News

New films by Jasmila Zbanić and Radu Jude are among 38 projects sharing almost €15m of production support from the Austrian Film Institute’s (ÖFI) selective funding programme, the ÖFI+ automatic incentive and the Vienna Film Fund

Vienna-based Nikolaus Geyrhalter Filmproduktion received €175,000 from ÖFI’s project committee and €120,000 from the Vienna Film Fund for its minority participation in Zbanić’s Quo Vadis, Aida? - The Missing Part which will be the sequel to her award-winning war drama from 2020.

Produced by Zbanic’s own company Deblokada with partners such as Germany’s Razor Film and Poland’s Madants, the new film is...

In der letzten Projektkommission 2024 vergibt das Österreichische Filminstitut ein Gesamtvolumen von 3.116.000 Euro an acht Spielfilme und vier Dokumentarfilme. Darunter neue Projekte von Arman T. Riahi, Sara Fattahi, Andreas Schmied sowie Jasmila Žbanić. Zusätzlich sind Referenzmittel in Höhe von 787.886 Euro in Kinofilm investiert worden.

ÖFI-Chef Roland Teichmann (Credit: privat)

In der letzten Sitzung des laufenden Jahres hat das Österreichische Filminstitut (ÖFI) gesamt 3.116.000 Euro ausgeschüttet. Das Geld kam acht Spiel- und vier Dokumentarfilmen zugute. Zusätzlich sind Referenzmittel in Höhe von 787.886 Euro in Kinofilm investiert worden.

Die höchste Einzelsumme, 680.000 Euro, ging an „Riot / Girl“ von Arman T. Riahi, den die Golden Girls Filmproduktion produziert. Oben drauf kommen noch 30.000 Euro Anspruch auf Gender Incentive. Im Mittelpunkt der Geschichte steht die iranische Teenagerin Nika, die sich offiziell zur Erholung von ihrer Nasen-op einige Wochen bei Verwandten in Österreich verbringen soll. Doch schnell wird klar, dass Nika aus anderen, mysteriösen Gründen zu Besuch ist.

Jasmila Žbanićs vielfach prämierter und oscarnominierter „Quo Vadis, Aida?“ erhält eine Fortsetzung. Das Österreichische Filminstitut hat diese mit 145.000 Euro (plus 30.000 Euro Gender Incentive) gefördert. Minoritärer österreichische Produktionsfirma ist dieses mal die Nikolaus Geyrhalter Filmproduktion.

„Quo Vadis, Aida“ von Jasmila Zbanic (Credit: farbfilm)

Jasmila Žbanićs vielfach prämierter und oscarnominierter „Quo Vadis, Aida?“ erhält eine Fortsetzung. Das Kriegsdrama aus dem Jahr 2020, das den Völkermord in Srebrenica thematisiert, erhielt zahlreiche Auszeichnungen und sogar eine Oscarnominierung. Weltpremiere feierte es damals im Wettbewerb von Venedig. Es entstand mit insgesamt acht Ländern in Koproduktion (auch Deutschland war dabei: Razor Film). Die Fortsetzung mit Untertitel „The Missing Part“, an der die in Deutschland lebende bosnische Regisseurin arbeitet, setzt sechs Monate nach dem Genozid in Srebrenica ein, als die Hauptfigur Aida erfährt, dass ihr Mann und ihre Söhne noch am Leben sind. Die minoritäre österreichische Koproduktion, dieses Mal mit der Nikolaus Geyrhalter Filmproduktion, hat vom Österreichischen Filminstitut in...

Ahead of Cannes Mipcom confab, Beta Film has closed a string of major deals on six premium series from Central Eastern Europe, a proof of the region’s fast transformation into a prime destination for multi-territory players such as HBO, Canal+ and Walter Presents, hungry for culturally-specific stories with global potential. Five of the shows come with a raft of prestigious accolades.

Case in point is the Serbian “Operation Sabre,“ winner of a Special Interpretation Award at Canneseries and Best Cee Drama at the recent Czech Serial Killer Festival, snapped up by HBO for the Cee region and Filmin for Spain and Portugal.

“We are extremely happy and grateful to have Beta Film on board as they are doing an amazing work with sales,“ said producer Snežana van Houwelingen of This and That Productions who also looks forward to the Serbian premiere on the local pubcaster Rts on Nov. 2. “The...

2002 war Danis Tanovic‘ „No Man’s Land” mit dem Oscar in der Kategorie „Bester nicht-englischsprachiger Film“ ausgezeichnet worden. Sein neuer Film „My Late Summer” wurde jetzt von Bosnien und Herzegowina für den Oscar in der jetzt als „Bester internationaler Film“ firmierenden Kategorie eingereicht.

Danis Tanovic‘ zweite Hoffnung auf eine Oscar: „My Late Summer“ (Credit: Sarajevo Film Festival)

Mitte August hatte Danis Tanovic‘ „My Late Summer“ als Eröffnungsfilm des Sarajevo Film Festival seine Weltpremiere gefeiert, jetzt wurde er von Bosnien und Herzegowina in der Kategorie „Bester internationaler Film“ für einen Oscar eingereicht.

