The pitching programme Make the Scene – Comedy Edition, which will see its second edition this year, was initiated with the aim of providing an opportunity for authors of comedy TV projects in the region (Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and Montenegro) to present their projects and receive support for further development. This year, Make the Scene is a combination of last year’s pitchings intended for domestic TV projects (TV HIT) and regional projects (Make the Scene), and is presented in cooperation with United Media. Authors of selected projects will be invited to take part in a preparation workshop for their presentation, mentored by Ena Rahelić, and will present their projects to a three-member jury. This year, the best projects will receive two prizes in the amount of 5,000 EUR sponsored by United Media and mentoring for the project by renowned authors Vladimir Tagić and Goran Stanković. During the Festival, Goran Stanković and producer Snežana van Houwelingen will hold consultations following the pitching for all authors of presented projects.
PROJECT MENTORS: Snežana van Houwelingen, Goran Stanković, Vladimir Tagić
MENTOR FOR PITCHING PREPARATION: Ena Rahelić
Snežana van Houwelingen
Snežana van Houwelingen is a creative producer. She graduated in film production from the Academy of Arts in Belgrade, and is a graduate of the EAVE programme (2011), EAVE Plus (2021), ACE (2024), and Producers on the Move in Cannes (2015). She has produced more than 30 feature and documentary films, including Darkling (Serbia’s entry for the 2022 Oscars), Bad Blood (Netflix), A Good Wife (Sundance), In the Dark (IDFA), as well as series Morning Changes Everything and Operation Sabre. The films Our Father, directed by Goran Stanković and The Excursion, directed by Miroslav Terzić, are currently in postproduction. As executive producer, she has worked on more than ten fiction and documentary series, including The Family, directed by Bojan Vuletić, The Clan, directed by Boban Skerlić, and Mom and Dad Are Playing War, directed by Goran Kičić. Snežana is associate professor at the Faculty of Media and Communications in Belgrade, member of the European Film Academy, and mentor in the EWA network. She is the co-founder of This and That Productions, which she runs with Goran Stanković.
Goran Stanković graduated in film and TV directing from the Academy of Arts in Belgrade, and earned his master’s degree from the American Film Institute in Los Angeles in 2014. His thesis film Way in Rye was nominated for the Student Academy Award, while his films Who Guards the Guardians and Old Mountain were screened at more than 50 international festivals and won 17 awards. During his studies at the American Film Institute, Goran was awarded the Hollywood Foreign Press and the Richard Frank scholarships. His debut feature documentary, In the Dark, a story about Serbian miners, had its world premiere at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam. He is one of the creators and directors of the series Morning Changes Everything and the series Operation Sabre (in cooperation with Vladimir Tagić), which was awarded at Canneseries in 2024, and he also won the Primetime Killer Award in Brno. He has directed five episodes of the series Bad Blood, and is currently finishing his first feature documentary Our Father. He co-founded the production company This and That Productions in Belgrade with producer Snežana van Houwelingen.
Goran Stanković
Vladimir Tagić
Vladimir Tagić was born in 1986 in Belgrade. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degree in film and TV directing from the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade, and is currently in a PhD programme at the same Faculty. In 2018, together with Goran Stanković, he was the creator, screenwriter, and director of the drama series Morning Changes Everything. In 2020, he co-wrote and directed five episodes of the TV series Mom and Dad Are Playing War. He directed five episodes of the series Children of Evil (2023), which premiered on HBO MAX. Together with Goran Stanković, he created, co-wrote, and directed the series Operation Sabre (2024) about the assassination of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić. He is the co-writer and director of his first feature film Yugo Florida, which is expected to premiere in 2025.
Ena Rahelić
Ena Rahelić is the head of Industry and strategic development consultant at Mediterranean Film Festival Split/Kino Mediteran. With a background in journalism and communication science studies, she gained experience in more than 15 years of work in the media and film industry. Along with TV and radio production in Austria, she spent more than seven years working for Obala Art Centar/ Sarajevo Film Festival as manager of CineLink Industry Days, head of Operation Kino, the Dealing with the Past section, and works as distributer for the territory of former Yugoslavia. Since 2018, she has been working with Mediterranean Film Festival Split as consultant for strategic development and head of Industry. She is also producer at Digital Magic Studio for audio postproduction from Zagreb, and in 2023 she took over the position of head of Industry – Meeting Point at Vilnius International Film Festival. Since 2024 she has been a member of the selection committee Hubert Bals Fund of the International Film Festival Rotterdam.
