CineLink Talks: Recognising Value, Redesigning Support, and Rethinking Form

This year’s CineLink Talks, conference programme of Sarajevo Film Festival, brings together four conversations on how the audiovisual sector is changing - both in the stories it tells and in the systems that support them. 

 

Culture on Screen: What Are We Not Measuring? considers how television series shape collective memory, public debate and cultural understanding in ways that conventional evaluation models often fail to capture. Can Film Funds Keep Up? Rethinking Policy for a Changing Audiovisual Industry turns to the institutions behind audiovisual creation, asking whether funding structures built primarily around cinema can respond to series, games, interactive formats, new IP models and increasingly complex cross-border financing. 

 

Alongside these policy and institutional questions, Microdrama and the Public Value Chain: From Commissioning to Platform Release looks at how public broadcasters are adapting short-form, platform-native storytelling to their editorial mandates. Beyond Conversation: Building Original IP Through Podcast Storytelling focuses on the emergence of true crime and narrative audio in the region, and on the creative possibilities that open when investigative journalism, documentary sound and serialised storytelling come together. 

 

Taken together, the four panels address a sector in transition: one that must recognise cultural significance more clearly, redesign public support more intelligently and create space for new forms of original storytelling. 

 

In partnership with Council of Europe, Pilot Programme for Series Co-Productions 

 

In an audiovisual landscape increasingly shaped by ratings, streaming numbers, algorithms, and visibility metrics, an important question remains: what do film and television series generate in society that cannot be easily measured? The panel will bring together leading representatives of European public broadcasters and audiovisual institutions to discuss the broader cultural and democratic impact of television storytelling. While audience reach and platform performance remain important reference points, they rarely capture the ways in which series shape public discourse, influence historical understanding, contribute to collective memory, or create shared cultural reference points across borders. Focusing particularly on contemporary European television series, the panel will explore how audiovisual storytelling resonates beyond measurable consumption. Through concrete examples, the discussion will address the role of series in opening conversations around social and political issues, reflecting changing European realities, and contributing to pluralism, freedom of expression, and cultural dialogue. At a moment when the audiovisual sector is increasingly confronted with questions of performance, saturation, and visibility, the panel asks whether current evaluative models are sufficient to understand the full significance of audiovisual work, particularly within the context of public service media and culturally driven storytelling. 

 

Speakers: 

 

Johanna Gardare | Head of Drama and Film, SVT (SE) 

Marianne Furevold-Boland | Head of Drama, NRK (NO) 

Alex Traila | Programme Manager Series Co-Productions, Council of Europe (FR) 

Amra Bakšić Čamo | Producer, pro.ba (BA) 

Mikael Fellenius | CEO, Film i Väst (SE) 

 

Moderator: Lorenzo Biferale | Head of Research, KEA European Affairs (IT) 

 

In partnership with Croatian Audiovisual Center & European Film Agencies 

 

Over the past decade, many film funds have expanded beyond their traditional remit towards a broader audiovisual field that increasingly includes television series, transmedia development, and, in some contexts, video games. At the same time, the sector has been reshaped by platform-driven business models, faster development cycles, shifting audience behavior, and technological change moving more quickly than most regulatory frameworks were designed to absorb. The result is a growing gap between the speed at which the industry evolves and the pace at which policy and public funding structures can adapt. When new laws, funding structures, and support schemes are introduced, are they simply responding to pressures that are already visible, or are they capable of anticipating the next phase of change? Can existing frameworks respond to cross-border financing, new models of intellectual property, and forms that do not fit neatly within established categories? How should funds balance institutional stability with the need for experimentation and reform? How public institutions respond to these questions will shape far more than the efficiency of funding systems. It will determine whether they can continue to protect cultural ambition while also influencing the conditions in which the next generation of European audiovisual work is created, owned, financed, and brought to audiences. 

Speakers: 

Christopher Peter Marcich | Director, HAVC (HR) 

Edith Sepp | CEO, Estonian Film Institute (EE) 

Roland Teichmann | CEO, Austrian Film Institute (AT) 

Mikael Fellenius | CEO, Film i Väst (SE) 

Moderator: Alex Traila | Programme Manager Series Co-Productions, Council of Europe (FR) 

 

 

Podcasts have become firmly established across the former Yugoslavia, yet the medium has rarely been used for ambitious narrative storytelling. Opening the session, Galeb Nikačević, founder of Agelast, one of the region’s leading independent podcast platforms, will provide an overview of the regional podcast landscape, exploring its rapid growth, audience dynamics, and the opportunities it presents for creators developing original narrative content. At the center of the discussion is Tragovi (Traces), a pioneering example of original narrative audio IP. Produced by the Center for Investigative Journalism of Serbia (CINS), with its third season co-produced by Agelast Production, Tragovi combines investigative journalism, documentary sound, serialized storytelling, dramatization, and cinematic sound design into one of the region’s first true crime podcasts. The session offers an inside look at the creative and editorial process behind Tragovi, examining how complex investigations are transformed into compelling serialized audio experiences. Additionally, it explores the growing role of podcasts as original intellectual property with potential for adaptation across film, television, documentary, and publishing. 

 

Speakers: 

 

Galeb Nikačević-Hasci-Jare | Founder, AGELAST (RS) 

Stefan Marković | Journalist/Scriptwriter, CINS (RS) 

Dina Đorđević | Editor-in-chief, CINS (RS) 

Zoran Miodrag | Head of Audience, CINS (RS) 

Moderator: Nebojša Jovanović | Programmer, Sarajevo Film Festival (BA) 

 

 

As public broadcasters begin to explore microdrama, a new production ecosystem is emerging at the intersection of editorial mandate, platform logic, and creative experimentation. A format initially shaped by social media — fast, episodic, and emotionally immediate is now being tested within public-service frameworks that prioritize cultural relevance, accessibility, and long-term audience engagement. This panel examines how broadcasters and producers are jointly navigating this shift. Why are broadcasters entering the microdrama space now, and what strategic gaps does it address? Can a format built on speed and retention align with public-service values without becoming reductive? And how are producers shaping these formats, balancing narrative integrity against platform-native conventions while working within commissioning frameworks that are still taking shape, where terms, expectations, and rights structures are being defined as the work is made? Grounded in recent initiatives, including YLE Areena Stories and its commission Mama’s Boy (3 x 3–4 minutes), and RTV Slovenia’s 40 x 1-minute microdrama The Three of Them, the discussion moves into concrete commissioning practice and considers whether microdrama functions as an entry point for younger audiences, a testing ground for new voices, or a standalone strategy for external platforms. 

 

Speakers: 

 

Barbara Daljavec | Commissioning Editor, RTV Slovenia (SI) 

Luka Marčetić | Director/Writer (SI) 

Inka Hietala | Founder/Producer, Into Films (FI) 

Jarmo Lampela | Head of Drama, Yleisradio Oy (SE) 

Moderator: Gerhard Meier | Head Of Programme/Co-Founder, Seriencamp (DE)