„My Late Summer“ erzählt die Geschichte von Maja, einer Frau in den 30ern. Sie reist auf eine abgelegene Insel, um dort eine Familienerbangelegenheit zu klären. Infolge vieler unvorhersehbarer Situationen voller neuer Emotionen muss sie sich schließlich ihrer Vergangenheit stellen. Die Suche nach dem Erbe wird zu einer Suche nach ihrer eigenen Identität, aber auch nach Vergebung. Maja verliebt sich in...

Bosnia and Herzegovina has selected My Late Summer, directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Danis Tanović, as its official submission for the 2025 Oscar race in the best international feature film category.

The comedy-drama, which debuted as the opening film at this year’s Sarajevo Film Festival, follows Maja, a feisty 30-something (played by Anja Matković), who journeys to a remote island to resolve a family inheritance dispute only to be confronted with unresolved issues from her past. What starts as a quest for material wealth transforms into a deeper search for identity and forgiveness as she falls in love with the charming island and its quirky locals, and an unexpected romance blooms.

Propeler Film produced My Late Summer in co-production with Tangaj Production, Obala Art Centar, Bas Celik and Tramal Films.

While best known for his Bosnian films, Tanović has also tried his hand at English-language features, including the 2020 crime thriller The Postcard Killings...

Bosnia and Herzegovina has chosen the film “My Late Summer” to represent the country at the Academy Awards. The movie tells the story of a woman who travels to an island to resolve a family inheritance issue. Along the way, she confronts questions from her past.

Directed by Danis Tanović, “My Late Summer” follows a young woman embarking on a journey. She hopes to solve an inheritance problem but faces unexpected challenges. Through these experiences, the protagonist examines personal identity and forgiveness. Tanović is a renowned Bosnian director known for past Oscar-winning films like “No Man’s Land” from 2001.

Made across several European countries, “My Late Summer” was produced in Croatia, Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and Slovenia. An industry panel selected the movie for Oscars consideration. Panelists included director Nermin Hamzagić, producer Amira Kudumović, and others from Bosnia’s film community.

Tanović has achieved global acclaim for films examining his homeland.

Bosnia and Herzegovina has selected Oscar-winning director Danis Tanovic’s drama My Late Summer as its candidate for Best International Feature Film at the 97th Academy Awards.

The film, which world premiered as the opening film of the Sarajevo Film Festival over the summer, is a comedy drama about a young woman who travels to a remote island to solve an issue of family inheritance.

In a whirlwind of new emotions and through a series of unpredictable situations, she finally faces questions from her past. The search for inheritance becomes a search for her own identity, but also for forgiveness.

Tanović is one of Bosnia and Herzegovina most acclaimed directors.

He broke out internationally with his Bosnia War inspired No Man’s Land which won he Oscar and Golden Globe for best foreign language film in 2002. He has also won the Berlinale’s Silver Bear for An Episode in the Life...

With the Toronto International Film Festival starting, there’s plenty to look forward to on the feature front. There’s also much room for discovery among Short Cuts, TIFF’s dedicated program of short films. Spread across seven groups and one feature pairing, this year’s Short Cuts comprises 48 shorts from 23 countries, the most titles in the program since 2019. There’s also one major change this year in the form of Strange Cuts, a set of six genre shorts one might describe as a bite-sized take on TIFF’s Midnight Madness.

This year also has the strongest collection of shorts in some time, which is partly why I decided to highlight 11 titles this year as opposed to the usual 10 (a self-imposed maximum due to limited time more than a lack of wanting to write about more films). Below are my thoughts on these 11 highlights from this year’s program, and...

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.

Although she defines herself primarily as an actress, she says, “Directing and making movies give me so much pleasure. It’s so exciting. So, I always say theater is a marriage for me.

Prominente Mitglieder der European Film Academy wenden sich mit einem Offenen Brief an die Serbische Regierung, um die Auslieferung des belarussischen Filmemachers Andrei Gnyot zu verhindern.

Zu den Unterzeichnern gehören (von oben links nach unten rechts): Sandra Hüller (© European Film Academy), Alice Diop (© A. Lamachere), Lars Eidinger, Juliette Binoche (© Eric Guillemain), Wim Wenders, Justine Triet (© European Film Academy), Fernando Trueba (© Maximilian Bühn),

Agnieszka Holland (©Jacek Poremba), Jasmila Žbanić (© Imrana Kapetanovic), Cristian Mungiu (© Dan Beleiu), Nina Hoss, Zar Amir Ebrahim (© Kris Dewitte), Lukas Dhont (© European Film Academy) and Karim Aïnouz (© Bob Wolfenson)

Morgen, am 27. August, wird das serbische Berufungsgericht die allerletzte Anhörung im Fall Andrei Gnyot und wird entscheiden, ob er an Belarus ausgeliefert werden soll oder nicht. Die Befürworter des Briefes sowie internationale Menschenrechtsgruppen glauben, dass Gnyot im Falle einer Auslieferung Folter, jahrelange Haft und möglicherweise sogar die Todesstrafe drohen. In den zurückliegenden 24 Stunden haben über 70 prominente europäische Filmemacher:innen und Kreative,...

