“I’m going to do a rewrite,” said Romanian director Andrei Tanase of his script, following the feedback he received from international experts at Croatia’s Slano Film Days.
Tanase is a member of one of the teams from eight feature film projects in development that attended the CineLink Workshop as part of Slano Film Days, held June 17-21.
It takes place ahead of the full CineLink programme at Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Sarajevo Film Festival from August 15-22.
The workshop helped connect the regional filmmakers with international experts in production, finance, distribution, and sales. The programme also offered tailored consultations and expert-led sessions in script development.
Romanian filmmaker Tanase attended the workshop with Agatha Candy, his second feature, about a small-town police officer investigating the case of a teenage girl left for dead in the woods. They risk being swallowed into a dark, sinister world, where the unlawful meets the occult.
“It’s a genre film, but with more depth than usual,” says Tanase. “It’s not niche or experimental, it’s a story anyone can relate to.”
Slano came at the perfect time for the project. “I hadn’t shown the script to many people so far, so the workshop was a great way to find opinions from people who know how to read a screenplay. I got a lot of useful feedback, so I’m going to do a rewrite.”
Tanase said Slano’s laid-back environment helped to stimulate creativity. “The workshop is well organised, it’s not too packed. There’s a lot to take in, but at the end of the day, your brain is not completely fried.” Agatha Candy is being produced by Anamaria Antoci, Anda Ionescu, and Ana Voicu of Romania’s Tangaj Production.
Producer Evelyn Balogh of Hungary’s Non Lieu Film Productions attended the workshop with Places Half Empty, a portrait of a queer relationship in the context of Viktor Orbán’s Hungary. “It’s good for us that you don’t need credits [to be here] and can connect with experienced producers,” said Balogh, with Places Half Empty set to be Non Lieu’s first feature. “We learned here about how our team dynamics work – how we agree or disagree on things, and how people navigate these situations. You cannot learn this in a school.”
Places Half Empty will be a second feature for director Dorka Vermes, written by Sara Torley-Havas. “The workshop feels like a sanctuary,” said Vermes. “It’s an isolated place, which adds so much; it’s not a big city where you can go everywhere, the only thing you can do is go swimming in the sea.
“You don’t have packed days with meetings and industry events, you get to focus on your project, your colleagues… and the sea!”
Fusion
Andrija Mardesic described his project Pogana, co-written with director David Kapac, as “pretty far along”, with tentative shoot dates for winter 2026. “We’re confident in it, and this has been a perfect confirmation,” said Mardesic. “It’s a safe, relaxed environment to talk about the smaller details of the script. It’s the perfect fusion of networking and work.”
Set on a Dalmatian island in the 1920s, Pogana follows a woman from the mainland who is sold to be the new wife of a widowed sailor with five children. When the sailor is lost at sea, Pogana is left at the mercy of the cruel villagers and their customs.
The second part of the programme in Sarajevo will be “the perfect time and place for our project to be presented to the public, a year before we go into production,” said Kapac, who previously co-directed 2022 feature The Uncle with Mardesic. ”Our aim is to meet people interested in co-production, but also sales agents and people who will package and deliver the film to the public.”
Rea Rajcic and Tina Tisljar will produce the project for Croatia’s Eclectica, in co-production with Slovenia’s Vertigo.
Yusuf Elbasi, writer-director of workshop project That Country, noted the specificity of the feedback from the international experts. “The tutors here were prepared in our meetings, they had read every letter of our script,” said Elbasi. “We could discuss not only the general theme, but also specific dialogue.”
That Country is set in the mid-19th century, when a Turkish painter and a German photographer set out to capture images of the Ottoman homeland. Lost in the mountains, they search for the purpose that led them there. Burak Cevik produces for Turkey’s Fol Films.
“We could also discuss how to proceed with our co-production strategy, and financing,” said Elbasi. “It was preparation for the [Sarajevo] co-production market – what kind of teammates we’re looking for, what our script offers them, how we can pitch it. I feel prepared.”
The list of all nine projects, plus the CineLink Drama series titles that participated in the workshop in Slano, is available here.