CineLink in Slano: Intensive Project Development and the Launch of a New Producers’ Lab

The three selected projects - Koryo by Mladen Kovačević (Naked, Serbia), Jellyfish Live Forever Until They Are Caught by Nađa Petrović (Antitalent, Croatia), and Forbidden Fruit by Urška Djukić (OINK!, Slovenia) — will continue their development process following the online preparatory workshop held in April. Over five days in Slano, the creative teams will take part in an intensive mentoring programme focused on script development, production strategy and preparing the projects for the next stages of financing and international presentation. They will work with mentors including producers Yorgos Tsourgannis (Horsefly Films, Greece) and Erik Hemmendorff (Plattform Produktion, Sweden), script consultants Franz Rodenkirchen and François von Roy from Germany, Elma Tataragić from Bosnia and Herzegovina, and sales agent Olivier Barbier from the French company Lucky Number. 

 

As part of Slano Film Days, the participants of the CineLink workshop will attend conversations with renowned film professionals, screenings of contemporary films and events designed for professional networking. The programme will offer them opportunities for exchange with prominent filmmakers and industry professionals, including Ruben Östlund from Sweden, Maggie Gyllenhaal from the United States, Jasmila Žbanić from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Christine A. Maier from Germany, Mike Goodridge from the British company Good Chaos, and Emilie Georges from the French company Memento Films International. This setting opens space for direct dialogue between emerging authors and established filmmakers, as well as for the exchange of experience, ideas and potential future collaborations. 

 

This year, for the first time, the programme in Slano will also welcome the participants of the CineLink Producers’ Lab, through the first in a series of sessions within a year-long programme designed for junior producers and producers who have recently established their own production companies in the region. This year’s programme brings together six producers: Iriana Adnana (4 Proof Film, Romania), Dragana Antić (This and That, Serbia), Inna Lastochkina (Contemporary Ukrainian Cinema, Ukraine), Ana Martinović (Nukleus Film, Croatia), Durna Safarova (Etudfilm, Azerbaijan), and Sergiu Scobioala (Realitatea Film, Romania). 

 

CineLink Producers’ Lab is conceived as a platform for the professional development of a new generation of producers. Through work with international experts, participants will develop skills in creative project development, new technologies, financial and business planning, the international positioning of companies, and long-term career development. The programme also creates space for testing ideas, exchanging experience with peers from the region, and building professional contacts relevant to their future work. 

 

The year-round training and market activities of CineLink Industry Days are focused on providing continuous support to film projects and talent through mentorship, professional exchange and an international working framework. This year’s programme in Slano brings together project development, training and networking in a format that gives participants concrete tools for their further artistic, production and professional development.