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Source: Sarajevo Film Festival

Masa Markovic, Ishak Jalimam

CineLink Industry Days, the industry platform of Sarajevo Film Festival, has selected nine projects for its 2024 edition; and appointed Ishak Jalimam as its new head.

Jalimam will work with Masa Markovic, who continues as head of industry for the third year. He replaces Amra Baksic Camo, who had run CineLink since its inception in 2003, and will now focus on developing new projects under the Sarajevo Film Festival umbrella.

A graduate of the Sarajevo Academy of Performing Arts, Jalimam is founder and president of Bosnian production company Realstage Productions, through which he is currently producing Srdan Vuletic’s third feature Gym. He has worked in production roles on films including Sarajevo 2021 opening title Not So Friendly Neighbourhood Affair.

The nine projects selected for this year’s CineLink consist of five features in the CineLink Co-Production Market, and four series in CineLink Drama. They are in addition to eight features and six drama series selected earlier this year which participated in a CineLink Workshop in June, and which will also participate in the CineLink Industry Days during the festival.

The features include Mather/Papan, the fifth feature from Bulgarian directing duo Mina Mileva and Vesela Kazakova. Produced by the duo for Activist38, the film follows an overweight woman writing slogans for sex toys for a French company in Bulgaria, who aims to have a child as a gender-fluid person. Mileva and Kazakova’s Cat In The Wall debuted at Locarno and won awards around the festival circuit in 2019.

Currently in development, Meriem Mesraoua’s Selfless is presented in collaboration with Qatar’s Doha Film Institute. Produced by Francois d’Artemare for France’s Les films de l’apres-midi, the Algeria-set story depicts a woman adopting extreme measures to save the illusory refuge of her marriage. It is a debut feature for Qatari-born filmmaker Mesraoua, whose short Under Her Skin played at Venice in 2020.

The four series projects include Angel’s Trumpets, about the journey of two sex trafficking survivors, directed by Hungarian filmmaker Ildiko Enyedi; and Teona Strugar Mitevska and Sonja Prosenc’s Mala Yugoslavia, about a mother and daughter, both vampire queens and addicts, on a mission to purify the world.

The CineLink projects will be presented to industry representatives from production, financing, distribution and sales from August 20-22 in Sarajevo. Last month the festival selected 15 emerging producers from Southeastern Europe for its CineLink Producers’ Lab.

The 2024 Sarajevo Film Festival runs from August 16-23.

Synopses provided by CineLink

Air In A Bottle (Bos/Her-Ser) dir. Aida Begic; prod. Snezana van Houwelingen for Film House Sarajevo, This and That Productions
Sabina (60), a returnee from Germany, wants to rebuild the relationship with her estranged daughter by preparing a fairytale wedding for her in their hometown of Sarajevo. However, Sabina’s gambling addiction threatens to destroy her efforts.

Mather / Papan (Bul) dirs-prods. Mina Mileva, Vesela Kazakova; for Activist38
Overweight Andrea writes slogans for sex toys for a French company in Bulgaria. Her aim to have a child as a gender fluid person in the Balkans will meet a few obstacles but a mystical ancestor helps

Selfless (Fr-Alg-Qat) dir. Meriem Mesraoua; prod. Francois d’Artemare for Les films de l’apres-midi
Set in Oran, Algeria, Selfless portrays a woman who adopts extreme measures to save the illusory refuge of her marriage.

Times New Roman (Ukr-Lith) dir. Philip Sotnychenko; prod. Valeria Sochyvets for Contemporary Ukrainian Cinema
In Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a reporter that copes with alcohol problems can’t make a choice between his lover and his wife, trying not to repeat the mistakes of his parents.

Toz Baba (Tur) dir. Mehmet Bahadir Er; prods. Mehmet Bahadir Er, Maryna Er Gorbach for Protim VP
We are perfect with our differences and shortcomings. Perfection is harmony.

Angel’s Trumpets (Hun) cre. Katalin Besenyei; dir. Ildiko Enyedi; prod. Akos Erdos for Paprika Studios
The ballad of two sex trafficking survivors setting out on a journey to free one of their sisters and to take revenge on the mafia who held them captive

Last Days Of The Sultan (Tur) cre-dir. Semih Aplanoglu; prod. Suzan Guverte for Kaplan Film Production, Guverte Film
In 1909, the secrets of the 8 days between the day it was decided to depose the last Ottoman Sultan Abdülhamit II and his exile from Istanbul to Thessaloniki, in which the Sultan and his family were isolated from the world in Yıldız Palace are investigated by journalist Richard Lordman, who, 20 years after the event, finds the Sultan’s diary, which is thought to be missing.

Mala Yugoslavia (Slovenia-N Mac-Bel) cre. Teona Strugar Mitevska, Sonja Prosenc; prods. Labina Mitevska, Teona Strugar Mitevska, Sonja Prosenc
In an eerie post-socialist apartment complex where residents vanish without a trace, two vampire queens, a mother and a daughter, both over 50, both addicts, are on a mission to purify the world

I Love Spain (Sp) cre. Begona Solar; prod. Alejandra Mora for Quatre Films Audiovisuales
Gloria (42), is a nihilistic artist in a slump. Inma (53) is the strict manager of I love Spain, an emblematic souvenir shop-museum. Their lives come together when they each inherit half of the shop, which is also lacking direction. Their continuous conflicts end up giving way to a bizarre friendship.

Big Woman (Ser) dir. Milica Tomovic

Confirmation (Slovenia-Austria) dir. Darko Sinko

Divine Poison (Tur-Ger-Fr) dir. Nehir Tuna

Hystera (Gr) dir. Asimina Proedrou

Lullaby (Gr-Geo) dir. Keti Machaviarani

Soft Hours (Hun-Fr-Slovakia) dir. Anna Gyimesi

Someone’s Daughter (Ser) dir. Stasa Bajac

Uptight Ass (Ser-Cro) dir. Matija Gluscevic

Angelmaker (Rom-Cze) cre. Cristina Grosan

The Magic Wrap (Tur) cre. Ipek Ural Demiral, Ali Demirel

Pray For Us (Bos/Her-Kos-Mont) cre. Filip Jokanovic

Palaveevi Sisters (Bul-N Mac-Ser) cre. Alek Popov

Years Of Lead (Ser) cre. Nemanja Vojinovic, Vladimir Protic

When The Ground Shakes (Bos-Her) cre. Almin Kaplan, Pjer Zalica

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