Once again, documentaries are in the ascendant at the 27th Sarajevo FF running August 13-20. Core to the doc offer is a competition of 16 films, eight of which are world prems, and 16 new projects from Central, Eastern and South-east Europe, chosen for their wide international appeal and distribution potential. Industry manager Maša Marković explains the doc component to BDE.
The 2021 CineLink Work in Progress programme presents three “super-fresh” documentary projects in production/post-production, as well as seven fiction projects, all generated out of South-east Europe, the Middle East and North Africa region. The docs are the Romanian Too Close by Botond Püsök, Prison Beauty Contest by Bosnian filmmaker Srđan Šarenac and Daniel Carsenty’s tale of human trafficking, The Devil’s Drivers (DE, FR, QA, LB).
Industry manager Maša Marković argues that a specific USP of the Work In Progress section (“something that helps the documentaries to shine”) is that they are presented to targeted professionals from A-list events, including stellar events such as Berlinale and Sundance, who don’t have a specific documentary remit. “No, it has to be for people that are also doing fiction. They can have a different outlook on the documentary project…completely different eyes.”
“And we are offering [filmmakers] a different window of basically industry professionals that they can get access to,” she adds of how she targets A-list events with her programme.
What’s more, the Work in Progress Awards are generous, with the Turkish National Radio Television Award valued at €25,000, as well in-kind awards of €50,000 (Post Republic Award) and €20,000 (CineLink Iridium Award).
The Docu Rough Cut Boutique platform is organised by the Sarajevo Film Festival and the Balkan Documentary Centre and is dedicated to creative documentary projects from Southeast Europe that are at an advanced phase within the editing process. The programme is organised in three modules, with one module taking place in each of Budapest, Sofia and Sarajevo. Prizes include the Avanpost Award offering in kind post-production services worth €20,000, the
CAT&Docs Award and HBO Europe Award (both cash awards valued at €2,000).
Meanwhile the Docu Talents from the East section is organised by the Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival and presents eight feature-length creative doc projects from Central and Eastern Europe that are in the production/post-production stages to industry toppers with the aim of assisting their completion and enhancing their distribution possibilities.
In the 2021 festival, of the 16 films selected for Documentary Competition, eight are world premieres, one is a European prem, six are regional premieres and one is a Bosnian-Herzegovinian premiere. Each will compete for the Heart of Sarajevo for Best Documentary (€3,000 prize awarded by the Government of Switzerland), Human Rights Prize (€3000 prize awarded by the Kingdom of the Netherlands); Special Jury Award (prize of €2,500).
An additional prize awarded this year is the Special Award for Promoting Gender Equality, open to all films across all programmes, provided it is directed by a debut female director. Of the sixteen films in Documentary Competition, six are directed by women.
“We know there are certain obstacles, but in terms of a ‘discovery moment’ at the beginning of someone’s career, we know that this support is essential,” says Marković. “That is the reason why we have introduced this award.”
One of Sarajevo’s core raisons d’être is to catapult filmmakers from South-east Europe (“basically Azerbaijan to Austria”) into the international spotlight, underlines Marković, who describes the “loop” that the festival has set in motion for the career development of local filmmakers.
The trajectory begins with selection for the festival’s student competition, she says, where the business of scouting for Talents Sarajevo (which is linked to Berlinale Talents) begins. After developing their first feature (doc or fiction), the talents are then invited to attend the CineLink Co-pro Market to garner co-production support from leading players.
“Once you have your film more or less ready to show [in post-production] you come to the CineLink Work In Progress where you get access to the A-list sales and festival programmers,” Marković adds. “Then when your film has been selected for Cannes, Berlin, Sundance or Locarno, whatever, then you return to Sarajevo with your regional premiere.”
“This is the eco-system that we have built throughout the years, which basically means that filmmakers at the start of their careers have full support [from Sarajevo] that lasts for five years,” Marković ends.
