‘The Last Socialist Artefact’ Wins Big At Hearts Of Sarajevo Awards For TV Series

Christopher Vourlias Dubai-based sales agent Cercamon has acquired world sales rights for Juraj Lerotić’s “Safe Place,” which won three awards after its world premiere at the Locarno Film Festival and was named best film at Sarajevo. The Croatian director’s feature debut is the emotional story of a family reeling in the wake of a suicide attempt that centers on a man’s struggle to save his younger brother, creating a rift in the family’s everyday life.  “Safe Place” plays on Lerotić’s own pained family history, with the Croatian multihyphenate taking on the lead role in his deeply personal story – a performance that also earned him the award for best actor in Sarajevo. “The film is reduced to the most acute, to a short time span and a clear situation that can be put in a nutshell: save the loved one,” the filmmaker said in a statement.

Big Boys has been renewed for a “bigger and better” second series on Channel 4.Created and written by comedian Jack Rooke, the first series of the show followed a young adult named Jack (Derry Girl‘s Dylan Llewellyn) as he set off to uni after the death of his father, explored his sexuality and formed a strong bond with roommate Danny (Jon Pointing).The first series received widespread critical acclaim, with The Guardian describing it as a “warm and witty sitcom” that “tackles coming out and coming of age”.Speaking of the show’s renewal, Rooke said: “The response to Big Boys series one has been so phenomenally kind, heartwarming and beyond anything any of us could have hoped for.“The fact we got onto Gogglebox is probably the proudest moment of mine and my mums lives (she got over 100 likes on Facebook for it!).“And so after a huge spitroast at Harvester, I decided I probably do have some more embarrassing stories about me & my mates to mine for comic material so get ready for an even more cringe second year at Brent University.”Charlie Perkins, Head of Comedy at Channel 4, said: “I’m so happy to confirm that Big Boys is returning.“This is one of my first commissions as Head of Comedy at Channel 4 and it fits squarely into what I think makes the greatest comedy; so much heart blended with so much silliness.

Wise men say only fools predict that adult films don’t work at the pandemic box office, however, older moviegoers kept falling in love with Warner Bros.’ Elvis this summer to the point where it’s now director Baz Luhrmann’s highest grossing movie ever of his career in U.S./Canada with $144.851M, beating the original run of his 2013 title, The Great Gatsby, which made $144.84M.

Pedro Pascal stars in The Last of Us and HBO just released the first footage of the new series ahead of the House of the Dragon premiere. The premium cable network ran a trailer with all their upcoming shows and featured a moment dedicated to the HBO original based on the video games developed by Naughty Dog for the PlayStation platforms.

Marta Balaga Slovenian director Dominik Mencej will put the motorbikes aside after his 90s-set road movie “Riders,” focusing on a female protagonist next. Once again set in the past, his new project “Aberrant Bride” will revolve around an “imported” young wife from Croatia, coming into a new environment and a new family, led by her husband’s domineering mother.“It’s similar but different,” says Mencej.“There is no open road, just a forest next to the house, but it’s also about this sense of belonging. I guess I can’t figure out how to tell a story with cellphones and social media.

Marta Balaga Dina Duma’s upcoming feature “Skateboarding Is Not for Girls” turned heads at Sarajevo Film Festival’s industry section CineLink this year. The story about a Romani Muslim girl from Skopje, Adela, trying to save her sister from being sold to the bridal market and dreaming of joining a group of female skaters, received the Film Center Serbia and the Female Voices awards.

