26/08/2024 - A panel held at Sarajevo’s CineLink Industry Days was the perfect platform to question how the idea of “European cinema” affects countries differently

Director Jasmila Žbanić takes the microphone during the panel discussion (© Sarajevo Film Festival)

A panel called “Position of Southeast European Filmmakers in the European Film Academy”, held at this year’s CineLink Industry Days, became the perfect platform to not only delve deeper into the perceived unity of “Europeanness” as a label, but also to question how the idea of “European cinema” affects countries differently. Moderated by Nebojša Jovanović (Talents Sarajevo programme manager at the Sarajevo Film Festival), the panel was set up as a place where voices could be amplified and challenges addressed.

Matthijs Wouter Knol, CEO and director of the European Film Academy, kicked off proceedings with a presentation on the activities undertaken by the academy in “building the future of European cinema”, including the initiatives for its promotion in the shape of partnerships with streaming services such as MUBI and, hopefully one day, Netflix. When discussing the region, Knol acknowledged the geopolitical variations of what counts as Southeast Europe, and his facts and figures took in Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, and Slovenia. In a recap of European Film Award-winning films from the region between 1989 and 2023, Romania led with nine wins, followed by Bosnia and Herzegovina with six awarded films. The European Film Academy CEO also emphasised the efforts being made to give the institution’s board more equal representation by 2025, as up until this point, there have only been three people on the board representing the 16 countries of Eastern Europe.

A point of discussion arose when Knol mentioned the voting process for the academy’s awards. The rationale behind “who votes for what” prompted panellist Jasmila Žbanić to address the changing tides of attitudes felt towards regional filmmakers. She noted that with every success of a regional film comes the question of marginalisation and the actual visibility of movies from smaller European territories in contrast with those of the leading high-production countries. “With Quo Vadis, Aida? [+see also:
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interview: Jasmila Žbanić
film profile], we were lucky to have screened the film at Venice, and then we had word of mouth, and of course, the Oscar nomination helped people see it,” said Žbanić. In her view, time and awards are the two leading factors that can help a film like this be seen.

Chiming in, Croatian producer Miljenka Čogelja, of Zagreb-based production company Pipser, offered insights from her experience with Safe Place [+see also:
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interview: Juraj Lerotić
film profile], the Locarno and Sarajevo winner from 2022. “At first, promoting the film felt like we had to compete with giants,” she shared regarding the inevitable competition inherent in being nominated alongside productions supported by bigger budgets at every stage of development. Since it is very rare for European films to be distributed and promoted in many countries at once – although Triangle of Sadness [+see also:
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interview: Ruben Östlund
interview: Ruben Östlund
film profile] and The Zone of Interest [+see also:
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film profile] emerged as exceptions to the rule – the reception is somewhat fragmented, and that slow trickle is not enough to push smaller-budget productions towards recognition. In response, Knol vouched for the European Film Academy’s commitment to making European film promotion more effective and accessible to filmmakers from the academy and outlined some possible paths forward.

“Being a member of the European Film Academy means a lot to me,” said Žbanić, who is also a member of the US Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. “The fact that we’re not forced to tell our stories in only one way is very valuable,” she added, hinting at the multiplicity and diversity of voices that characterise Europe and the idea of “European” cinema as a whole. However, there are always tensions present in a diverse notion of identity such as that of European cinema, and from the audience, Bosnian filmmaker Aida Begić drew attention to the existing “gap between what we’d like to keep [from our identity] and what we’d like to achieve in the long run”. Her response burrowed straight to the heart of the discussion, homing in on the fact that the dynamics of preservation and innovation that can hopefully ensure more visibility (and more viewership) are in a constant push-and-pull.