Throughout her storied career as a screen and theater actress, Mirjana Karanović has never run away from a challenge. In the melodrama “Mother Mara,” her second feature as a director, co-writer and star, she gives herself challenges aplenty, including showing herself both physically and emotionally naked. Her Mara is a tough, successful businesswoman with platinum curls à la Marilyn Monroe, whose carefully constructed identity falls apart after the death of her 21-year-old son.

Even Mara’s grieving process defies custom. She refuses to stay away from work or cry on the shoulders of others. Instead, she re-ignites her lifeforce through an affair with a much younger man. Some viewers, who would find it perfectly acceptable if the genders of the two principal characters were swapped, may find the older woman/younger man dynamic implausible, but the performances of the two leads and a late twist in the plot do a...

Last September, we were thrilled to share a small yet significant piece of news: Jasmila Žbanić was preparing a sequel to her acclaimed film in 2020’s Quo Vadis, Aida? (read our ★★★★ star review), which was selected at the Venice Film Festival. Now, Variety has picked up on this and is touting it as an exclusive scoop. Nowhere in their article were they able to confirm the actual title however we now learn that the Bosnian filmmaker will explore the aftermath of the tragic consequences of the 1990s Bosnian War — essentially wives/mothers uniting together after the genocide of thousands of husbands and sons.…...

Two buzzy Balkan series were under the spotlight this week at the Sarajevo Film Festival, where local creatives dished on their recipe for turning regional stories into potential breakout hits.

Sunday night saw the red-carpet regional premiere of “Operation Sabre,” a Serbian crime drama that premiered in Canneseries’ Long Form Competition this year. The show, about the 2003 assassination of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić, is created and directed by Goran Stanković and Vladimir Tagić.

Snezana van Houwelingen, who produced the series for Belgrade-based This and That Productions, in co-production with Martichka Bozhilova (Agitprop) for Radio Television of Serbia, said that the creators were thinking about global audiences from the moment they began developing the script.

“From the very beginning, we believed this story had international potential, even if it was a very local event and it takes place in Serbia,” she said. “Everything we did during the development process was...

Auf dem Sarajevo Film Festival hat Jasmila Žbanić ein Sequel zu ihrem u.a. mit dem Europäischen Filmpreis ausgezeichneten und für einen Oscar nominierten Drama aus dem Jahr 2020 angekündigt.

Jasmila Žbanić (re.) wurde in Sarajevo zusammen mit Elma Tataragić für das Drehbuch der Dramaserie „I Know Your Soul“ ausgezeichnet und kündigte ein Sequel zu „Quo Vadis, Aida?“ an (Credit: Sarajevo Film Festival)

Jasmila Žbanić bereitet aktuell eine Fortsetzung ihres Dramas „Quo Vadis, Aida?“ vor. Wie die Filmemacherin jetzt im Rahmen des Sarajevo Film Festival, wo sie zusammen mit Elma Tataragić für das Drehbuch der Dramaserie „I Know Your Soul“ mit dem Heart of Sarajevo ausgezeichnet wurde, ankündigte, werde sich das Sequel mit den Folgen des später als Völkermord eingestuften Massakers in Srebrenica, bei dem im Juli 1995 rund 8.000 Bosnier ermordet wurden, und des Bosnienkriegs in den 1990er Jahren insgesamt beschäftigen.

Weitere Details zur Handlung des Sequels wollte Žbanić zwar nicht nennen,...

Oscar-nominated filmmaker Jasmila Žbanić is prepping a sequel to her harrowing war drama “Quo Vadis, Aida?,” which competed for best international feature film at the 93rd Academy Awards, Variety can exclusively reveal.

Speaking at the Sarajevo Film Festival, Žbanić said the film will explore the tragic consequences of the 1990s Bosnian War and the brutal massacre at the heart of her critically acclaimed Oscar contender, which follows a Bosnian Un translator (Jasna Đuričić) torn between family and duty in Srebrenica, where more than 8,000 civilians — mostly Muslim men and boys — were slaughtered in the worst act of mass killing on European soil since World War II.

While Žbanić was reluctant to share details about the sequel’s plot, she discussed her inspiration to depict the aftermath of the massacre — which was later deemed to be a genocide — as well as the consequences of the wider war, which left countless Bosnian women without husbands and sons.

Bosnian crime drama “I Know Your Soul,” created by Jasmila Žbanić – who directed Berlinale Golden Bear winner “Grbavica” and Oscar-nominated “Quo Vadis, Aida?” – and Damir Ibrahimović – who was a producer on those films – was named best drama series Sunday at the 30th Sarajevo Film Festival. “Smashing It” was named best comedy show.

Eight series were nominated in 14 categories. Entries came from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Slovenia and Serbia. The awards were decided by a jury of more than 500 film professionals from the region.

“I Know Your Soul” dominated the drama category, taking home seven Heart of Sarajevo awards. These included best drama series, best actress for Jasna Đurčić, European Film Award winner for “Quo Vadis, Aida?,” best supporting actress for Jelena Kordić Kuret, best supporting actor for Mirvad Kurić, Rising Star for Lazar Dragojević, best screenplay for Žbanić and Elma Tataragić, and best direction for Nermin Hamzagić.

