart" Vaska, who accidentally poisons her gangster fiancé and runs away with his money to fulfil her biggest dream of becoming a pop star, mentored by the short-tempered prostitute Eboni.

The Serbian anthology series Connections, from the production company Adrenalin, best known for the hit crime series Besa, explores various aspects of romantic relationships by drilling down to the essence of such bonds, the psychology of the characters, and the way society and the environment affect them. Tea Korolija, Maja Todorović and Srdjan Šaper are the creators.

The Croatian series Lost Traces, created by Aleksandar Arsovski for Zagreb-based Wolfgang & Dolly, has a cryptic logline: “When you don't know, the truth is exactly what you decide it to be.”

Inspired by true events, Miracles, from creators Igor Cobileanski and Daniel Mitulescu, offers some extraordinary stories taking place in Southeast Europe that raise questions about what a miracle is, how it can influence our day-to-day life and, ultimately, who we are as humans today. It is a production by Romania's Metropolis Film.

From Ukraine's FILM.UA Group comes The Wrong Man, created by Olesia Lukianenko. When her son is wrongly accused of murder, Tanya dares to challenge the criminal-justice system and tracks down the serial killer who hasn’t been caught for over 20 years.

Finally, Turkey's Solis Film and creators Nisan Dağ and Müge Özen are making The Amazons of Istanbul, set in 1808. When the daring Sultan Esma ascends to the throne of the Ottoman Empire as its first woman ruler, she battles against vicious opposition from the patriarchy with her band of female warriors.

After an online preparatory workshop in July, the teams will present their projects at the highly anticipated pitching session on 15 August, during the festival. They will have a chance to receive the Croatian Audiovisual Centre Drama Award, worth €15,000, and the TV Drama Vision Pitch Award, where one project will be selected to be presented at the TV Drama Vision event at Göteborg.

The full list of projects is as follows:

Adventures of a Turbo-Folk Princess (North Macedonia/Bulgaria)
Creators/writers/directors: Andrey Volkashin, Peter Vulchev
Producers: Pece Taleski, Ilija Tilicovski
Production company: OXO Production

Connections (Serbia)
Creators: Tea Korolija, Maja Todorović, Srdjan Šaper
Writers: Tena Štivčić, Maja Todorović, Sladjana Perković, Ana Miloš, Staša Koprivica, Ljiljana Ćuk
Producers: Marija Vićić, Filip Đorić, Mirjana Jovašević
Production company: Adrenalin
Co-production company: Two Rivers

Lost Traces (Croatia)
Creator: Aleksandar Arsovski
Writers: Nikolina Bogdanović, Maja Sviben
Director: Filip Heraković
Producers: Tamara Babun, Matija Drniković
Production company: Wolfgang & Dolly

Miracles (Romania/Moldova)
Creators: Igor Cobileanski, Daniel Mitulescu
Writer/director: Igor Cobileanski
Producer: Daniel Mitulescu
Production company: Metropolis Film

The Wrong Man (Ukraine)
Creator: Olesia Lukianenko
Writer: Iryna Zhygaliuk
Producers: Olesia Lukianenko, Kateryna Vyshnevska
Production company: FILM.UA Group

The Amazons of Istanbul (Turkey)
Creators: Nisan Dağ, Müge Özen
Writer/director: Nisan Dağ
Producer: Müge Özen
Production company: Solis Film