Cinema Valli, 17.7. at 10:00
MENTOR: 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 her 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.
Another new pitching programme, TV HIT, has been established with the goal of allowing authors of Croatian TV projects an additional opportunity to present their projects and get support for further development. Projects of all genres and formats, intended for TV broadcasting, are eligible (fiction, documentary, youth formats). The pitching will be held for editors of national broadcasting companies, and the authors of selected projects will be invited to take part in the workshop programme to prepare for their presentations.
JURY:
Nana Šojlev
Nana Šojlev was born in 1960 in Zagreb. She graduated in Filmmaking from the Academy of Theatre, Film and Television, today’s Academy of Dramatic Arts. Since 1986 she has been collaborating with Croatian Television, producing more than 500 TV shows and TV films as a director, screenwriter and editor. She has made a large number of television films in the fields of classical and popular music and classical and contemporary dance, and series on various cultural phenomena, as well as a large number of documentaries and docudramas. In the theatre,
she has directed numerous dance and non-verbal performances and several comedies. She has participated in prestigious international television festivals and cultural exchange projects, and won many awards, in France, Germany, Russia and Croatia. As an employee of Croatian Radiotelevision, she held the position of editor of the Documentary and Entertainment Program of Croatian Television, and as of this year, she has taken the position of editor of the “Drama” Programme Department. She has served many times as a jury member for international TV festivals and on committees involved in the selection and acquisition of TV works from independent producers.
Ana Bižić
Ana Bižić holds a degree in Public Relations and Media Studies and has been with the RTL Croatia since its very beginning, for 20 years now. She began her career in the sales team, but after assuming various roles there, she made a significant professional transition in 2018. She moved on from her role of deputy sales director and started working in the Programme and Production Department where, as of 2019, she took a management position. Currently, she holds the position of programme director at RTL Croatia.
Zrinka Jankov
Zrinka Jankov is the editor-in-chief of Nova TV and deputy programme director of the Nova TV Group. She majored in journalism from the Faculty of Political Sciences, and in History of Film and Film Aesthetics from the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb, in the class of Professor Ante Peterlić. She has been building her professional career on the first commercial television and has been part of the Nova TV team, the most successful multimedia group in Croatia, for more than 22 years. She started her career as a programme acquisition assistant, after which she took over the planning of films and advanced to the position of editor of the Nova TV film programme. She had the privilege of being part of the team responsible for launching and developing the specialized Doma TV channel, in the position of editor-in-chief, and for the last 12 years she has been editor-in-chief and deputy programme director of the Nova TV Group. She is
responsible for the strategic development of Nova TV programmes, content planning, development and selection of domestic content (series, entertainment shows and reality shows), and for the acquisition and implementation of new foreign programmes.
PROJECTS:
TWO PRICKS AND A COUPLE OF BRICKS
A failed commercial director facing financial troubles and a lifeless yet successful creative director embark on a wild journey from Portugal to Croatia to sell drugs they accidentally discovered while shooting an advertisement in Lisbon. This desperate move, seen as the only solution to their life problems, takes them on a series of bizarre modes of transportation through Portugal, Spain, France, and Italy, all the way to Croatia. The journey will transform them forever and change their lives for the better.
Nevio Marasović graduated in Film and TV Directing from the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb. He has directed six award-winning feature films, a comedy series, and over 250 commercials across Europe. He has been a member of numerous panels, masterclasses, and juries, including the International Emmy Awards. He is also a member of DHFR (Croatian Film Directors’ Guild) and the Association of Freelance Artists.
Inja Korać graduated in Political Science and Journalism from the Faculty of Political Science in Zagreb and in Audio Visual Management from the Media Business School in Spain. She has been a long-time producer and program selector for film festivals (Zagreb FF, Motovun FF, IDFF Beldocs). In 2022, she founded the production company Cobra Chicks Zagreb. She is a member of HRUP (Croatian Association of Film Producers).
COUNTERSTEERING
After the suicide of a patient, a young psychiatrist changes his life path and turns to entrepreneurship in motorcycling. This brings him into conflict with both his own family of doctors and the community of professional riders who do not tolerate a newcomer with poor riding skills. Countersteering is a contemporary drama series about a midlife change of direction set in the thrilling world of the Croatian motorcycling scene.
Aldo Tardozzi is a Croatian film and TV director with extensive experience in television series, where he has served as both director and screenwriter. Some of his well-known works include Bibin svijet (2005), Mrtvi kutovi (2005), Periferija City (2009), Dnevnik plavuše (2010), Vatre Ivanjske (2014), ‘Ko te šiša (2016), Minus i plus (2021), and Mrkomir Prvi (2021).
FAMILYMISM
This is a comedy series about two best friends, the eccentric actress Eta (47) and the ambitious journalist Maša (38), whose relationship often resembles a marriage. With the rather unskilled help of their ex-husbands and a host of colourful characters, they raise three young daughters. Although both of them have divorced, it seems to be only on paper. Through their daily lives, we see that balancing professional, personal, and parental responsibilities is often an impossible mission. Something must be sacrificed, and it is usually themselves. This series reveals the female world in a unique way, the two protagonist’s main motto being laughter against absurdity.
