My First Script
Workshop
closed to the public
The workshop is conceived as active individual work on a screenwriting project, mentored by two experienced script doctors. Six screenplay projects by directors, writers, or co-writers currently working on their first feature film screenplay have been selected among the applications received through the open call. The workshop is organised in cooperation with the Croatian Film Directors’ Guild and MIDPOINT Institute.
mentor
Antonio Nuić
A writer and director. He graduated in Film and TV Directing from the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb, where he has been working as a professor since 2013. He directed a segment of the anthology film Sex, Booze and Short Fuse (2004), after which he went on to write and direct All for Free (2005), Donkey (2009), Life Is a Trumpet (2015) and Mali (2018).
mentor
Pjer Žalica
Director, writer, producer, and dean at the Academy of Performing Arts in Sarajevo. Famous for Fuse (2003), Days and Hours (2004) and May Labour Day (ZFF 2022). Wrote the screenplay for The Frog (ZFF 2015) and directed several fiction shorts and documentaries, as well as plays, TV formats, ads and music videos. One of the partners at production company Refresh.
guest lecturer
Olmo Omerzu
Slovenian director and screenwriter. He studied at FAMU in Prague. He is the director of the feature films A Night Too Young (Berlinale 2012), Family Film (ZFF 2015; San Sebastián), Winter Flies (ZFF 2018; Karlovy Vary – Best Director; Toronto IFF) and Bird Atlas (Karlovy Vary 2021). He is a lecturer for the MIDPOINT Institute programs.
participant
Dušanka Belada
Theatre and film director from Cetinje. Graduated from the Academy of Arts, Novi Sad. Since 2019, she has collaborated with the Montenegrin National Theatre, staging two plays. She makes documentaries and short educational films and plays for children and youth. Next to directing, she is involved in writing, music and editing. She collaborates with writer Jovan Bošković on creative projects.
B.R.P.S.(Breeze/River/Plant/Sun)
The political elite comes to a forlorn poor town to present a project to build a hydroelectric plant on a protected river. European environmental activists arrive to prevent the construction of the HPP in the first green country in the world. Different concepts of the world, conscience and freedom lead to intense conflicts between the various interests of state, NGO sector, media, local population and foreigners, and some personal conflicts too.
Project status
In development
Kontakt / Contact
Dušanka Belada (director), beladadusanka@gmail.com
Jovan Bošković (writer), jovan.boskovic11t@gmail.com
participant
Gledis Bica
Albanian director, screenwriter and producer with background in shorts and documentaries. Making films since his high school, when his works were shown at DokuFest and ZagrebDox festivals. He participated in the Sarajevo Film Festival workshop Script Station. Currently developing his first feature film, Between Earth and Sky.
Between Earth and Sky
Astrit lives in Norway with his estranged father. After his father’s death, Astrit’s life changes drastically. He hires an Albanian funeral home to return his father’s body to his homeland and thus meets the funeral driver Ilir. He soon realizes that Ilir shares troubling similarities with his father. When their hearse is hijacked in Prague, Astrit is forced to face his deepest fears.
Project status
In development.
Contact
Gledis Bica (writer/director), gledisbica@gmail.com
Ajsela Vojka (producer), ajselavojka@gmail.com
participant
Marko Kovač
Marko Kovač (Belgrade, 1981) is a screenwriter and director. He graduated in architecture from the University of Belgrade. He has written and directed several award-winning shorts, including The Undersigned (2007), The Undersigned 3 (2010), Psycho (2011), Greenwoodo (2012) and The Circle (2015).
Perfect Place for Unhappiness
Two intellectuals from the Balkans, childhood best friends whose lives diverged during the war now scape a living on the streets of Paris, unaware of being in the same city. Until the moment they meet again – in the darkness of a Parisian prison. A story of another Paris we don’t see on colourful tourist postcards. The story of the dark underbelly of the metropolis known as the city of light.
Project status
In development. Rights for novel adaptation secured.
Contact
Marko Kovač (director), marko.b.kovac@gmail.com
participant
Radovan Petrović
Radovan Petrović (Skopje, 1983) is a Macedonian director and editor. He has more than ten years of experience in editing short and feature films and documentaries. He graduated in film and TV directing at the Film Academy in Štip. So far, he has directed five short films and several TV series. Currently preparing his first feature film.
Zora
Ljubiša exploits his wife and underage daughter Maria, who are forced to take care of the family tavern, the gathering place for guests of different nationalities. Maria works as a waitress, and at her father’s insistence as a singer, which makes her the target of ridicule and bullying at school. One day Maria disappears. Police investigation leads nowhere, Ljubiša blames everyone but himself, suspecting the Albanian guests most of all.
Project status
In development.
Contact
Radovan Petrović (writer/director), rasho983@gmail.com
Robert Naskov (producer; Partysans production), robert@partysans.com.mk
participant
Bojan Radanović
Bojan Radanović (Nova Gradiška, 1979) graduated in Film and TV Directing at the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb. He is the director of short films, some of which were shown at the Zagreb Film Festival: Before Dark (ZFF 2016), Letters (ZFF 2019) and Fender (ZFF 2022). Currently in pre-production with his feature film of the working title Pushback. He lives and works in Zagreb.
Pushback
Lawyer Daria (37) decides to represent a refugee family from Syria, whose daughter Ferida (6) was killed in a train accident on the border between Croatia and Serbia because of an error of the Croatian police. What was supposed to be just a routine meeting between lawyer and clients, turns into an agonizing struggle with the police system, as personal and family traumas escalate.
Project status
Supported by HAVC for script and project development.
Contact
Bojan Radanović (director), bojan.radanovic@gmail.com
participant
Ana Tonković
Theatre playwright and alumna of the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb. She has collaborated on more than 60 theatre plays. Author of a collection of adaptations and dramatizations Prepričavanja published in 2008 by VBZ. She worked as a freelance artist, and then as a dramatist for the HNK in Zagreb. Since 2016, she has been employed at the Zagreb Puppet Theatre. Bambina is her first film project.
Bambina
A jukebox musical with songs by Neno Belan and band Đavoli. Mid-1980s, Split. The corrupt shipyard management hires newly graduated engineer Tonči to the responsible position of project manager constructing the tanker Bambina. With the help of Marijana, a high school graduate on an internship at the shipyard and a series of seemingly socially and ideologically incompatible everyday heroes, thievery reaching the top echelons of power is exposed.
Project status
Supported by HAVC for script and project development.
Contact
Ana Tonković (writer), anatondol@gmail.com
Telefilm (production), telefilm@telefilm.hr
