Ukrainian Alisa Kovalenko’s Expedition 49 and Israeli Renen Schorr’s Rabbi Heller Blues will join ten fiction projects in the 2022 CineLink Work in Progress selection.
Produced by Stéphane Siohan for East Roads Film, the Ukraine/France/Poland Expedition 49 follows Valentyn, Ukraine’s greatest alpinist and adventurer who, for his final adventure, finds five young teenagers living on the Donbas frontline and takes them on an expedition to the Himalayas.
In Rabbi Heller Blues, directed and produced by Renen Schorr for Blues Production (Israel), the director tells the story of his maternal grandfather’s life.
“This year’s CineLink Work in Progress selection presents a variety of films with subject and genres shifting from coming of age to historical and current issues,” comments Amra Bakšić Čamo, Head of CineLink. “The selection contains projects developed through CineLink workshops, and some new discovered to us, 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.”
The 12 projects (2 documentaries and 10 fiction) will compete for two awards: the Post Republic Award (€40,000 in kind), and the Turkish National Radio Television Award (€25,000 in cash). The jury deciding on the awards comprises: Vanja Kaluđerčić (IFFR), Marcin Łuczaj (New Europe Film Sales), Esra Demirkiran (Turkish National Radio Television), Dennis Ruh (European Film Market) and Deniz Erel (The Post Republic).
28TH SARAJEVO FF DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
As announced earlier 22 documentaries (8 world, 3 international and one European premiere) are selected for Sarajevo’s Documentary Competition. The films will compete for the Heart of Sarajevo for Best Documentary Film (€4000), Heart of Sarajevo for Best Short Documentary Film Award (€2000) the Human Rights Award (€3000) and the Special Jury Prize (€2500).
“Our program celebrates the richness of documentary forms: from the exciting cinema-verité styles where the camera is a “fly on the wall” to the poetic, intimate diary documentaries and complex narratives that celebrate the creative use of archival footage. We also have an experimental film that explores new manners of using cinematic language and films that efficiently and with great imagination combine animation with documentary textures,” comments programmer Rada Šešić about this year’s selection.
Film selection:
- Diary of a Bride of Christ by Marta Smerechynska (Ukraine, 2021, 90 min) World premiere
- Lights of Sarajevo by Srđan Perkić (Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2022, 68 min) World premiere
- Liturgy of Anti-Tank Obstacles by Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk (Ukraine,USA, 2022, 12 min) World premiere
- Paying a Visit to Fortuna by Mátyás Kálmán (Hungary, Croatia, 2022, 74 min) World premiere
- Shadowed by the Plane Tree by Aynur Elgunesh (Azerbaijan, 2022, 18 min) World premiere
- The Chalice. Of Sons and Daughters by Cătălina Tesăr, Dana Bunescu (Romania, 2022, 83 min) World premiere
- The Film Factory by Silvestar Kolbas (Croatia, 2022, 15 min) World premiere
- Too Close by Botond Püsök (Romania/Hungary, 2022, 85 min) World premiere
- Babajanja by Ante Zlatko Stolica (Croatia, 2022, 14 min) International premiere
- Retreat by Anabela Angelovska (North Macedonia/Germany, 2022, 30 min) International premiere
- We,…Composition by Visar Jusufi (Kosovo/Germany, 2022, 15 min) International premiere
- Bigger Than Trauma by Vedrana Pribačić (Croatia, 2022, 91 min) European premiere
- Another Spring by Mladen Kovačević (Serbia, France, Qatar, 2022, 90 min) Regional premiere
- A Provincial Hospital by Ilian Metev, Ivan Chertov, Zlatina Teneva (Bulgaria/Germany, 2022, 107 min) Regional premiere
- Atonal Glow by Alexander Koridze (Georgia, 2022, 67 min) Regional premiere
- Beauty of the Beast by Anna Eszter Nemes (Hungary/Serbia, 2022, 47 min) Regional premiere
- Fragile Memory by Igor Ivanko (Ukraine, 2022, 85 min) Regional premiere
- Living Together by Thomas Fürhapter (Austria, 2022, 90 min) Regional premiere
- Microbiome by Stavros Petropoulos (Greece, 2021, 27 min) Regional premiere
- No Place for You in Our Town by Nikolay Stefanov (Bulgaria, 2022, 81 min) Regional premiere
- Ribs by Farah Hasanbegović (Bosnia and Herzegovina/Hungary/Belgium/Portugal, 2022, 9 min) Regional premiere
- Museum of the Revolution by Srđan Keča (Serbia/Croatia/Czech Republic, 2021, 91 min) B&H premiere
DOCU TALENTS FROM THE EAST 2022
Nine new creative documentary projects, in production or post-production, will be presented as part CineLink Industry Day on August 15, in order to stimulate their further conversion and enhance their market exposure. The Open presentation will take place at Hotel Europe, 14.30 – 15.45.