I Know Your Soul, a six-part drama series from Oscar-nominated Bosnian filmmaker Jasmila Zbanić (Quo Vadis, Aida?) took the top TV honors at this year’s Sarajevo Film Festival, winning best drama series and nearly sweeping the drama categories, taking best directing, best script and most of the acting categories. Zbanić, in addition to co-writing the series, also produced and served as showrunner. In addition to Quo Vadis, Aida?, Zbanić directed the Golden Bear-winning Grbavica (2006) and an episode of HBO’s Emmy-winning The Last of Us.

The series, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival last year, follows Nervena, a prosecutor in the process of a divorce raising her teenage son. Her investigation into a teen suicide sets off a series of events that transform her personal and professional life. Jasna Duricić, who plays Nervena, won the best actress honor for her performance. Co-star Jelena Kordić Kuret took the best...

The Bosnian drama series “I Know Your Soul” emerged as the top winner at the 2022 Heart of Sarajevo Television Awards last month. The awards recognize excellence in television programming from countries in Southeastern Europe.

“I Know Your Soul”, written and directed by acclaimed Bosnian filmmaker Jasmila Žbanić, took home seven awards overall. This included prizes for Best Drama Series, Best Script for a Drama, and Best Direction for a Drama. Žbanić herself received the scriptwriting award for her work on the drama.

The series follows a prosecutor named Nervena dealing with personal struggles while investigating a teenager’s suicide. Actress Jasna Duričić won for her leading performance as Nervena. Her portrayal of a woman facing challenges at work and home drew widespread praise.

Other “I Know Your Soul” cast members also received awards. Jelena Kordić Kuret won for Best Supporting Actress. Mirvad Kurić and Lazar Dragojević earned trophies for their...

Bosnian drama I Know Your Soul was the biggest winner at this year’s Heart of Sarajevo awards for TV Series, the Sarajevo Film Festival’s awards strand for TV shows, as the show nearly swept the drama categories. The six-part series, which is written by Oscar-nominated Bosnian filmmaker Jasmila Žbanić, took seven wins including Best Drama, Best Script – Drama, Best Directing – Drama and many of the drama acting categories.

The series, which world premiered at the Venice Film Festival last year, saw Žbanić take home the award for Best Script – Drama Series while Nermin Hamzagić won for Best Directing – Drama.

The show’s lead actress, Jasna Duričić, won Best Actress – Drama, while Jelena Kordić Kuret won Best Supporting Actress – Drama and Mirvad Kurić took Best Supporting Actor – Drama. Lazar Dragojević also took the Rising Star – Drama award.

I Know Your Soul is a six-part series that sees Duričić play Nervena,...

“Mother Mara,” which has its world premiere at Sarajevo Film Festival as a gala screening, playing out of competition, has debuted its trailer (below). World sales are being represented by Antipode Sales International.

The Serbian drama stars and is directed by Mirjana Karanovic, who previously starred in and directed Sundance competition title “A Good Wife.” As an actor she is best known for Jasmila Zbanic’s “Grbavica,” winner of the Berlin Golden Bear, and Emir Kusturica’s Oscar nominated and Cannes Palme d’Or winner “When Father Was Away on Business.”

The film centers on Mara, a successful businesswoman and single mother, who is heartbroken after her son Nemanja’s untimely death. She becomes emotionally detached, refusing to communicate with friends and family. However, when she meets Milan, Nemanja’s close friend, she finds solace and comfort in their relationship. As they grow closer, they uncover more about Nemanja’s life and his passing,...

US filmmaker Paul Schrader will be president of the jury for the 30th Sarajevo Film Festival (August 16-23).

Schrader will preside over a five-person jury, consisting of Swedish actress and producer Noomi Rapace, Finnish filmmaker Juho Kuosmanen, Bosnian filmmaker Una Gunjak and Slovenian actor Sebastian Cavazza.

The jury will award the Heart of Sarajevo awards in the Competition Programme – Feature Film, with the winners announced on Friday, August 23. Prizes include best feature film, director, actress and actor.

Previous Sarajevo jury presidents have included Mike Leigh, Jasmila Zbanic, Asghar Farhadi, Ruben Ostlund and last year’s president Mia Wasikowska.

Schrader’s...

Austrian filmmaker Jessica Hausner will serve as jury president of the Concorso Internazionale, at the 77th Locarno Film Festival, organizers said on Thursday.

She will oversee the jury that decides the winner of the Pardo d’Oro – the Golden Leopard – at the Swiss film festival, taking place Aug 7-17.

Hausner began her career in short films after studying at the Film Academy of Vienna, creating austere and distinctive films. Locarno was the first international festival at which Hausner’s work made an impression, taking home the main prize in the section Pardi di Domani for the short Flora in 1997.

She moved to Cannes with Inter-View (1999), her 45-minute graduation film, and later co-founded the production company coop99 which, besides Hausner’s own films and those of the other co-founders (Barbara Albert, Antonin Svoboda, and Martin Gschlacht), has also gone on to produce film such as Maren Ade’s Toni Erdmann (2016) and...

Austrian filmmaker Jessica Hausner is to serve as jury president for the international competition at this year’s Locarno Film Festival, which takes place August 7-17.

Locarno was the first international festival at which Hausner’s work made an impression, taking home the main prize in the Pardi di Domani section for her short Flora in 1997.

