CineLink Work in Progress is a showcase of feature-length projects in the post-production stage from Southeast Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. The selected films are presented to leading international industry professionals, including funders, sales agents, distributors, broadcasters and festival programmers, with the aim of supporting their completion and strengthening their international distribution and festival prospects.
The selected projects also compete for three industry awards: the HBO Award, worth €30,000 in cash; the Avanpost Media Award, consisting of post-production services worth €30,000; and the Post Republic Award, offering post-production services valued at €30,000.
What unites this year’s selection, whether debut features by directors confidently establishing their cinematic voices or new works by acclaimed filmmakers with already distinctive visual styles and narrative approaches, is a remarkably strong thematic coherence. At the heart of almost every project lies the family, portrayed in different forms, yet invariably shaped, challenged or fractured by wider social forces. Whether confronting the legacy of the past, following individuals caught in the grip of crime, exploring class struggle and deeply rooted patriarchal structures, or unfolding as intimate psychological dramas centered on fragile human relationships, these films examine the family as both a refuge and a battlefield, revealing the profound ways in which personal lives are intertwined with broader societal realities.
In addition to this year’s official selection, CineLink Work in Progress programme will also feature a special session. Acclaimed Bosnian filmmaker Jasmila Žbanić will present exclusive excerpts from her new feature, Quo Vadis, Aida? – The Missing Part and discuss the creative and practical challenges of the film’s development and post-production process, offering participants a unique behind-the-scenes insight into the making of one of the most anticipated regional productions currently in progress.
CineLink Work in Progress Lineup:
THE WHITE WEEK
Fiction
Director: Bojan Vuletić
Producers: Jelena Mitrović, Boris T.Matić, Lana Matić, Danijel Hočevar, Ivan Đurović
Production Companies: Film House Baš Čelik, Propeler Film, Vertigo, Artikulacija
Countries: Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro
The White Week is a film of a tragic loss, the brother’s death, that the eleven year old boy starts to use as means in his conflict with his father and his environment. Out of fear, he starts to manipulate the investigation, revealing how a hypocritical and corrupt society works.
MARIENHOF
Documentary
Director: Nina Kusturica
Producer: Michael Kitzberger
Production Company: Nikolaus Geyrhalter Filmproduktion GmbH
Country: Austria
An apartment in Sarajevo that has stood vacant for a long time and is now up for sale. A sense of home that hardly seems tangible. Filmmaker Nina Kusturica travels from Vienna with her mother to the place where she grew up and explores themes of identity, new beginnings, and the lack of a sense of belonging. “Marienhof” is a personal and poetic documentary that asks: What is home, and what remains of me when I leave it behind?
PAY THE BILL
Fiction
Director: Assel Aushakimova
Producer: Assel Yerzhanova
Production Company: Film Film Film
Countries: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan
After an unexpected late-night phone call from a policeman, a 65-year-old Kazakh woman faces a difficult night and day searching for her daughter and plunging into a world of general indifference.
ABOUT THE END OF THE WORLD
Documentary
Director: Jakob Krese
Producers: Ivana Naceva, Annika Mayer
Production Companies: Potem, Majmun Films, Zero Stress Production, Restart
Countries: Slovenia, Germany, Italy, Croatia
In quiet desperation, a young father seeking to help his newborn daughter live, unveils the power of her name – a symbol of inspirational resistance borne from generations before her.
THE FIRST WEEK OF AUGUST
Fiction
Director: Filip Mojzeš
Producers: Tamara Babun Zovko, Matija Drniković
Production Company: Wolfgang&Dolly, Black Photon
Countries: Croatia, Poland
On a Mediterranean getaway, a mother’s sudden physical outburst at her son (10) cracks open latent family tension. The picturesque vacation setting turns into a charged battleground between a mother and her emotionally wounded child.
IT
Fiction
Director: Emin Fırat Övür
Producers: Emin Fırat Övür, Atilla Salih Yücer
Production Companies: Mercury Production, Alaz Film
Country: Türkiye
Born in captivity, torn from her family, sold into privilege, and abandoned on the streets of Istanbul, a dog comes of age while learning to survive in a world shaped by both care and cruelty.
BUBO BUBO
Fiction
Director: György Mór Kárpáti
Producers: Eszter Lilla Kozma, Veronika Gál
Production Company: Proton Cinema
Country: Hungary
A young couple moves into a holiday home, searching for a place for a home birth. They find an owl nesting in the house, the bird’s presence brings insecurities to the surface that they must cope with.
LULLABY
Fiction
Director: Keti Machavariani
Producers: George Kyriakos, Costas Labropoulos, EffieSkrobola, Vassilis Tzanidis, Sopo Basgadze, Constantine Lusignan, Guka Rcheulishvili
Production Companies: View Master Films, Vineyard Films
Countries: Greece, Georgia
When the old man under her care suddenly dies, a Georgian translator in Athens risks losing the only income that feeds her son. Can she survive this crisis without betraying her own principles?
