The 23rd CineLink Industry Days (16-21 August) took place as an integral part of the 31st Sarajevo Film Festival (15-22 August). Projects in various formats and at various stages of development from Southeast Europe and the Middle East/North Africa regions were presented. The awards ceremony unspooled in the Swissôtel, where prizes amounting to €171,000 in cash and €80,000 in in-kind services were bestowed upon the winning projects in the categories of CineLink Co-Production Market, CineLink Drama and CineLink Work in Progress.

The CineLink Co-Production Market presented 14 feature-length fiction projects at the development and financing stages to more than 150 producers, funders and sales agents from 40 countries. The main accolade, the Eurimages Co-Production Development Award, went to the Hungarian project Places Half Empty by director Dorka Vermes after the decision was made by the jury, consisting of Anne Christine Knoth from Eurimages, Mariusz Wlodarski from Lava Films, Michel Zana from Dulac Distribution, Stefan Prohorov from the Bulgarian National Film Center and Gudny Hummelvoll from Hummelfilm. The Film Centre of Montenegro Award went to Hilal Baydarov’s Stone by Stone, the Film Center Serbia Award was bestowed upon David Kapac’s Pogana, while the ARTEKino International Prize was given to Nebojša Slijepčević’s Two Little Nightmares.

This year, projects from both the CineLink Co-Production Market and CineLink Drama were eligible for the Female Voices CineLink Award. The jury, consisting of Nataša Bučar from the Slovenian Film Centre, Dita Rietuma from the National Film Centre of Latvia and Aida Begić from Film House, decided to give the €20,000 award to the Turkish project Rain Country by director, co-writer and co-producer Zeynep Körpülü.

In the CineLink Drama department, the biggest winner was the Croatian project Red Water, created by Ljubica Luković, which scooped the Council of Europe Series Co-Production Development Award, following the deliberations of the jury, consisting of Denis Leroy from Banijay Entertainment, Johanna Gårdare from Swedish Television and Alex Traila from the Council of Europe. The Croatian Audiovisual Centre Drama Award went to the Serbian project Wonderful, while the TV Drama Vision Pitch Award was given to Gorilla, created by Gabor Krigler, also coming from Serbia.

CineLink Work in Progress was dominated by the Serbian-Italian-Luxembourgish-Bulgarian-Croatian co-production Who Are We, directed by Miroslav Terzić. The jury, consisting of Ivo Skočić from HBO Max Europe, Petra Kader-Göbel from The Post Republic, Dorota Lech from the Toronto International Film Festival, Faruk Güven from Turkish Radio-Television and Beatrice Gulino from Teodora Film, presented it with the HBO Award, worth €30,000 in cash. The Turkish National Radio-Television Award went to Rakan Mayasi’s Yesterday the Eye Didn’t Sleep, the Post Republic Award was given to Where To? by Assaf Machnes, while the Avanpost Media Award was granted to Kosara Mitić’s 17.

The Think-Film Impact Production Award was up for grabs in the categories of CineLink Work in Progress and Docu Rough Cut Boutique. It ended up going to Laurentiu Garofeanu’s project Lost and Found: Romania’s Hidden Adoption Market. Finally, Serbian producer Marija Stojanović won the EAVE+ Award.

Here is the full list of award winners:

CineLink Co-Production Market

Eurimages Co-Production Development Award
Places Half Empty (Hungary)
Director: Dorka Vermes
Writer: Sára Törley-Havas
Producers: Evelyn Balogh, Botond Lelkes
Production company: Non Lieu Kft

Film Centre of Montenegro CineLink Award
Stone Over Stone (Austria/Azerbaijan)
Director: Hilal Baydarov 
Writers: Hilal Baydarov, Georg Tiller 
Producers: Maéva Ranaïvojaona, Georg Tiller, Hilal Baydarov
Production company: Subobscura Films
Co-production company: Ucqar Film

Film Center Serbia CineLink Award
Pogana (Croatia/Slovenia)
Director: David Kapac
Writers: Andrija Mardešić, David Kapac
Producers: Rea Rajčić, Tina Tišljar
Production company: Eclectica
Co-production company: Vertigo

ARTEKino International Prize
Two Little Nightmares (Croatia/Serbia/Slovenia/Bulgaria/France)
Director: Nebojša Slijepčević
Writers: Nebojša Slijepčević, Nađa Petrović
Producers: Danijel Pek, Katarina Prpić
Production company: Antitalent
Co-production companies: Sense Production, Studio Virc, Contrast Films, Les Films Norfolk
Co-producers: Milan Stojanović, Boštjan Virc, Katya Trichkova, Noelle Levenez

CineLink Co-Production Market and CineLink Drama

Female Voices CineLink Award
Rain Country (Turkey)
Director: Zeynep Köprülü
Writers: Zeynep Köprülü, Haziran Düzkan  
Producers: Utku Zeka, Zeynep Köprülü, Cansu Menlikli 
Production company: Periferi Film

CineLink Drama

Council of Europe Series Co-Production Development Award
Red Water (Croatia)
Creator: Ljubica Luković
Writers: Ljubica Luković, Jurica Pavičić
Director: Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović
Producer: Danijel Pek
Production company: Antitalent

Croatian Audiovisual Centre Drama Award
Wonderful (Serbia)
Creators and writers: Katarina Mitrović, Isidora Veselinović, Vladimir Tagić 
Directors: Vladimir Tagić, Isidora Veselinović
Producer: Marija Stojanović
Production company: Sense Production

TV Drama Vision Pitch Award
Gorilla (Serbia)
Creator: Gabor Krigler
Writers: Eszter Angyalosy, Cyril Tysz
Director: Christian Gudegast
Producer: Ivana Miković
Production company: Firefly Productions

CineLink Work in Progress

HBO Award
Who Are We (Serbia/Italy/Luxembourg/Bulgaria/Croatia)
Director: Miroslav Terzić
Producer: Snežana van Houwelingen
Production company: This and That Productions
Co-production companies: Nightswim, Invictus, PTD, Kinorama

Turkish National Radio-Television Award
Yesterday the Eye Didn’t Sleep (Belgium/Palestine/Lebanon)
Director: Rakan Mayasi
Producers: Jennifer Ritter, Rakan Mayasi
Production company: Atata

Post Republic Award
Where To? (Israel/Germany)
Director: Assaf Machnes
Producers: Tomer Mecklberg, Haim Mecklberg, Oren Rogovin, Mohamad Babi
Production company: 2 Team Productions
Co-production companies: Lev Cinema, Rogovin Brothers, Iconoclast Germany

Avanpost Media Award
17 (North Macedonia/Serbia/Slovenia)
Director: Kosara Mitić
Producer: Tomi Salkovski
Production company: Black Cat Production
Co-production companies: Art&Popcorn, December

CineLink Work in Progress and Docu Rough Cut Boutique

Think-Film Impact Production Award
Lost and Found: Romania’s Hidden Adoption Market (Romania)
Director: Laurentiu Garofeanu
Producer: Laurentiu Garofeanu
Editor: Iulian Ghervas
Production company: Mekanism Media

EAVE+ Award
Marija Stojanović