Hausner’s first feature films Lovely Rita (2001) and Hotel (2004) both premiered in Un Certain Regard at Cannes, while Lourdes (2009) debuted in competition at the Venice Film Festival and took home the Fipresci prize. Her subsequent films include Un Certain Regard premiere Amour Fou (2014), and...

Quo Vadis, Aida Photo: Courtesy of Venice Film Festival Quo Vadis, Aida, BBC iPlayer, streaming now

Jasmila Zbanic's measured and powerful drama considers the run-up to Srebrenica genocide, which left more than 8000 dead, from the perspective of Un interpreter Aida Selmanagic (Jasna Djuricic), her headteacher husband Nihad (Izudin Bajrovic) and their two teenage sons Hamdija (Boris Ler) and Sejo (Dino Bajrovic). We remain gripped to Aida as the crisis in her hometown looms and watch as the United Nations fails to intervene with devastating consequences. Djuricic puts in a masterful performance as a mum under increasing pressure as her panic mounts from with the chaos of a Un camp while her husband and sons are outside. Clear sighted and with an epilogue that acts as a reminder of the lasting impact of conflict, Zbanic's drama is not to be missed.

Drive My Car, midnight, Film4, Wednesday, February 27

Jennie Kermode...

Saudi Arabia Launches First Cinema Guild Six Year After Lifting Of Ban

Saudi Arabia has launched its first official film industry guild six years after the lifting of its 35-year cinema ban in 2017. The initiative overseen by Minister of Culture, Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Farhan Al-Saud, was announced during the Red Sea International Film Festival. “Having a professional association is fundamental for the development of the sector,” inaugural board member and director Hana Al Omair told a conference discussing the objectives of the new body. She said the association’s key role would be to establish legislation for the sector as well as labor rights for cinema professionals. Al Omair was joined in the discussion by the association’s president, the artist and producer Mishal Al Mutairi; veteran acting star Abdulmohsen Al-Nimr; director Tawfik Alzaidi, whose first feature Norah world premiered at the festival on Tuesday evening as well as Alaa Faden,...

Exclusive: It’s been a year of evolution for the European Film Market and its TV track Berlinale Series Market. Management is changing at sister festival Berlinale, with Mariëtte Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian exiting amid worries about finances, and the number of films screened reducing.

Meanwhile, Berlinale Series boss Julia Fidel has also departed, with the track was discontinued as an independent program. Series will instead be highlighted as part of the Berlinale Series Gala — a move the festival thinks brings it closer in line with other European film fests such as Cannes and Venice.

Notably for the TV biz, the Berlinale Series Market industry conference remains unaffected and will be running a full program. Last year the likes of The White Lotus exec producer David Bernad, Shades of Blue creator Adi Hasak and The Tinder Swindler director Felicity Morris took the stage in sessions hosted by myself and Max Goldbart.

Festival ran November 2-12.

Sofia Exarchou’s Animal has won the €10,000 Golden Alexander-Theo Angelopoulos prize for best film at the 64th Thessaloniki International Film Festival, the first time in 30 years a Greek production has won the top prize.

The film’s lead actress Dimitra Vlagopoulou also won the best actress award ex aequo with Joanna Arnow for US production The Feeling That The Time For Doing Something Has Passed, which she also directed.

Vlagopoulou had previously won best actress at Locarno where the film had its world premiere.

The Greek, Austrian, Romanian, Cypriot, Bulgarian co-production follows a group of women...

Industry speakers at festival include ‘Quo Vadis, Aida?’ director Jasmila Zbanic, former Marvel exec Karim Zreik.

Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea International Film Festival (Rsiff) has selected 26 feature film projects for its Red Sea Souk Project Market; plus a Work-in-Progress showcase, and speakers for its 360° industry events programme.

The 26 Souk projects hail from Africa and the Arab region. Titles include Djeliya, Memory Of Manding, a documentary from Burkinabe filmmaker Boubacar Sangare, whose third film A Golden Life played at the Berlinale earlier this year.

Scroll down for the full list of projects

Also included is Scandar Copti’s animated documentary A Childhood,...

Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival has revealed details of the Red Sea Souk, the fest’s industry market that will offer meeting and networking opportunities revolving around new Arab and African product.

The Souk will take place Dec. 2-5 alongside the Nov. 30-Dec. 9 fest in Jeddah, on the Red Sea’s eastern shore. The fest’s industry side will also comprise the Red Sea Talent Days on Dec. 6-7, which will give regional talents and young filmmakers a chance to connect with industry experts.

The Red Sea Souk Project Market will showcase 26 feature-length projects from across the Arab and African region. Of these, 12 are Red Sea Lodge projects that were developed in-house during the year through workshops and labs in partnership with Italy’s Torino Film Lab.

Four of these projects will be awarded the annual Red Sea Lodge production prizes of $50,000 each.

All 26 selected projects in the...

The Red Sea International Film Festival, has unveiled the 26 projects selected as part of its industry-focused Red Sea Souk Market, running from December 2 to 5.

Projects in development include Palestinian director Scandar Copti’s A Childhood, Lebanese-French filmmaker Danielle Arbid’s Love Conquers All and Madness And Honey Days by Iraq’s Ahmed Yassin Al-Daradji.