Christopher Vourlias Croatian writer-director Juraj Lerotić’s “Safe Place,” an emotional story of a family reeling in the wake of a suicide attempt, took the top prize at the Sarajevo Film Festival, which wrapped a record-setting 2022 edition in the Bosnian capital on Friday night.The Heart of Sarajevo Award for best feature film was given by a jury headed by Austrian filmmaker Sebastian Meise (“The Great Freedom”), which included French filmmaker Lucile Hadžihalilović (“Earwig”), Croatian writer-director Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović (“Murina”), Serbian actor Milan Marić (“Dovlatov”) and Israeli producer and consultant Katriel Schory.“Safe Place” plays on Lerotić’s own pained family history, with the Croatian multihyphenate taking on the lead role in his deeply personal story — a performance that also earned him the award for best actor in Sarajevo. Fresh off a triumphant world premiere in Locarno, where the film won three awards including best first feature, “Safe Place” was described by Variety’s Guy Lodge as a “supremely poised and moving first feature” and a “shattering” debut, “with a long trail of further festival bookings surely ahead.”Ukrainian director Maryina Er Gorbach was named best director for “Klondike,” which portrays the brutal realities of the war unfolding in Ukraine’s Donbass region through the lens of a pregnant farmstead owner whose life and home fall apart.

Eight films battled it out in competition at the 28th Sarajevo Film Festival, but Austrian director Sebastian Meise’s jury—including French director Lucile Hadžihalilović , Croatian director Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović, Serbian actor Milan Marić and Israeli producer Katriel Schory—spread the love quite widely.

Guy Lodge Film CriticAbout halfway through “Safe Place,” a film already not given to taking it easy on viewers’ emotions, the meek, honest delivery of a single word — “Sorry” — shatters the heart irreparably into a million small shards. It comes from Damir (Goran Marković), a quiet, bearish but child-eyed man who has just attempted to take his own life.

Christopher Vourlias Croatian production house Antitalent has signed an option agreement to develop and produce a local version of the best-selling global format “Your Honor,” the hit drama whose American remake for Showtime stars Emmy winner Bryan Cranston.The series follows a judge who must deal with the fallout when his son is involved in a hit-and-run that gets him embroiled with an organized crime family. Facing impossible choices, he discovers how far a father will go to save his son’s life.The Balkan remake will travel across the former Yugoslavia with a story that spans Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia, according to Antitalent’s Danijel Pek.

We are now just days away from the biggest boxing night of Anthony Joshua's career when he'll rematch Oleksandr Usyk this Saturday, but prepare to dip into your pockets if you want to watch it live.

Christopher Vourlias Ukrainian documentary “Dad’s Lullaby” and Romania’s “Between Revolutions” won the Docu Talent Awards, chosen from a field of nine documentary features from Central and Eastern Europe, at the Sarajevo Film Festival on Monday.The Docu Talent Award for the most promising project went to “Dad’s Lullaby” (pictured, above), directed and produced by Lesia Diak. It tells the story of a Ukrainian veteran who returns home burnt out and traumatized from war but hoping to find peace for himself and his family.

Marta Balaga In Bosnian drama series “The Hollow,” a body is found in a museum. As senior inspector Edib Pašić tries to solve the case, he dives deeper and deeper into modern-day Sarajevo. Which hasn’t really changed all that much and keeps protecting its secrets.“This combination of old and new is something we all carry inside.

Christopher Vourlias Croatia’s Drugi Plan and Bulgaria’s Agitprop, two of the leading production outfits in Southeast Europe, have been attached to co-produce the upcoming drama series “Sabre,” a political thriller revolving around the 2003 assassination of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic produced by Belgrade-based This and That Productions.Created by Goran Stanković and Vladimir Tagić, the series will star Serbian-Danish actress Danica Curcic, known to international audiences for her lead role in the Netflix psychological thriller “The Chestnut Man,” as a reporter investigating the shocking murder.The companies announced the deal on Monday at the Sarajevo Film Festival, where This and That’s “Bad Blood” and Drugi Plan’s “The Silence” were among the top Balkan drama series vying for Heart of Sarajevo TV Awards, which were handed out at a ceremony in the Bosnian capital on Sunday night. “Sabre” was first pitched in Sarajevo three years ago during the CineLink Drama co-financing forum, where it was named best drama project.

