Serbia’s Firefly Closes Deals Ahead of Sarajevo TV Awards, Ramps Up Studio Construction (EXCLUSIVE)

variety.com:

Christopher Vourlias Belgrade-based Firefly Productions has closed a raft of deals in the run-up to this year’s Sarajevo Film Festival, where the Serbian production powerhouse leads the pack with 19 nominations at the Heart of Sarajevo TV Awards, including best drama series nods for supernatural drama “Block 27” and psychological thriller “Black Wedding.”As Variety previously reported, Beta Film has acquired international distribution rights to “Block 27” (pictured), a science fiction-mystery series about the disappearance of a teenager in Belgrade.

Firefly has also closed deals with Australian public broadcaster SBS on “Black Wedding,” which follows a government agent investigating a killing spree and its links to ancient folklore, and “The Family,” a five-part miniseries about the arrest of the former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milošević.

The company is also in advanced talks with buyers in North America and Europe on several other series.The deals come as construction gathers steam on Firefly’s long-awaited studio complex, which broke ground outside Belgrade last year. “We’re being delayed due to the crisis,” said the company’s co-founder Ivana Mikovic. “The prices rose — all the steel and the construction.

It was really slow, but it’s going well.”Construction is expected to wind down by the end of the year, with the studios fully operational by March 2023.