Within the Market selection are twelve Red Sea Lodge projects which were developed during the year through intensive workshops and in partnership with the Torino Film Lab. Four of these projects will be awarded the annual Red Sea Lodge production prizes of $50,000 each.

All 26 selected projects will compete for cash prizes offered by the Red Sea Fund, to be awarded by an international jury of producers: $35,000 for development, $25,000 for the Jury Special Mention Award and $100,000 for production

Another six projects will be showcased in Works-In-Progress section including Men In The Sun by Palestinian director Mahdi Fleifel,...

HBO Max has acquired Central and Eastern Europe rights to “I Know Your Soul,” the crime drama series by Oscar-nominated Bosnian filmmaker Jasmila Žbanić. The show, which world premiered at the Venice Film Festival, is currently playing as part of the Agora Series TV strand of the Thessaloniki Film Festival.

Also included in the deal, which was brokered by Munich-based production and distribution outfit Beta Film, is the Serbian thriller “Children of Evil,” based on the best-selling novel by Miodrag Majić.

Further negotiations with key European buyers are underway for both shows.

“I Know Your Soul” is a six-episode limited series, written, directed and produced by Žbanić, who also serves as showrunner. The cast is led by European Film Award-winning actor Jasna Đuričić, who plays Nevena Murtezic, a prosecutor in the process of divorce and single mother to a teenage son. The case of an adolescent’s suicide triggers an...

When the Thessaloniki International Film Festival’s industry arm, Agora, kicks off this week in Greece’s second city, organizers will be looking to expand upon recent additions to a time-tested formula that’s served the event across nearly two decades as a launching pad and incubator for Greek and regional talent.

“We’ve been doing the Agora since 2005, and we have slowly but steadily established it as one of the markets where you can find new talents and emerging directors from this region,” says industry head Angeliki Vergou, who took over from longtime Agora topper Yianna Sarri last year. “I think we are maintaining the essence of Agora that we have developed all these years, but just tweaking it a little bit to make it more available and more open to bring in new opportunities.”

In her second year in charge of the Agora, Vergou is looking to build...

Exclusive: The Thessaloniki Film Festival’s Agora Series, a hybrid film-series industry strand, returns this year for its sophomore outing with Paper Entertainment CEO and Tehran executive producer Julien Leroux serving as program consultant.

This year’s Agora series program will run for two extended days, starting November 4, with a focus on the creative process of series screenwriting. The schedule will feature a range of masterclass sessions from local and international series professionals. Canadian filmmaker Jeremy Podeswa will host a masterclass on the future of storytelling titled From Six Feet Under to the Top: The Evolution of Contemporary Television at the Pavlos Zannas Theatre on November 4. Podeswa — who was recently announced as the lead director of the Blade Runner 2099 mini-series at Amazon — will discuss the evolution of series content throughout the years and his personal journey in the business. Podeswa’s credits include Six Feet Under, Game of Thrones,...

The co-heads of Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival, which was rescheduled at the eleventh hour this week due to the Israel-Gaza crisis, have vowed that its sixth edition will go ahead in some shape or form.

The festival, unfolding in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of El Gouna, was on the cusp of opening its sixth edition this Friday when the management team announced Tuesday that it was postponing the event to new dates running from October 27 to November 2.

More than 120 cinema talents had been confirmed to attend including Bosnian Quo Vadis, Aida? director Jasmila Zbanic as the main jury president, French director and producer Luc Besson with Dogman, Italian animator Enzo d’Alo with A Greyhound Of A Girl; Indian director Anurag Kashyap with Kennedy, Ukrainian filmmaker Maryna Vroda with Stepne and Sudan’s Mohamed Kordofani with his Best International Feature Film submission Goodbye Julia.

“The situation, of course,...

Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival is back after a one-year hiatus with a rich mix of Arabic and international titles launching into the Middle East and plenty of promising projects from Arab countries set to be unveiled to prospective partners at its CineGouna industry side.

The event launched in 2017 by Egyptian telecom billionaire Naguib Sawiris – whose brother Samih built the El Gouna resort in a swathe of desert near the tourist town of Hurghada 250 miles south of Cairo – was put on pause in 2022 ostensibly due to the country’s economic crisis following five editions during which fest co-founder Amr Mansi and chief Intishal Al Timimi had managed to rapidly put El Gouna on the international festival map while also making it a favourite with the local crowd.

“If there is a positive from the fact that we were forced to skip a year it’s that we were sorely...

Tucked away in German coin trade news (via the Screen Daily folks) we find a bunch of big filmmaker names receiving funds for their upcoming projects and one film that sticks out among the films in development list (was completely off the radar) is the next project by Jasmila Žbanić. She is returning to the world of her outstanding 2020 drama with Quo Vadis, Aida: The Missing Piece. What is this about? Is this a post-aftermath narrative? We’ll be sleuthing around to find more details on this project shortly. A selection for the Golden Lion competition in 2020, Quo Vadis, Aida?…...

German regional fund Medenboard Berlin-Brandenburg (Mbb) has made its latest funding decisions.

Films directed by Wes Anderson, Agnieszka Holland, Emily Atef, Pablo Larrain and Karim Ainouz are among 14 projects to receive more than €5.2m in total production support from the German regional fund Medenboard Berlin-Brandenburg (Mbb) in its latest funding decision.