Christopher Vourlias Croatian miniseries “The Last Socialist Artefact” was the big winner at the Heart of Sarajevo TV Awards, which were handed out Sunday night during the Sarajevo Film Festival.The six-part limited series, which is adapted from Robert Perišić’s novel “No-Signal Area,” tells the story of two urban transplants who take over an abandoned turbine factory for a mysterious client in a remote, economically depressed Balkan town. The show took home awards in five of the eight categories for drama series, including best series, best leading actor for Izudin Bajrović and best director for Dalibo Matanić.Created by Ankica Jurić Tilić and Dalibor Matanić, “The Last Socialist Artefact” is produced by Tilić for Zagreb-based Kinorama, in co-production with Serbia’s Sense Production, Slovenia’s Perfo Production and Finland’s Citizen Jane.

Although the Danish star arrived at the Sarajevo Film Festival to receive his Honorary Heart of Sarajevo Award for his outstanding contribution to the art of film, many of the crowd who attended the event’s morning “Coffee With…” event on Monday seemed, rather worryingly, to be fans of Mads Mikkelsen’s TV work, notably HBO’s cannibal drama Hannibal. Nevertheless, the actor took their questions in his stride, as part of a wide-ranging conversation that embraced his early career in Danish indie cinema, his move to the U.S. and the M.C.U., his affection for Pink Floyd, and his love of football. “I always wanted to make money out of sports,” he quipped. “It never happened.”

Covid-19 pandemic. Following the easing the restrictions earlier this year, the Hannibal star graced the red carpet at the city's Film Festival in a dapper blazer and matching trousers to collect his honour. Mikkelsen opted for a black and grey patterned tie with a matching handkerchief tucked into his upper left pocket.

Christopher Vourlias Belgrade-based Firefly Productions has closed a raft of deals in the run-up to this year’s Sarajevo Film Festival, where the Serbian production powerhouse leads the pack with 19 nominations at the Heart of Sarajevo TV Awards, including best drama series nods for supernatural drama “Block 27” and psychological thriller “Black Wedding.”As Variety previously reported, Beta Film has acquired international distribution rights to “Block 27” (pictured), a science fiction-mystery series about the disappearance of a teenager in Belgrade. Firefly has also closed deals with Australian public broadcaster SBS on “Black Wedding,” which follows a government agent investigating a killing spree and its links to ancient folklore, and “The Family,” a five-part miniseries about the arrest of the former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milošević.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterJordan Peele’s latest nightmare, “Nope,” has crossed $100 million at the domestic box office, marking the director’s third feature film (out of three) to achieve that benchmark.After three weeks on the big screen, the film’s North American tally stands at $100.32 million.“Nope” — starring Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer as siblings who discover something spooky hovering around their family’s ranch — is one of the few original movies to cross the $100 million mark in pandemic times. When it comes to movies that aren’t based on existing brands or franchises, only director Baz Luhrmann’s musical biopic “Elvis” ($137 million) and the Sandra Bullock-led romantic comedy “The Lost City” ($105 million) have surpassed the coveted threshold in 2022.

Brad Pitt has a “shit list” of actors he’d never work with, according to his Bullet Train co-star Aaron Taylor-Johnson.In a recent interview with Variety, Taylor-Johnson spoke about his experience of working with Pitt, describing him as a “humble and gracious human being”.“He just wants to bring light and joy into the world and be around people who are there to have a good time,” Taylor-Johnson explained.“You work with many actors and after a while, you start making notes, ‘I am definitely not working with this person ever again.’ Brad has this list too: the good list and the shit list.”One actor who clearly resides on Pitt’s “good list” is Sandra Bullock, who also features in the recently released action-thriller Bullet Train.Pitt had previously told The Daily Mail: “Sandy is an old friend. She’s a diehard person I could call for favours over the years and I have done many times, and she’s always there.“Her timing was great, she was a great person to have in my ear in a situation like that, which is actually kind of intimate.”Bullet Train marks the pair’s second collaboration this year, with Pitt previously appearing in Bullock’s action-adventure movie The Lost City, which also starred Channing Tatum and Daniel Radcliffe.In June, Pitt suggested that he was on the “last leg” of his acting career, with his eye now turning to roles behind the camera.“I consider myself on my last leg,” He told GQ.