Nataša Dangubić is a theatre, television, and film actress. She graduated in acting from the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb and is a member of the Zagreb Youth Theatre ensemble. Zrinka Šamija holds a master’s degree in journalism from the Faculty of Political Science in Zagreb. She has long been active in cultural policy and is the Head of the International Cooperation Department at the Academy of Dramatic Art.
MOUSETRAP FOR TWO ACTORS
Mousetrap for two actors is a crime comedy series, a suspenseful and funny story about two spoilt, but likeable actors hired to do sketches at a gala event who realise they are pawns in a ‘Hamlet’s mousetrap’ that will expose the criminal scandals among top national officials. Together with a righteous and lovely secretary, they are caught up in the war of corrupt political elites and forced to run to Bosnia, disguised as the female cast of an ‘adult film’. It is only when they get to Sarajevo that they are faced with the real challenges, culminating in performing their own ‘mousetrap’…
Goran Kulenović was born in 1971 in Zagreb. He studied directing at the Academy of Dramatic Art and later directed a number of shows for the youth programme at Croatian Radiotelevision, and around seventy music videos and commercials. He is the author, director, and screenwriter of the series Black and White World and Bums and Princesses, and the films Rock Bottom, Play Me a Love Song, and Death of the Little Match Girl. He wrote and directed the sitcom Weddings and Funerals, as well as plays Bums and Princesses and The Goodbye Girl.
FAMILY BUSINESS
Family business, written by Andrija Mardešić and Šimun Šitum, is a satirical depiction of post-transition Croatian capitalism in a dramatic comedy form. The series follows the Šapina family, the most powerful meat-processing family in Croatia, who live and work in Zagreb but still cling to the same habits as their ancestors from Herzegovina. We meet them in the chaotic aftermath of the death of their family patriarch and company founder, Zvonimir Šapina. However, old Zvone is not dead; he faked his death to observe his descendants as they compete for his wealth.
Andrija Mardešić (1985) was born in Split. He graduated in Film and TV Directing from the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb. After his studies, he directed and wrote various TV projects. He is the author of several award-winning short films and the feature film Stric (Uncle). Šimun Šitum (1990) was born in Split, where he graduated from the Academy of Arts and completed his MA in Film Directing at Middlesex University in London. He has worked as a copywriter, has written TV series, and directed music videos and several award-winning short films.
IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER
The sons and daughters of the creators of our cultural geography reflect on the legacy of the time and space that shaped them, through the role of their parents. Zlatan Stipišić – Gibonni, Matija Dedić, Breda Bizjak, Gordan Muratović – Coco Mosquito, Marino Morosin, and Magdalena Vodopija take us to places that are not easily accessible. By intertwining the professional and private destinies within artistic families, we gain an insider’s perspective on the issues of local communities, cultural environments, and individuals – the drivers of social change. This is how we acquaint the audience with recent Croatian cultural heritage. As our parents carried and protected us as children, we knew we were observing the world from the shoulders of giants.
Born in Pula in 1963, Ines Pletikos studied at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb and at the Laboratorio di Cinema Televisivo in Rome, under the mentorship of J. M. Straub, the founder of the German New Cinema. She has assisted on numerous Italian film sets and has spent the last twenty years living in Croatia, primarily working in documentary film as a director, author, and producer.
A FISTFUL OF NOTHING
A comedy series about Pavle Svirac, a male version of Carrie Bradshaw in early forties, who seeks literary fame in a city devoid of sex. Svirac is willing to endure the greatest humiliations just to fit into Zagreb’s hipster scene, but when he unexpectedly finds himself homeless, he must put his dreams on hold and use his survival skills to solve the fundamental life puzzle of finding a roof amid a housing crisis.
Jasna Nanut earned her master’s degree in Film and Television Directing from the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb. She made her debut with the black comedy Sedmo nebo (Seventh Heaven), which premiered at last year’s Pula Film Festival. She has directed six short fiction films, winning two consecutive Oktavijan Awards. Alongside her film work, she is active in television. She is preparing her second comedy series, inspired by the art of survival in Croatia in the 2020s.
MEAN QUEENS FROM THE STREET
The core of the story is the life of two best friends Zlivana Strah Strava and Zlosara Trepet Užas, whose saga begins still in kindergarten where they become inseparable, joining forces to make the world a worse place. Their main goal is to commit misdeeds, but they end up doing more good than bad. This increases their motivation to spread malice, as they strive to prove themselves on the scene. Despite everyday life difficulties, they invest significant effort into their malicious ambitions because their need to spread publicly accessible evil ultimately overcomes all obstacles. As tiny specks in the universe of malice, they fight for their place under the sun.
Sara Škrlec is a director primarily focused on animated and experimental film. She was born in Zagreb, where she is currently studying at the Academy of Fine Arts, Department of Animated Film. Ivana Šerić is a director and multimedia artist originally from Hvar. She currently lives and studies in Zagreb at the Academy of Fine Arts, where she works on animated music videos, films, and archives.
