03/10/2024 - Special Mentions went to the Czech series Daughter of the Nation and the Bosnian show I Know Your Soul, while the latter’s creator, Jasmila Žbanić, received the Progressive Killer Award

Director Jasmila Zbanic with her Progressive Killer Award (© Serial Killer)

The seventh edition of the Serial Killer Festival (see the news), which celebrates quality European TV productions, has unveiled its winners. The Primetime Killer Award went to the Serbian show Operation Sabre, directed and produced by Goran Stanković and Vladimir Tagić. The international jury at the gathering, which focuses on Central and Eastern European series, praised the show for its technical mastery and emotional depth, noting its exceptional cinematography, editing, sound design and narrative structure.

Operation Sabre is a historical drama rooted in real events, telling the story of Zoran Djindjić, a former dissident who played a pivotal role in opposing the regime of former Serbian president Slobodan Milošević. The series offers a portrayal of the period following Djindjić’s assassination, exploring how this pivotal moment affected various sectors of Serbian society. Operation Sabre paints a portrait of a nation still grappling with the shadow of the Milošević era.

Festival programme director Táňa Zabloudilová remarked on the importance of the series, particularly in how it addresses the political legacy of Djindjić’s death. “After The Family, a 2021 mini-series that dealt with the fall of Milošević and also took home the top award at Serial Killer, Serbia once again demonstrates its command of television as a platform for processing recent, traumatic history.”

The jury also awarded two Special Mentions: the Czech series Daughter of the Nation [+see also:
series review
trailer
series profile] received recognition for its outstanding set design, while Bosnia’s I Know Your Soul was praised for its complex script, which struck a balance between narrative and character development. The latter’s creator, Bosnian writer-director Jasmila Žbanić, was further honoured with the Progressive Killer Award for her contributions to television in the region. Žbanić, known internationally for her Oscar-nominated film Quo Vadis, Aida? [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jasmila Žbanić
film profile], also directed an episode of HBO’s acclaimed series The Last of Us.

In the short-form category, the Quick Killer Award went to the Polish-Belarusian web series Processes [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Andrei Kashperski. The jury commended the show for its political satire, a sharp commentary on the current Belarusian regime. Combining elements of grotesque humour, absurdity and dystopian themes, Processes envisions a future where law enforcement is so overwhelmed by political prisoners that they are forced to house them in their own homes. The prisoners, in turn, prove surprisingly useful around the house.

This year’s Serial Killer Festival screened 35 series from 19 countries and hosted the TV Days conference, featuring nearly 70 speakers. Among them were notable figures such as The Bear producer Carrie Holt de Lama, former NBCUniversal senior vice-president Gillian Rose, and representatives from Beta Film and ARTE France. An important moment of the festival was the signing of the founding memorandum for the Sustainability Platform, an initiative led by major players in Czech audiovisual production. With signatories including the Czech Audiovisual Producers’ Association, the Association of Czech Film Directors, Screenwriters and Script Editors, FAMU and leading broadcasters, the platform sets out principles for sustainable production practices in the Czech Republic.

The eighth edition of the Serial Killer Festival will take place from 23-28 September 2025 in Brno.

The awards:

Primetime Killer Award
Operation Sabre - Goran Stankovic, Vladimir Tagic (Serbia)

Special Mentions
The set design of Daughter of the Nation [+see also:
series review
trailer
series profile] (Czech Republic)
The script of I Know Your Soul (Bosnia-Herzegovina)

Quick Killer Award
Processes [+see also:
film review
film profile] - Andrei Kashperski (Belarus/Poland)