The largest single amount of €1.5m went to an as-yet untitled project by Wes Anderson which will see the US director continuing his long-standing collaboration with Studio Babelsberg with whom he has partnered on five previous films including The Grand Budapest Hotel, The French Dispatch, and Asteroid City.

The...

Exclusive: Poland will submit animated feature drama The Peasants for Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards.

The picture is the latest work from Dk Welchman (previously known as Dorota Kobiela) and Hugh Welchman, the creative duo behind the groundbreaking, Oscar-nominated, hand-painted biopic Loving Vincent.

The pair co-wrote The Peasants screenplay adaptation from Nobel Prize-winning writer Władysław Reymont’s classic 1905 novel of the same name about a young woman determined to forge her own path within the confines of a late 19th century Polish village.

Poland’s Oscar entry choice was made Monday by a selection committee overseen by the Polish Film Institute. There was a strong offering of Polish films this year, with other potential contenders including Agnieszka Holland’s migrant drama Green Border and Malgorzata Szumowska and Michal Englerts’ transgender drama Woman Of.

Related: Agnieszka Holland’s Migrant Crisis Drama ‘Green Border’ Posts Record Opening Weekend...

Bosnian director Jasmila Zbanic will preside over the main jury of the 6th edition of Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival, which has announced its full lineup, featuring a rich mix of Arabic and international titles making their Middle East premieres as they compete for top prizes.

Following a one-year hiatus, the Oct. 13-20 event held in the Red Sea resort about 250 miles south of Cairo is back in full swing with founder and director Intishal Al Timimi firmly at the helm bolstered by widely respected Egyptian producer-director Marianne Khoury in the artistic director chair.

Alongside a roster of previously announced international festival circuit standouts competing for El Gouna awards, such as Justine Triet’s Cannes Palm d’Or-winning “Anatomy of a Fall,” Todd Haynes’ “May December” and Luc Besson’s “Dogman,” which was announced today, the new Arabic additions to El Gouna’s competition selection comprise the world premiere...

Superprod Animation Moves Into Tween Fare With ‘Heroic Football’

French animation studio Superprod has announced new series Heroic Football, set against a fantasy land in which soccer is its only salvation. The project brings together a host of French animation talent including writers Guillaume Mautalent and Sébastien Oursel (Ernest and Celestine: A Trip to Gibberitia). They are joined by Antoine Charreyron, who directed Batwheels, produced at Superprod Animation for Warner Bros Animation, as well as the movie The Prodigies and cult-animated series Galactik Football. Art director Florent Auguy is also attached. Superprod will present the 26 x 22 minutes series at Cartoon Forum 2023 in Toulouse on September 20. The series marks the company’s first foray into animation aimed at the tween demographic. “Each project we undertake is a chance to delve into fresh realms. With Heroic Football,...

Screen is profiling every submission for best international feature at the 96th Academy Awards.

Entries for the 2024 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

The 96th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 10, 2024 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between December 1, 2022, and October 31, 2023. The deadline...

The delicate balance between personal emotions and professional responsibilities forms the core of the first two episodes of Jasmila Zbanic’s I Know Your Soul. Starring Jasna Duricic, Lazar Dragojevic and Ermin Bravo, the show examines familial bonds, societal expectations and the shadows that secrets cast over relationships. With the first two episodes directed by Alen Drljevic, the series promises an exploration of complex human emotions, social pressures and intricate mysteries that don’t just lie outside but within the very confines of our homes.

Young Emir is smoking a cigarette staring into the void on his rooftop. Looks like teen angst, right? Wrong. He jumps off the ledge to his death, which causes prosecutor Nevena, and detective Džandžo begins investigating. The prosecutor retraces his steps and finds there were no signs of foul play, and now she has to break the news to Emir’s parents Goran and Vedrana.

Oscar-nominated director Jasmila Žbanić reunites with her “Quo Vadis, Aida?” actress Jasna Đuričić for a psychological legal drama “I Know Your Soul,” premiering Out of Competition at the Venice Film Festival.

IndieWire can exclusively share the trailer for the series, produced by Beta Films. Žbanić serves as showrunner for the six-part limited series that portrays prosecutor Nevena Murtezic’s (Đuričić) investigation into a suicide that threatens to destroy her family and career when she discovers she may not know her son Dino (Lazar Dragojević) as well as she thought. The case of a teen’s suicide triggers an avalanche of events in her professional and private life, as she finds it increasingly difficult to balance the needs of her son with a job that is under constant public and political pressure.

The Bosnian-based drama was produced by Deblokada for Telecom Bosnia and Herzegovina. “I Know Your Soul” joins the growing...

With no official film market and a more laid-back attitude than Cannes, Berlin or Toronto, Venice has never been the go-to festival for movie deals.

But opportunistic buyers could spot a bargain this year, as many of the hottest titles arrive at the Lido without major distribution in place.

Just ahead of Venice, Sideshow and Janus Films picked up domestic rights to Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car follow-up Evil Does Not Exist, and Mubi snatched up Sophia Coppola’s Priscilla, an A24 release in the U.S., for several markets, including the U.K., Germany, Latin America and Turkey.