The most promising project receives the Docu Talent Award, offered in co-operation with Current Time TV. The award is accompanied by a prize valued at US$5,000. The in-kind DAFilms Distribution Award 2022 (€3000) will be awarded to one of the projects and will cover its release on DAFilms (including Americas, Europe, Asia) for two years. The jury consists of Natalia Arshavskaya (Current Time TV), Martichka Bozilova (Agitprop), Ben Dalton (Screen International), Nina Numankadić (DAFilms), Jarmila Outratová (Ji.hlava IDFF).
Selected projects:
- What’s to Be Done? Croatia, 75 mins. Director: Goran Dević. Producer: Hrvoje Osvadić. Production Company: Petnaesta umjetnost. Is it possible to be a worker and revolt against the capitalism? Is the outcome of every possible riot known in advance?
- So Far From Mikulov Czech Republic/Slovakia, 75 mins. Director: Marie Dvořáková. Producer: Pavel Berčík. Production Company: Evolution Films, s.r.o. A small-town photographer from Europe takes New York by storm. But at what price?
- Yoyogi Estonia/Japan, 74 mins. Director: Max Golomidov. Producer: Volia Chajkouskaya. Production Company: Allfilm. A witty and sensitive observation of people visiting the Central Park of Tokyo – Yoyogi.
- Street Poets Poland, 60 mins. Director: Edyta Adamczak and Michał Mądracki. Producer: Edyta Adamczak. Production Company: MML studio. Young, urban poets of the Brazilian favela in the city of Salvador. Jeopardised youth. A film about non-material wealth, which becomes a source of unusual human power and lets us believe that we all have this power within us.
- Between Revolutions Romania/Iran/Croatia/Qatar, 71 mins.Director: Vlad Petri. Producer: Elena Martín. Production Company: Activ Docs. Two women, former classmates and friends, one Romanian and one Iranian, are writing letters to each other, reflecting on their lives, between two revolutions that changed their lives and societies forever.
- The Boundaries of Fidelity Slovakia/Czech Republic, 80 mins. Director: Diana Fabiánová. Producer: Silvia Panáková. Production Company: Dayhey, s.r.o. A married couple’s search for a way to preserve a long-term, honest relationship in an environment where infidelity is normal practice.
- Dad’s Lullaby Ukraine, 72 mins. Director: Lesia Diak. Producer: Lesia Diak. He fought for his country, now he is fighting for his family.
- You Know It’s Going To Be About War (working title) Ukraine, 33 mins. Director: Olha Tsybulska. Producer: John Emil Richardsen. Production Company: Montevideo Tromsø AS. A reflection about survivor’s guilt, traumas and how war is the new normality for young creative people in Ukraine.
- Tomorrow Hungary/Portugal/Belgium, Iran, 50 mins. Director: Khosro Khosravi. Producer: Khosro Khosravi. Production Company: DocNomads. A middle-aged divorced Budapest man who eagerly deals with organizing his life after separation in his big house, on the other hand, finds it hardly possible to avoid loneliness.
Marek Hovorka, director of the Ji.hlava IDFF, comments: “The selection of films included in Docu Talents from the East that are being completed by the emerging generation of Eastern European filmmakers is formally very diverse and explores social, political and purely personal topics. It is surprising that a region often associated primarily with rural films from poor regions can geographically encompass literally the entire world: from Tokyo and Iran to Europe, New York and Salvador.
“Our selection pays special attention to two Ukrainian women filmmakers. While Olha Tsybulska started filming You Know It’s Going To Be About War spontaneously at the outset of the war, the very personal Dad’s Lullaby by Lesia Diak looks back on the war after several years and shows how it can destroy even an exceptional human personality.
“All of the selected films do not only explore the phenomena of our day-and-age, but also ask questions about how our choices shape our own future – whether as an individual, a particular social group or an entire society.”
The 28th Sarajevo Film Festival will be held 12-19 August 2022.
