26/08/2024 - The 22nd edition of Sarajevo’s CineLink Co-Production Market marked the first year under the new leadership of Maša Marković and Ishak Jalimam

Concluding its 22nd iteration, the CineLink Co-Production Market, the industry facet of the Sarajevo Film Festival, has handed out its awards to projects from Southeastern Europe and the MENA region currently at different stages of development. From 20-22 August, Sarajevo welcomed a total of 13 film projects, and in total, the awardees received prizes worth €66,000. This year marked the first edition of CineLink held under the new leadership of Maša Marković and the newly appointed head of CineLink, Ishak Jalimam (see the news).

This year’s CineLink Co-Production Market jury consisted of founder and partner of Athens-based production company Heretic Konstantinos Kontovrakis, Janine Jackowski from Komplizen Film and Ilinka Teodorescu from the Romanian National Film Center. The three jurors granted the €20,000 Eurimages Co-production Development Award to Milica Tomović for her project Big Women, produced by Dragana Jovović, of Non-Aligned Films, and Jelena Radenković, of Big Time Production, in co-production with Bocalupo Films. Tomović made waves with her Berlinale 2021 entry Celts [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Milica Tomovic
film profile], and her new project follows two best friends on a bonding trip to the coast of Montenegro. CineLink’s Eurimages Special Co-Production Development Award (€20,000) was bagged by Times New Roman, the newest offering by La Palisiada [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Philip Sotnychenko
film profile] director Philip Sotnychenko. The project is backed by Valeria Sochyvets, of Contemporary Ukrainian Cinema.

The annual Film Center Serbia Award and Film Centre of Montenegro Award, worth €10,000 apiece, were handed out by a jury made up of Film Center Serbia’s Ivan Karl, Aleksandra Božović (Film Centre of Montenegro), Behrooz Hashemian (Silkroad Production), Čedomir Kolar (A.S.A.P. Films) and Savina Neirotti, of TorinoFilmLab. The Film Centre of Montenegro CineLink Award went to Hystéra, the new project by Asimina Proedrou (Behind the Haystacks [+see also:
film review
film profile]), produced by Maria Kontogianni, of Wild at Heart. The other €10,000 award given out by Film Center Serbia went to Aida Begić, for Air in a Bottle, where a gambling-addict mother returns home from Germany to mend her fraught relationship with her daughter. Film House Sarajevo and This and That Productions are behind the project.

Mathilde Hersant from ARTE France Cinéma bestowed the Artekino International Prize, worth €6,000, upon Serbian director Matija Gluščević for Uptight Ass, a story revolving around a 42-year-old primary-school History teacher. It was co-written together with Dušan Zorić and is being produced by Naked in co-production with Dinaridi Film.

The other sections of the CineLink Industry Days also announced their awards. The prizes in the CineLink Drama section (read more) went to both Pray for Us (a mystery series revolving around a priest moving to a war-torn village in Bosnia in order to save it from ten biblical plagues, written by Filip Jokanović and directed by Sara Stijović) and Angelmaker (the story of a midwife who uses home-made arsenic to help a woman get rid of her violent husband, but when more women come seeking help, it leads to a poisoning epidemic - created, written and directed by Cristina Groşan).

As for the awards handed out in the CineLink Work in Progress section, the Turkish National Radio Television Award went to Honey Bunny (Croatia/Serbia), directed by Igor Jelinović (see the news), and the Post Republic Award went to Hear the Yellow (Turkey), directed by Banu Sıvacı.

Lastly, the Docu Rough Cut Boutique awards can be found here.

The full list of award winners is as follows:

CineLink Co-Production Market

Eurimages Co-production Development Award
Big Women – Milica Tomović (Serbia)
Producers: Dragana Jovović, Jelena Radenković
Production companies: Non-Aligned Films, Big Time Production, Bocalupo Films

Eurimages Special Co-production Development Award
Times New Roman – Philip Sotnychenko (Ukraine)
Producer: Valeria Sochyvets
Production company: Contemporary Ukrainian Cinema

Film Center Serbia CineLink Award
Air in a Bottle – Aida Begić (Bosnia and Herzegovina/Serbia)
Producer: Snežana van Houwelingen
Production companies: Film House Sarajevo, This and That Productions

Film Centre of Montenegro CineLink Award
Hystéra – Asimina Proedrou (Greece)
Producer: Maria Kontogianni
Production company: Wild at Heart

ARTEKino International Prize
Uptight Ass – Matija Gluščević (Serbia)
Producer: Čarna Vučinić
Production companies: Naked, Dinaridi Film

Female Voices CineLink Award
Lullaby (Greece/Georgia)
Director: Keti Machaviarani
Writers: Keti Machaviarani, Nestan Kvinikadze
Producers: George Kyriakos, Effie Skrobola
Production company: View Master Films
Co-production company: Vineyard Films

CineLink Drama

Croatian Audiovisual Centre Drama Award
Pray for Us (Bosnia and Herzegovina/Kosovo/Montenegro)
Creator/writer: Filip Jokanović
Director: Sara Stijović
Producers: Jon Gojani, Sara Stijović
Production company: Kot Productions
Co-production company: Tiny Sofa

TV Drama Vision Pitch Award
Angelmaker (Romania/Czech Republic)
Creator/writer/director: Cristina Groşan
Producer: Anda Ionescu
Co-producer: Marek Novák
Production company: Tangaj Production
Co-production company: Xova Film

CineLink Work in Progress

Turkish National Radio Television Award
Honey Bunny (Croatia/Serbia)
Director: Igor Jelinović
Producer: Rea Rajčić
Production companies: Eclectica, Baš-Čelik

Post Republic Award
Hear the Yellow (Turkey)
Director: Banu Sıvacı
Producers: Yusuf Aslanyürek, Orkun Huylu
Production Companies: Anagraffilm, Huylu Film, Aslanyürek Film