Here are some of the other prime targets for dealmakers in the 2023 Venice Film Festival lineup.

Aggro Dr1ft

Director Harmony Korine

Stars Travis Scott, Jordi Molla

Buzz Another slice of extreme avant-guard from Spring Beakers and Trash Humpers director Harmony Korine, this experimental action film — shot entirely in infrared...

At times Bosnia and Herzegovina has looked like it was stuck in a bit of a no-man’s land when it comes to film production, lacking the financial fire-power to press forward, but its TV series business is booming.

The Southeast European country boasts two Oscar nominations – Danis Tanović’s “No Man’s Land,” which nabbed a statuette in 2002, and Jasmila Žbanić’s “Quo Vadis, Aida?,” which was nominated in 2021 – and its filmmakers have enjoyed success on the festival circuit, but it still hasn’t upped its meagre level of production, especially in terms of fiction features, with only one or two majority Bosnian films produced a year.

The problem lies in the “messy and unregulated model of audiovisual support in general,” according to producer-director Jasmin Duraković, whose film “The Glory of Unhappiness” screens in the Bh Film sidebar at Sarajevo Film Festival, which presents the recent crop of films with investment from Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Beta Film has acquired international distribution rights to “I Know Your Soul,” a new series from Oscar nominee Jasmila Žbanić that premieres Out of Competition next month at the Venice Film Festival.

The six-episode limited series is led by European Film Award-winning actress Jasna Đuričić, who plays Nevena Murtezic, a prosecutor in the process of divorce and single mother to a teenage son. The case of an adolescent’s suicide triggers an avalanche of events in her professional and private life, as she finds it increasingly difficult to balance the needs of her son, Dino (Lazar Dragojević), with a job that is under constant public and political pressure.

The Bosnian drama is among a growing slate of prestige productions Beta is selling from Eastern Europe as part of the company’s initiative to co-finance and co-produce more projects in the Central and East European region, including the Serbian supernatural drama...

La BêteCOMPETITIONComandante (Edoardo De Angelis)The Promised Land (Nikolaj Arcel)Dogman (Luc Besson) La Bête (Bertrand Bonello) Hors-Saison (Stéphane Brizé) Enea (Pietro Castellitto) Maestro (Bradley Cooper)Priscilla (Sofia Coppola)Finalmente L’Alba (Saverio Costanzo)Lubo (Giorgio Diritti) Origin (Ava DuVernay) The Killer (David Fincher)Memory (Michel Franco)Io capitano (Matteo Garrone)Evil Does Not Exist (Ryûsuke Hamaguchi)The Green Border (Agnieszka Holland)The Theory of Everything (Timm Kröger)Poor Things (Yorgos Lanthimos)El conde (Pablo Larrain)Ferrari (Michael Mann)Adagio (Stefano Sollima)Woman OfHolly (Fien Troch)Out Of COMPETITIONFictionSociety of the Snow (J.A. Bayona)Coup de Chance (Woody Allen)The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (Wes Anderson)The Penitent (Luca Barbareschi)L’Ordine Del Tempo (Liliana Cavani)Vivants (Alix Delaporte)Welcome to Paradise (Leonardo di Constanzo)Daaaaaali! (Quentin Dupieux)The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial (William Friedkin)Making of (Cedric Kahn)Aggro Dr1ft (Harmony Korine)Hitman (Richard Linklater)The Palace (Roman Polanski...

Gold Derby can exclusively reveal that Pedro Pascal is entering the “The Last of Us” episode “Kin”” as his 2023 Emmy Award submission for Best Drama Actor. “Kin” aired on February 19, 2023, and is the sixth episode episode of the HBO drama’s freshman season.

In “Kin,” three months after watching Henry (Lamar Johnson) and ignoring the advice of locals, Joel (Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) receive a grave warning about what lies ahead. They descend deeper into dangerous territory in search of the Fireflies – and Tommy (Gabriel Luna). Later, Ellie learns more about Joel’s past, while Joel tries his best to forget. The episode was written by series creator co-creator Craig Mazin and directed by Jasmila Žbanić.

SEEEmmy for Best Drama Actor is one of the year’s closes races: Culkin vs. Strong vs. Odenkirk vs. Pascal

Pascal, who had never before been nominated for an Emmy, received three this year: as Drama Series Actor,...

Two movies whose directors are likely to draw protests, Woody Allen’s French-language “Coup de Chance” and Roman Polanski’s “The Palace,” will make their world premieres at the 2023 Venice International Film Festival, Venice artistic director Alberto Barbera and La Biennale di Venezia president Roberto Cicutto announced at a Tuesday morning press conference.

Both films will screen out of competition, though they’ll likely draw an inordinate amount of attention at a festival that has assembled a robust lineup of major filmmakers even as it struggles with the effects of the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes.

Films booked for the Venice main competition include Bradley Cooper’s Leonard Bernstein biopic “Maestro”; Yorgos Lanthimos’ sci-fi drama “Poor Things”; Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla Presley film “Priscilla”; Michael Mann’s auto-racing film “Ferrari”; Ava DuVernay’s “Origin,” with Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Niecy Nash-Betts and Vera Farmiga; and David Fincher’s “The Killer,” with Michael Fassbender.