CineLink, the industry strand of the Sarajevo Film Festival, has finalized its list of projects for its Co-Production Market and CineLink Drama sections and has also unveiled a new award €10,000 award and partnership with Cannes’ Critics’ Week.
The final selections comprise of 16 feature film projects and eight drama series projects, with women directing or co-directing nine of the Co-Production Market titles. Eleven of these projects were announced in May and the official selection is now completed by the additional titles.
New entries include two projects by Bulgarian filmmakers, both returning to CineLink: Nadejda Koseva presents Fleur de Mar, following her previous feature The Trap, which was part of CineLink Work in Progress in 2022. Koseva is also known for her acclaimed short films screened at the Berlinale and Sundance. Ralitza Petrova returns with Peace, her third feature. Her debut, Godless, was developed through the CineLink Co-Production Market 2015 and went on to win the Golden Leopard at the Locarno Film Festival, while her second film, Lust, was developed at CineLink in 2021 and presented at CineLink Work in Progress in 2024 before premiering in the Berlinale Forum earlier this year.
The line-up also includes two guest projects presented through CineLink’s long-standing collaboration with the Doha Film Institute. The Peacock Queen is directed by Qatari directing and animation duo Aisha Al-Jaidah and Kholood Al-Ali. Madness and Honey Days is the new project by award-winning Iraqi writer and director Ahmed Yassin Al-Darraji, whose debut feature, Hanging Gardens (2022), premiered at the Venice Film Festival and was selected as Iraq’s submission for the Academy Awards.
CineLink+ will present a new project by acclaimed Serbian filmmaker Goran Marković. His films National Class, Variola Vera and Special Education remain defining works of Yugoslav cinema.
The CineLink Drama selection expands to eight projects with Chasing the Clouds by Karla Lulić and Jelena Mađarić. The Croatian-Finnish co-production joins the line-up as a guest project presented in collaboration with the TV Beats Forum Co-Financing Market in Tallinn.
CineLink Industry Days also announces a new €10,000 cash award presented by the Kosovo Cinematography Center. The award will support one project selected for the CineLink Co-Production Market and will be presented at the official CineLink Awards Ceremony on August 20.
“The final line-up brings together seven debut features and new projects by filmmakers whose work we have followed through CineLink over many years,” said Asja Krsmanović, Head of CineLink. “Nine of the sixteen projects are directed or co-directed by women, reflecting the strength and range of women filmmakers working across the territories represented in the selection. We are also very pleased to welcome the new award from the Kosovo Cinematography Center. At a time when development financing is increasingly difficult to secure, this kind of direct support can give a project real momentum.”
Meanwhile, the partnership with Cannes’ Critics’ Week, which is dubbed Next Step Studio, will focus on its international program for emerging filmmakers. Each edition takes place in a different country and brings together eight directors, four from the host country and four international participants, who work in pairs to co-write and co-direct four 15-minute short films.
Produced and financed in the host country, the films receive their world premieres at Critics’ Week in Cannes. The participating directors also present their first or second feature projects to international buyers, broadcasters, distributors and co-producers. The inaugural edition of Next Step Studio took place in Indonesia, with its four short films premiering in Cannes in May 2026.
Through the new Next Step Studio Participation Award, one emerging director from the CineLink selection will become one of the four international filmmakers participating in the following edition of the program. The award will be presented at the official CineLink Awards Ceremony on August 20.
The exchange will work in both directions. CineLink will welcome one Next Step Studio filmmaker to present their first or second feature project at the Co-Production Market, while the Sarajevo Film Festival will screen short films created through the program.
“Making a first feature can take years, and during that time filmmakers need opportunities to keep creating, test their ideas and build relationships with their peers,” said Maša Marković, Head of Industry at the Sarajevo Film Festival. “This is what makes the partnership so valuable to us. Next Step Studio gives one CineLink director a genuine opportunity to make a new film with an international collaborator and present it in Cannes. It strengthens the ecosystem around first-time filmmakers and supports CineLink’s wider commitment to bringing new voices into the international film industry.”
CineLink Industry Days takes place August 15-20, 2026. The Sarajevo Film Festival takes place August 14-21, 2026.
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