SARAJEVO 2026 CineLink Industry Days
CineLink finalises its Co-Production Market and Drama line-ups
by Olivia Popp
- A total of 16 feature film and 8 drama series projects will compete for the annual CineLink prizes, including a new €10,000 award
Unspooling between 15 and 20 August as part of the 32nd Sarajevo Film Festival, the CineLink Industry Days has revealed the full line-ups for its two flagship programmes: the Co-Production Market (feature films) and Drama (series).
The full selection includes nine out of 16 projects directed or co-directed by women, with projects from Bulgaria, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Georgia and beyond. This year, and for the first time, projects from outside Southeast Europe were eligible to take part provided they had a producer from an eligible Southeast European country, a story related to the region and/or the involvement of regional talent. However, these projects are not eligible for any awards.
The CineLink Co-Production Market boasts a brand-new €10,000 cash award, presented by the Kosovo Cinematography Centre, alongside several returning prizes: the Eurimages Co-Production Development Award (€20,000), the Film Centre Montenegro CineLink Award (€10,000), the Film Centre Serbia CineLink Award (€10,000) and the Artekino International Prize (€6,000). The Female Voices Award (€20,000), sponsored by the Slovenian Film Centre and UN Women, is an award available to projects in both the Co-Production Market and Drama. Other awards are also available for the Drama selection.
Sixteen feature-film projects are taking part in the Co-Production Market, while eight projects make up the Drama line-up. The first seven Drama projects were announced earlier this year (see the news); the final title, Chasing the Clouds, is billed as a guest project presented in collaboration with the TV Beats Forum Co-Financing Market in Tallinn. The Peacock Queen and Madness and Honey Days, both projects in the CineLink Co-Production Market, are presented in collaboration with the Doha Film Institute, as in previous years.
Golden Leopard-winning director Ralitza Petrova (for Godless) brings her third feature film project, Peace, to CineLink, after her second, Lust, premiered a few months ago at the Berlinale. The film, which is a Bulgarian-Danish co-production follows the wife of a weapons-testing-range owner whose near-fatal accident changes her perspective on life. Prolific Serbian filmmaker and playwright Goran Marković will present Fritz and Dobrila, centring on the titular couple and their son who “face the absurdities of Balkan socio-politics and the fractured realities shaped by their intrusive neighbours”. The story is based on a book by Srđan Valjarević.
Urška Djukić, known for her acclaimed debut Little Trouble Girls, brings Forbidden Fruit to the Co-Production Market. The film, which will be the Slovenian filmmaker’s second feature, is inspired by the 15th-century forbidden love between Count Frederick II of Celje and Veronika of Desnice, eventually leading to the latter’s accusation of being a witch.
New York-based Serbian filmmaker Emilija Gašić (78 Days) takes up a folkloric strand of Balkan filmmaking with Wolf Days, a film which follows a woman who turns to a healer as she pursues her own liberation – driven to the edge of madness in the process. Meanwhile, Georgian filmmaker Elena Mikaberidze (Blueberry Dreams) comes to the Co-Production Market with The Taste of the Peach.
Ukrainian filmmaker Oleksandr Roshchyn, known for his work as the cinematographer of Stop-Zemlia, among many others, brings his debut feature project Mamayi. Set in Ukraine in 2009, two TV reporters try their best to resist for the good of their audience as they are coerced into a corrupt election campaign for a pro-Russian candidate.
Here is the line-up so far:
CineLink Co-Production Market
The Peacock Queen – Kholoud Al Ali, Aisha Al-Jaidah (Qatar)
Production: Blue Penguin Animation/DFI
Madness and Honey Days – Ahmed Yassin Al-Daradji (Iraq/Canada/United Kingdom/Luxembourg/Qatar/Saudi Arabia)
Production: Purattu Films
Vagabonds – Vlad Buzăianu (Romania)
Production: Tangaj Production
Forbidden Fruit – Urška Djukić (Slovenia/Greece)
Production: OINK!
How to Disappear into the Lake – Selcen Ergun (Turkey)
Production: Karma Films, Albino Zebra Film
Wolf Days – Emilija Gašić (Serbia/USA/Croatia)
Production: Non-Aligned Films
The Metallic Sky of Saturn – Azer Gullies (Azerbaijan/France)
Production: La Luna Productions
Fleur de Sel – Nadejda Koseva (Bulgaria)
Production: RFF International
Koryo – Mladen Kovačević (Serbia/Croatia/Slovenia)
Production: Horopter
Fritz and Dobrila – Goran Marković (Serbia)
Production: Naked
The Taste of the Peach – Elene Mikaberidze (North Macedonia/Belgium/Georgia)
Production: Sisters and Brother Mitevski
With Blessings on Your Way – Kan Muftić (UK/Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Production: Snafu Pictures
Peace – Ralitza Petrova (Bulgaria/Denmark)
Production: Contrast Films, Aporia Filmworks
Jellyfish Live Forever Until They’re Caught – Nađa Petrović (Croatia/Serbia)
Production: Antitalent
Hôtel des Thermes – Maéva Ranaïvojaona, Georg Tiller (Austria/France)
Production: Amour Fou Vienna
Mamayi – Oleksandr Roshchyn (Ukraine)
Production: Packgauz
CineLink Drama
The Valley (Turkey)
Creator-director: Özcan Alper
Writers: Özcan Alper, Erman Bostan
Production: Soner Alper (NAR FILM PRODUCTION)
Hedgehogs in the Haze (Bosnia and Herzegovina/Serbia/Bulgaria/Norway)
Creators-writers: Ermin Bravo, Džana Pinjo
Directors: Danis Tanović, Nermin Hamzagić
Production: Ishak Jalimam, Lara Grozdanić (Realstage)
Co-production: Brand Vision DOO, Agitprop, Para Film & Theatre AS
You Can Always Come Back (Croatia)
Creator: Tena Gojić
Writer: Hana Jušić
Production: Miljenka Čogelja (Pipser), Dinaridi Film
Stringers (Croatia)
Creator-writer: Nikola Kuprešanin
Director: Danis Tanović
Production: Siniša Juričić (Nukleus Film)
Chasing the Clouds (Croatia/Finland)
Writers: Karla Lulić, Jelena Mađarić
Director: Karla Lulić
Production: Dobra Film
Small Yugoslavia (North Macedonia/Belgium)
Creators-writers: Teona Strugar Mitevska, Sonja Prosenc
Production: Labina Mitevska (Sisters and Brother Mitevski), Entre chien et loup
Chain Reaction (Slovenia)
Creator: Grega Švabič
Writers: Grega Švabič, Mirta Švabič Zajc, Jaka Šuligoj
Director: Jaka Šuligoj
Production: Peter Perunovič (E75)
The 9th Border (Ukraine)
Creator: Vitalli Ye
Writer: Vyacheslav Yushkov
Director: Valentin Shpakov
Production: Vitalli Ye (Starlight Films)
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