region Balkan: Last News

Christopher Vourlias Croatia’s Drugi Plan and Bulgaria’s Agitprop, two of the leading production outfits in Southeast Europe, have been attached to co-produce the upcoming drama series “Sabre,” a political thriller revolving around the 2003 assassination of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic produced by Belgrade-based This and That Productions.Created by Goran Stanković and Vladimir Tagić, the series will star Serbian-Danish actress Danica Curcic, known to international audiences for her lead role in the Netflix psychological thriller “The Chestnut Man,” as a reporter investigating the shocking murder.The companies announced the deal on Monday at the Sarajevo Film Festival, where This and That’s “Bad Blood” and Drugi Plan’s “The Silence” were among the top Balkan drama series vying for Heart of Sarajevo TV Awards, which were handed out at a ceremony in the Bosnian capital on Sunday night. “Sabre” was first pitched in Sarajevo three years ago during the CineLink Drama co-financing forum, where it was named best drama project.

Alissa Simon Film Critic On the eve of the world premiere of “Mother Mara,” her second feature as a director, multi-hyphenate Mirjana Karanović, the Balkan region’s most famous star, visited the Variety Lounge presented by the Sarajevo Film Festival and BH Telecom. Just as with her first feature, “The Good Wife,” Karanović stars and takes co-writing credits in “Mother Mara.” She discusses how her roles as director, actor and woman sometimes came in conflict on her second feature, while her first was very easy. Karanović notes that “Mother Mara”, about a grieving woman, who rediscovers her life force through a relationship with a friend of her late son, shows a successful woman defying convention, doing something that might be considered inappropriate for her age.

Alissa Simon Film Critic Noomi Rapace, who is serving on the Sarajevo competition jury, visited the Variety Lounge presented by the Sarajevo Film Festival and BH Telecom to share her history with the Balkan region. Although it is her first time in Sarajevo, Rapace grew up with films from the Balkan region and praises their bravery and passion.

Christopher Vourlias Across more than two decades as the parallel arm of the Sarajevo Film Festival, CineLink Industry Days has grown into the leading film and TV industry event in the Balkan region, an incubator of talent from Southeast Europe — and, increasingly, beyond — and a crucial stop for globetrotting industry executives looking to discover fresh cinematic voices. The mid-summer event, which this year takes place Aug.

Six years ago, producer Ivana Mikovic was sitting with her production designer friend when the two discussed the lack of studio space in Serbia’s growing film and television sector. It was a year after the government had introduced its 25% – 30% cash rebate and Mikovic, a former BBC news producer, saw a gap in the market for such a studio facility. At the time there were only a handful of stages in the surrounding Belgrade area – including PFI Studios and Take 1 – but they consistently ran at capacity. 

Tara Karajica Documentary filmmakers were reminded of the importance of storytelling during a panel discussion about their craft as part of the Sarajevo Film Festival’s industry program Cinelink earlier this week. “It’s about telling the story. It doesn’t have to be a complex story.

Christopher Vourlias It’s a welcome sight for any longtime visitors returning to Sarajevo, the white-jacketed waiters circling the terrace of the majestic, Austro-Hungarian-built Hotel Europe as film and TV industry professionals parse scripts and close deals amid the espresso-fueled chatter. Around them a haze of cigarette smoke hovers like the mist that settles each morning over the green hills that ring this scenic Bosnian city.

In the three years since the Sarajevo Film Festival launched its Heart of Sarajevo TV awards, much has changed in the Balkan region’s television sector thanks to investment from regional telecom companies in the local production space. Companies such as Bosnia and Herzegovina’s BH Telecom, the main sponsor of this year’s Sarajevo Film Festival, and Telecom Serbia have been flexing their financial muscle in a space that undercapitalized public broadcasters and once confident-but-now-nervous global streamers are yet to enter.

When Croatian-born TV exec Sanja Božić-Ljubičić set out to establish a television market in her corner of the world a decade ago, she had always felt the Baltics had been overlooked on the global content map. 

A teenage boy opened fire in a school in central Belgrade Wednesday, killing eight children and a school guard, police have said. Six more children and a teacher were injured.

Marta Balaga Nina Kiri, known for her role as Alma on “The Handmaid’s Tale,” has joined the cast of dystopian sci-fi adventure “Absolution.” The title will be brought onto the market at Cannes’ Marché du Film Frontières platform, featuring in its Proof of Concept strand.    The Serbian-Canadian actor is no stranger to genre, having appeared in “The Heretics,” “The Haunted House on Kirby Road” or “Let Her Out.” Soon, she will also be spotted in Christos Nikou’s “Fingernails” alongside Jessie Buckley.  Directed by Filip Kovacevic, “Absolution” – a co-production between Serbia, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Montenegro – takes place in a barren wasteland, far removed from the mythical city of gods, with only one human settlement left. 

Tara Karajica In Jan Baumgartner’s first feature, “The DNA of Dignity,” which plays in the Newcomers Competition at the Thessaloniki Intl. Documentary Festival, the Swiss nurse-turned-filmmaker follows a team of forensic scientists who, in the anonymity of mass graves, are looking for the last usable traces of human DNA in the hope of giving the victims their names and dignity back decades after the Balkans War, which resulted in the disappearance of thousands of people. Survivors and those left behind pin their hopes on excavations and scientific work. “Time is running out. Many people in the Balkans are still missing their loved ones. I really wanted to make this film so that people start talking about this topic and maybe have a conversation with their families and ask their fathers if they know if there’s still somewhere where people could be because it’s very hard to find those victims now.”

Dua Lipa has been made an Honorary Ambassador of Kosovo at a ceremony in the country’s capital, Pristina. The singer was in the city to headline the Sunny Hill Festival, which she co-founded with her father, Kosovan Dukagjin Lipa, in 2018.The award was presented in recognition of Lipa’s work with the festival and the Sunny Hill Foundation promoting a campaign that is calling for a change to visa rules in the Balkan region so that Kosovans can travel into the European Union for short stays visa-free, as citizens can in five neighbouring countries.After receiving the award from President Vjosa Osmani on Friday, Lipa wrote on Instagram: “It’s an honour and a privilege to be able to represent my country all over the world and to continue my work and efforts globally to see that we leave our mark and make a difference.

Jovan Marjanović has been with the Sarajevo Film Festival for more than two decades and while he is what he describes as “a true child of the festival” this year marks the first edition where he’ll sit as director of the much-loved Balkan event, taking the reins from founder and long-time director Mirsad Purivatra.