VALLI CINEMA
MONDAY, 14 JULY AT 10:00 a.m.
LANGUAGE: Croatian
JURY: Stefan Bošković, Judita Franković Brdar, Zrinka Jankov
Stefan Bošković
Stefan Bošković is the author of the novel Minister, which won the 2020 European Union Prize for Literature and the CEI Award for Young Writers 2021. He also published the novel Slap in the Face, awarded in the competition for “Best Unpublished Novel in Montenegro”. In 2016, he won second prize at the Festival of European Short Stories for Fashion and Friends. His novels and short stories have been translated into English, German, Italian, Chinese, Russian, Slovenian, Bulgarian, Albanian and Macedonian. He is the screenwriter of the Serbian-Danish drama series Kidnapping from 2024. He is also the screenwriter of the feature film Sunday (2024) that follows the life of the popular singer Džej Ramadanovski and creator and screenwriter of the eponymous series. Stefan is also the author of Deutsch Caffe, a sitcom from 2017. He was also the screenwriter of the feature film Under the Bridge, Among the Rocks from 2016. He is also the screenwriter of the award-winning short films Peloid, Tranquility of Blood, The Road. His plays have been performed in several theatres.
Judita Franković Brdar
Judita Franković Brdar is a film, theatre and occasional TV actress with a master’s degree from the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb, majoring in comparative literature and Croatian studies. She acquired her acting education through continuous work at workshops in Croatia and Europe and continued at the William Esper Studio in New York in 2016. She has received two Golden Arenas, in 2024 for the role of Nota in the film Holy Family by Vlatka Vorkapić and in 2018 for the role of Ana in the Slovenian film Erased by Miha Mazzini, for which she was also awarded the Critics’ Award, FEDEORA at the same festival, and the Vesna Award at the Festival of Slovenian Film. This year she has become a member of the European Film Academy. Her works include the films Family Therapy by Sonja Prosenc, which had its premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival, Vlatka Vorkapić’s films Sonja and the Bull and Holy Family, last year’s winner of the audience award, The Golden Gate of Pula at the pula Film Festival and the audience award at the FEST festival in Belgrade, The Diary of Paulina P. by Neven Hitrec and others. Among her TV projects, the crime series Rest in Peace and White Road stand out.
Zrinka Jankov
Zrinka Jankov majored in journalism from the Faculty of Political Science, University of Zagreb, and in History of Film and Film Aesthetics from the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb, in the class of Professor Ante Peterlić. She started her career at the first commercial television in Croatia, where for more than 23 years she actively participated in the development of Nova TV – today the most successful multimedia group in the country. She started her professional career as a programme acquisition assistant, after which she took over the planning of films and advanced to the position of the editor of the Nova TV film programme. A key moment in her career was participating in the launch and development of the specialized Doma TV channel, in the position of editor-in-chief. For the past 13 years, Zrinka Jankov has been editor-in-chief and deputy programme director of the Nova TV Group. She is responsible for the strategic development of Nova TV’s programmes, content planning, development and selection of domestic content (series, entertainment shows, reality shows), and for the acquisition and implementation of new foreign programmes.
PROJECTS
THE AGENCY, Hajdana Baletić
After losing her job, Una, a charming and torn single mum, decides to cash in her talent for matchmaking and opens a dating agency, even though she herself hasn’t had a single successful relationship since her divorce. In the world of false representation, instant relationships and ghosting, Una tries to connect lonely souls, but also to find a balance between career, motherhood and unhealed wounds from the past. Through her new job, Una tries to prove to herself and others that love is possible and happy endings do exist.
Hajdana Baletić is a screenwriter and playwright from Belgrade. She studied at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade and King’s College in London. She is the author of the play Dead Man’s Coat (Atelje 212), Andreas Sam’s Timetable (Yugoslav Drama Theatre) and as screenwriter she worked on projects such as Debt to the Sea, Toma, The House, Take a Deep Breath, Life with Lionel. Hajdana is the author of the novel Vodi me na drugo mesto. She is a member of UDUS, Writers Guild of Great Britain and BAFTA.
