18/08/2023 - The line-up included both up-and-coming filmmakers from Southeast Europe, and established auteurs from local and guest regions

The 2023 edition of the CineLink Co-Production Market, part of the industry component of the Sarajevo Film Festival, has rewarded its winners after 13 projects at the development and financing stage were presented. The line-up included both up-and-coming filmmakers from Southeast Europe, and established auteurs from local and guest regions. More than 150 producers, funders and sales agents from over 30 countries were there for the presentations, and the awards amounted to a total value of €56,000 in cash and services.

The CineLink Co-Production Market jury consisted of Eleni Chandrinou (the Greek national Eurimages representative), Labina Mitevska (Sisters and Brother Mitevski) and Oliver Neumann (Freibeuter Film GmbH). After deliberating, they bestowed the €20,000 Eurimages Co-production Development Award upon Olivér Rudolf for his project My Mother, the Monster. The Hungarian filmmaker debuted at Sarajevo with his short FONICA M-120 in the student-film section in 2021, and his new project follows a forty-something mother named Éva, who finds a liberating new identity by donning a scary monster mask. My Mother, the Monster is written by Rudolf and his collaborator Zsigmond Kungl, and is being produced by Budapest-based production company Kino Alfa in co-production with Vrai Vrai Films.

The Film Center Serbia Award and Film Centre of Montenegro Award, each worth €10,000, were handed out by a jury made up of Ivan Karl (Film Center Serbia), Sanja Jovanović (Film Centre of Montenegro), Behrooz Hashemian (Silkroad Production) and Čedomir Kolar (A.S.A.P. Films). The latter was given to Gabriel Tzafka’s A Long Embrace/Ode to Joy, a Wild at Heart production about a mother-son relationship and the recurring pattern of separation that defines it. The former prize was presented to Primavera, an animation by writer-director Dušan Kasalica, which follows a young couple dealing with the aftermath of selective abortion. The film is being produced by Montenegro-based Meander Film.

Mathilde Hersant from ARTE France Cinéma presented the Artekino International Prize, worth €6,000, to Ukrainian filmmaker Kateryna Gornostai for the follow-up to her acclaimed debut, Stop-Zemlia [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Kateryna Gornostai
film profile]. Gornostai’s new project, called Antonivka, is a take on young love, war and the lurking presence of death, and is being produced by Moon Man LLC.

Here is the full list of winners:

Eurimages Co-production Development Award
My Mother, the Monster – Olivér Rudolf (Hungary)
Producers: Genovéva Petrovits, Barnabás Tóth-Just
Co-producer: Florent Coulon
Production company: Kino Alfa
Co-production company: Vrai Vrai Films

Film Center Serbia CineLink Award
Primavera – Dušan Kasalica (Montenegro)
Producer: Jelena Angelovski
Production company: Meander Film

Film Centre of Montenegro CineLink Award
A Long Embrace/Ode to Joy – Gabriel Tzafka (Greece)
Producer: Maria Kontogianni
Production company: Wild at Heart

ARTEKino International Prize
Antonivka – Kateryna Gornostai (Ukraine)
Producer: Vika Khomenko
Production company: Moon Man LLC