Les Arcs Yugoslav focus to extend to industry section

A Focus on Yugoslavian Countries at the Les Arcs European Film Festival has been announced at the Sarajevo Film Festival.

The Focus will showcase 12 to 14 films from Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Macedonia produced in the last ten years. Additionally, a special programme of Sarajevo City of Film and regional short films will be presented at the festival and a DVD edition of these shorts will be distributed to all participating guests of the festival, and launched in the DVD sales as well.

The selection of the films for the Focus section is executed by festival’s artistic director Frederic Boyer and festival’s co-founders and directors: Guillaume Calop and Pierre-Emmanuel Fleurantin.

At the festival’s Co-Production Village, taking place over the first three days of the event, among the 26 feature projects in development which will be presented to nearly 300 key professionals from the film industry, five to six projects will be selected from the countries in the Focus.

Projects in a late stage of post-production seeking further financing and originating from the former Yugoslavia will also be presented at the festival’s Work in Progress screenings, while projects in development by the region’s young film-makers will take part at the Film School Village platform. In addition, experts from the region will be invited to a panel studying financing and production / co-production systems.

The selection of the projects in development both for Co-production Village and the Film School Village will be done by Fleurantin and one of Sarajevo Film Festival programmers Vanja Kaludjercic by mid-October, while the films in post-production for Work in Progress will be selected in collaboration with Boyer by mid-November.

About 40 representatives from Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Macedonia will be invited to participate in this multilayered program which tends to create a thorough presentation of established and upcoming talents from these territories, partly to the showcased program designed for public, partly through festival’s professional platforms organized in order to enhance their networks and collaboration.