This year, the Avant Premiere Gala programme is exclusively focused on drama series. This is due to the program’s growth and development through its cooperation with the Festival’s platform for development of high-quality drama series, CineLink Drama, and the Avant Premiere programme of the Sarajevo Film Festival that screens recently completed regional productions. The Sarajevo Film Festival will continue to develop this segment of its program to keep up with the growing trend of regional production and popularity of “our local” drama series.The drama series included in the 2019 edition of Avant Premieres Gala program of the Sarajevo Film Festival will compete for the Audience Award which is sponsored by BH Telecom.
Besa S1E1-2
Serbia, United Kingdom, 2018, Colour, 90 min.
Director: Dušan Lazarević
Created by: Tony Jordan
Cast: Radivoje Bukvić, Arben Bajraktaraj, Miloš Timotijević, Lana Barić, Gresa Pallaska, Hana Selimović, Radoslav Milenković, Mensur Safqiu, Milan Marić
While Uroš Perić is driving on a business trip to Montenegro, he is caught up in a traffic accident, which results in the tragic death of Besiana, a young girl. When Uroš wakes up in the hospital, he finds out that Besiana was the daughter of the Balkan region’s biggest narcobos, Dardan Berisha. In order to escape the vendetta against his family, Uroš is forced to become a killer for Dardan. Dardan swears a besa – a solemn and sacred oath – that after Uroš has committed five murders (the number of members of Uroš’s family, himself included) he will be free again.
Black Sun 2 S2E1-2 / Senke nad Balkanom 2 S2E1-2
Serbia, 2019, Colour and B&W, 90 min.
Director: Dragan Bjelogrlić
Cast: Dragan Bjelogrlić, Andrija Kuzmanović, Marija Bergam, Nenad Jezdić, Goran Bogdan, Jovana Stojiljković, Miloš Samolov, Srđan Žika Todorović…
Belgrade, 31 December 1933. A brutal murder triggers a series of thrilling and mysterious events that will provoke a confrontation between local strongmen, members of high society, secret associations, and foreign intelligence agents. From the muddy streets of the Jatagan neighbourhood to the luxurious White Palace, a conspiracy is being hatched that will call into question the future of the entire country and its ruler. The time has come to launch an investigation.
The Family Markovski S2E1-2 / Familijata Markovski S2E1-2
North Macedonia, 2019, Colour, 78 min.
Director: Darijan Pejovski
Created by: Emilija Chochkova
Cast: Aleksandar Mikić, Silvija Stojanovska, Tamara Ristoska, Vladimir Petrović, Petar Petkovski
THE FAMILY MARKOVSKI is the emotional story of the struggle to keep a family together amid the many challenges of everyday life in a dysfunctional society plagued by corruption and the lack of the rule of law.
The Group S1E1-2 / Grupa S1E1-2
Serbia, 2019, Colour, 131 min, Serbian
Director: Uroš Tomić, Jelena Gavrilović, Ivan Stefanović, Nemanja Ćeranić, Slobodanka Radun, Miloš Radunović, Gvozden Đurić
Cast: Igor Benčina, Filip Đurić, Denis Murić, Ivana Zečević, Marko Milivojev-Mili, Milica Trifunović, Tijana Marković, Pavle Mensur, Jasna Đuričić, Nela Mihajlović, Vojin Ćetković, Branka Katić
Belgrade police inspector Dragan Gaga Miletić becomes obsessed with uncovering a link between a group of teenagers from the neighbourhood of Dorcol and the murder of a well-known local criminal. As we follow his attempts to shine some light on the murder, we learn about the life of Dragan’s fellow police officers, businessmen suspected of shady deals, and underage small-time drug dealers who have been drawn into a much more dangerous game. Apparently unrelated groups of people are fragments of an exciting portrait of the modern society.
The Lake S1E1-2 / Jezero S1E1-2
Slovenia, 2019, Colour, 98 min.
Director: Klemen Dvornik, Matevž Luzar
Cast: Sebastian Cavazza, Nika Rozman, Gregor Čušin, Matej Puc, Vlado Novak, Jana Zupančič, Nataša Barbara Gračner
Driving home from a New Year’s Eve party, Chief Inspector Taras Birsa inadvertently gets involved in a murder investigation. Ordered by their superiors to take on a new co-worker, Taras and his seasoned team start investigating a difficult case: an extraordinarily brutal murder of a young woman. Besides the public pressure, Taras also has personal problems to deal with: after his daughter leaves to study abroad, the resulting void in his family life reveals cracks in his marriage. Will the new case also open a new chapter in Taras’s personal life?
