03/08/2022 - 12 new features have been selected, all of which will compete for financial awards assisting their completion and distribution

The Sarajevo Film Festival’s CineLink Industry Days has announced the selection for its Work in Progress strand, one of the key events in its line-up. All hailing from Southeast Europe and the MENA region, 12 new feature-length films - 10 fiction and 2 documentaries - have been chosen to be showcased to various high-profile industry figures, with the aim of seeing them through post-production and assisting their international distribution hopes.

One of the most established filmmakers in the line-up is acclaimed Bulgarian director Stephan Komandarev, who is presenting Blaga’s Lessons [+see also:
film review
interview: Stephan Komandarev
film profile], a co-production between Bulgaria and Germany. Also notable is Backstage [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Afef Ben Mahmoud, Khalil Be…
film profile], co-directed by Tunisian actress actress Afef Ben Mahmoud and Moroccan filmmaker Khalil Benkirane, an ambitious film centred around a contemporary dance troupe who are forced to search for a doctor through a night in the Moroccan Atlas mountains after one of their members is injured.

The projects are competing for two awards: the Post Republic Award (€40,000 in kind) and the Turkish National Radio Television awards (€25,000 in cash), all before a jury composed of Vanja Kaluđerčić, IFFR’s artistic director, Marcin Łuczaj of New Europe Film Sales, Esra Demirkiran from Turkish National Radio Television, Dennis Ruh of the European Film Market, and Deniz Erel of The Post Republic.

"This year's CineLink Work in Progress selection presents a variety of films with subjects and genres shifting from coming-of-age to historical and current issues. The selection contains projects developed through CineLink workshops, and some newly discovered by us, which brought us a lot of pleasure. This year's selection presents upcoming artists as well as experienced ones known to audiences and we are very happy and proud that they will be with us in Sarajevo," explained Amra Bakšić Čamo, Head of CineLink.

The full list of projects is as follows:

Backstage [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Afef Ben Mahmoud, Khalil Be…
film profile] - Afef Ben Mahmoud, Khalil Benkirane (Morocco/Qatar/Belgium/France) (fiction)
Producer: Khalil Benkirane
Production company: Lycia Productions

Blaga’s Lessons [+see also:
film review
interview: Stephan Komandarev
film profile] - Stephan Komandarev (Bulgaria/Germany) (fiction)
Producers: Stephan Komandarev, Katya Trichkova
Production companies: Argo film, 42film

Capturing Sami - Adi Voicu (Romania/Bulgaria) (fiction)
Producer: Marcian Lazar
Production companies: Axel Film

Dormitory [+see also:
film review
interview: Nehir Tuna
film profile] - Nehir Tuna (Turkey/Germany) (fiction)
Producers: Dorothe Beinemeier, Tanay Abbasoğlu
Production companies: Red Balloon GmbH, TN Yapım

Expedition 49 - Alisa Kovalenko (Ukraine/France/Poland) (documentary)
Producer: Stéphane Siohan
Production company: East Roads Film

Freedom [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Tudor Giurgiu & Cecilia Ste…
film profile] - Tudor Giurgiu (Romania/Hungary) (fiction)
Producer: Oana Bujgoi Giurgiu
Production companies: Libra Films, Mythberg Films

The Future - Noam Kaplan (Israel) (fiction)
Producer: Yoav Roeh
Production company: Gum Films

Hesitation Wound [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Selman Nacar
film profile] - Selman Nacar (Turkey/France/Romania) (fiction)
Producers: Burak Çevik, Diloy Gülün
Production company: Kuyu Film

Rabbi Heller Blues - Renen Schorr (Israel) (documentary)
Producer: Renen Schorr
Production company: Blues Production

Sirin [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Senad Šahmanović (Montenegro/Croatia/Albania/Kosovo/Bosnia and Herzegovina/France) (fiction)
Producer: Veliša Popović
Production company: CUT-UP d.o.o.

The Trap - Nadejda Koseva (Bulgaria/Germany) (fiction)
Producer: Vladimir Andreev
Production company: Borough Film

When You Are 17 - Giorgi Mukhadze (Georgia/Germany) (fiction)
Producers: Giorgi Kobalia, Titus Kreyenberg
Production companies: Terra Incognita Films, unafilm