A Troublesome Threesome, a Sacred Amulet and a Mysterious Aunt Among Subjects of Projects in CineLink’s Work in Progress Section

The CineLink Work in Progress section at Sarajevo Film Festival, which showcases feature film projects from Southeast Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, has selected eight fiction and three documentary projects.

Among the subjects of the projects are a teen threesome in North Macedonia that leads to a troublesome pregnancy, a shipwreck hiding a sacred amulet on the Atlantic coast of the Sahara, a crumbling blue bus in 1950s Turkey, and mysterious aunt in rural Serbia.

The projects will be presented to international film funders, sales agents, distributors, broadcasters and festival programmers with the aim of helping them be completed and boost their distribution chances.

The films “explore the complexities of human nature and the fragility of social consensus, and the tensions between collective expectations and personal anxieties,” the festival said. “What unites these films is a shared sensitivity to the nuances of human relationships, between generations, individuals, and communities.”

Sarajevo continued, “At their core lies a strong drive to understand the other, affirm dignity, and explore the resilience of individuals and communities in the face of violence and inequality.”

Among the new prizes this year include the HBO Award, with  €30,000 in cash, a direct license across 15 HBO territories in Central and Southeast Europe, completion funding and a guaranteed broadcast window. There is also the Avanpost Media Award, which comes with €30,000 in‑kind services.

Other awards include Avanpost’s ongoing €20,000 support for Docu Rough Cut Boutique.

Returning awards include the Turkish Radio Television Award, with  €10,000 cash for the production company and formalized as a license agreement for TV rights within Turkey.

There is also the Post Republic Award, which is  €30,000 in‑kind, covering color‑grading or sound‑mix services.

Projects from both Work in Progress and Docu Rough Cut Boutique also compete for the CineLink Impact Award, a €20,000 impact‑campaign grant presented by Think‑Film Impact Production.

CINELINK WORK IN PROGRESS SELECTION
“17” (fiction)
Director: Kosara Mitić
Producer: Tomi Salkovski
Production company: Black Cat Production
Co-production companies: Art&Popcorn, December
Countries: North Macedonia, Serbia, Slovenia
After having a threesome with her classmates, Sara, 17, gets pregnant and tries to hide it from everyone, which becomes especially difficult during the graduation excursion.

“Alkebulan” (fiction/documentary)
Director: Yassine Marco Marroccu
Producer: Andrea Taschler
Production companies: Mirage Film
Co-production company: Eclipse Films
Countries: Morocco, Hungary, Qatar
An odyssey to rescue a sacred amulet from a shipwreck on the Atlantic coast of the Sahara in the turbulent wake of African independence.

“Blue Bird” (fiction)
Director: Ahmet Sönmez
Producer: Ahmet Sönmez
Production company: MovieTime Production
Country: Turkey
In 1950s Turkey, a crumbling blue bus, Blue Bird, carries strangers from a forgotten town to the train station, unveiling quiet sorrows, hidden pasts and difference between reality and truth.

“Everything That’s Wrong With You” (fiction)
Director: Urša Menart
Producers: Katja Lenarčič, Danijel Hočevar
Production company: Vertigo Ljubljana
Co-production companies: Chromosom Film, Living Pictures
Countries: Slovenia, Germany, Serbia
Maruša connects with Alja online, who works abroad as a nurse. They bond immediately. When Alja falls ill, Maruša travels to Germany to help, only to discover that not everything is as it seems.

“The Forbidden Aunt” (documentary)
Director: Bojana Novaković
Producer: Bojana Novaković, Sonja Božić, Milan Stojanović
Production company: Sense Production
Country: Serbia
Bojana Novaković films a documentary about her mysterious aunt in rural Serbia, uncovering family secrets and confronting her own past in a darkly comedic, multi-generational portrait of women and trauma.

“Looping” (fiction)
Director: Antonio Nuić
Producers: Lana Matić, Boris T. Matić
Production company: Propeler Film
Co-production company: Moses Film
Countries: Croatia, Turkey
A man adrift in time and space returns nightly to the same bar, trapped in grief, memory and habit.

“Monument” (fiction)
Director: Bojan Bodružić
Producers: Bojan Bodružić, Igor Drljača, Adis Đapo, Amra Bakšić Čamo
Production companies: SCCA/pro.ba, Japanese Polka Dancing Films
Countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada
A music professor returns to Istria to bury his grandfather, sparking a reunion with wartime friends and a confrontation with buried traumas, lost love, and family ties to WWII.

“Silence Is the Enemy of the Sea” (experimental/documentary)
Directors: Evgeny Rodin, Dina Karaman
Producers: Vladimir Nadein, Anton Kurilchik, Mina Seyid-Mammadova, Evgeny Rodin
Production companies: Dénapá
Co-production company: Jol Filmproduktion, Mandarin Production
Countries: France, Azerbaijan, Austria
Nothing but the sea is visible from the barred windows of a large house. The inhabitants are lulled by marine songs broadcast day and night, so they never notice their confinement.

“Where To?” (fiction)
Director: Assaf Machnes
Producer: Tomer Mecklberg, Haim Mecklberg, Oren Rogovin, Mohamad Babi
Production company: 2 Team Productions
Co-production companies: Lev Cinema, Rogovin Brothers, Iconoclast Germany
Country: Israel, Germany
The different taxi rides across the city of Berlin between Hassan, a middle-aged Palestinian Uber driver, and young Israeli who gets lost in the city, tell a tragic-comic story about moving forward.

“Who Are We” (fiction)
Director: Miroslav Terzić
Producer: Snežana van Houwelingen
Production company: This and That Productions
Co-production companies: Nightswim, Invictus, PTD, Kinorama
Countries: Serbia, Italy, Luxembourg, Bulgaria, Croatia
After a pupil’s suicide, a school trip exposes the haunting path to tragedy. As the journey unfolds, the bullies are the same, the victims are new, and the shadow of the dead pupil looms over them all.

“Yesterday the Eye Didn’t Sleep” (fiction)
Director: Rakan Mayasi
Producer: Jennifer Ritter, Rakan Mayasi
Production company: Atata
Countries: Belgium, Palestine, Lebanon
In a valley veiled by fog and tribal codes, two sisters walk into the night not as daughters, but as offerings – where blood, memory, and silence attempt to keep the fire from spreading.