INTELIGENZA, Srđan Ćesić, Đurđica Čilić
Artificial intelligence, trained to penetrate the most hidden human weaknesses, influences moods, changes public opinion and manipulates the electoral process, intervenes in the presidential elections on the side of a populist capable of anything. While the government apparatus tries to stop her, the order built on secrets and blackmails begins to collapse. What will a political struggle look like in which an algorithm, which is trained on the worst of us, clashes with the worst among us?
Srđan Ćešić is a screenwriter and creator of political and socially engaged campaigns in Serbia and the region. He is the author of several television shows, including Never Sorry, For Unknown Reasons and Ups!. He is also the screenwriter of the television series In the Grasp of Black Hand and the feature film The Ways of Wine. Đurđica Čilić, the co-screenwriter, is a professor at the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb. She is a Polish language translator and the author of several books, including Fafarikul and A New Ending. In addition to her literary work, she also published the scientific monograph Three Faces of the Author.
HEDGEHOGS IN THE HAZE, Džana Pinjo, Ermin Bravo
Three women. Best friends. And some men around them. All in a cruel struggle for existence. A box enters their lives. Pandora’s box? Or the solution to all the problems? Will they be able to save their families, friendships and lives? The tone of the series – fun, fast, witty and unpredictable. We find all three heroines at life’s turning points, in existential problems and inner needs to break free, move on and live. The characters are driven by the need to provide a decent life for themselves and their loved ones in one of the poorest countries in Europe. All three are forced to engage in unusual extreme life choices.
Džana Pinjo is an actress, director, screenwriter and professor at the Academy of Performing Arts in Sarajevo. As a screenwriter and director, she debuted with the award-winning film Liga prvaka. Ermin Bravo is an actor, director and professor at the Academy of Performing Arts in Sarajevo. He is the recipient of numerous regional and international awards for his acting achievements in theatre and film. Breath is his award-winning debut film.
UNHINGED, Lora Džolić, Jana Bjelica
Unhinged is a comedy about coming of age in your 20s. It is also a story about generational slumber – and a certain Staša who is constantly falling on her way to catch up with life, literally. When she is diagnosed with a familial disease, narcolepsy, her world begins to change. New fears, vague memories and hallucinations creep into a series of love entanglements, complicated family relationships and problems of busy everyday life. In attempt to escape from the truth, Staša chooses detours and loses grounding – while the world becomes more and more uncomfortable for falling.
Lora Džolić writes scripts for short stories and dramatic texts. She worked as a dramatist at the Atelje212 theatre. She won the Radio Belgrade award, as well as the Josip Kulundžić award. Jana Bjelica graduated from the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade, played in the film Where the Road Leads and the series Underneath and Family. She is the recipient of the Young Ernest Award and was nominated for the Rising Star Award at the Sarajevo Film Festival.
SILENCE, PLEASE!, Goran Kulenović
A humorous drama series Silence, please! follows the creation and filming of a sitcom produced under chaotic budgetary conditions by a creatively untalented and disinterested, but business-resourceful team from the production company Dream Team. Emphasizing common absurdities in real life and professional situations, Silence, please! takes viewers behind, but also in front of the scenes of filming a television series – into the problems, relationships and intrigues of producers, directors, screenwriters, actors, editors and others working on the project.
Goran Kulenović (1971) studied at the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb. He is an author, screenwriter and director of the series Black & White World (2015, 4 seasons, 48 episodes), Bitange i princeze (2005, 5 seasons, 108 episodes), Blaž među ženama (2025) and Weddings and Funerals (2011), as well as the feature films Death of the Little Match Girl (2023), Play Me a Love Song (2007) and 24 Hours (2002). He has directed plays, music videos and TV shows.
REPRESENTATIVE
After retiring, Mr. Franjo finds himself in the role of a tenant representative of a very old and poorly maintained building in which he lives, and despite his “difficult” neighbours and his family’s private problems, he will try to do everything for the benefit of this small community – even if it is against their will. Representative is a project based on the idea of combining a situation comedy and a family dramedy. Hilarious, quirky characters and their conflicts on the one hand, and tangible, real family situations on the other.
Ivan Veljača (Zagreb, 1984) works as a set designer on domestic and foreign films and TV series. He has won two Golden Arenas for set design. He is also a screenwriter and director, and the author of two short feature films Pura and At the Table and is developing a third one Brave Boys. He is a lecturer at the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb at the Department of Set Design and Department of Film and TV Directing.
