As a parallel branch of the Sarajevo Film Festival, CineLink Industry Days has evolved over more than two decades into the leading film and television industry event in the Balkans, an incubator for talent from Southeast Europe – and increasingly beyond – and a key meeting point for industry executives traveling the world in search of new voices from the film world.

The midsummer event, which this year takes place from August 17 to 22, traditionally follows the Locarno Film Festival and ends before Venice and Toronto, making it perhaps a fitting place in the calendar. “Not too big, but not too small either,” is how Maša Marković, who is now in her third year as the festival’s industry director, describes it. As a result, Sarajevo manages to “convey the feeling of being the place to be.”

Marković credits the event’s “curatorial approach” for ensuring that both the selection of projects for the influential CineLink Co-Production Market and the line-up of invited guests allow filmmakers, distributors, programmers and other industry tastemakers to make the most of their time in the Bosnian capital. “(It’s) the place where you have the opportunity to be present and dedicate your time to the people and projects you want to make. That’s central to us,” she says.

While this tried and tested approach has earned Sarajevo many loyal fans and regulars, this year will see a number of changes to both the festival and its industry branch. The most significant of these for industry guests is the move from CineLink’s long-established centre in the historic Hotel Europe to a new venue, the ultra-modern Swissotel in the heart of downtown Sarajevo.

The move is part of a wider plan to revamp the annual event, which includes the construction of a new open-air cinema and the creation of an outdoor events centre, the Festival Garden. These venues will help shift the focus of festival and industry activities from the city’s atmospheric – and touristy – Old Town to its modern counterpart.

Marković says the change will both create a “new atmosphere” for foreign guests and “give the industry more visibility” by hosting events in the city’s commercial center. “We were there. Our biggest cinema is there. We are also building a new open-air cinema there,” she says. “For us, it was a logical step to consider this neighborhood our own and bring the industry to the heart of Sarajevo.”

This year also marks a turning point: Ishak Jalimam is appointed as the new head of CineLink, taking over from Amra Bakšić Čamo, who headed the industry programme since its inception. Čamo has stepped down to focus on developing new projects under the umbrella of the Sarajevo Film Festival.

Marković describes Jalimam, a seasoned producer with extensive experience in production and management, as “a child of the festival… (who) brings a fresh perspective and a new dynamic to the market.” Because of his work as a producer and his management roles in Sarajevo and other festivals, “he has the right approach to sense what you need as a producer and how the market needs to respond,” she says.

As head of CineLink, Jalimam oversees the selection of projects for both the co-production market and the works in progress section. This year’s program includes a number of CineLink alumni, including Philip Sotnychenko, who won the festival’s directing award last year for “La Palisiada” and returns to the event with Ukrainian war drama “Times New Roman”; Mina Mileva and Vesela Kazakova, directors of Locarno competition title “Cat in the Wall,” presenting their third feature, “Mather/Papan”; and homegrown talent Aida Begić, known for her Cannes Un Certain Regard award-winning “Children of Sarajevo,” who will present her latest feature, “Air in a Bottle.”

These titles are among 13 projects in development that will participate in the co-production market. The rich slate of work in progress, meanwhile, includes new features from Alisa Kovalenko, who was in competition in Sarajevo last year with her Berlinale premiere “We Will Not Fade Away”; Adrian Sitaru, who won Best Director at Locarno for “Best Intentions”; Tarik Aktas, who won Best New Director at Locarno for “Dead Horse Nebula”; Ralitza Petrova, who won the Golden Leopard for Best Film at Locarno for “Godless”; Maya Vitkova, who competed at Sundance with “Viktoria”; and Ana Urushadze, who won Best Debut Film at Locarno for “Scary Mother.” (Urushadze’s new feature “Supporting Role” is pictured above.)

Prizes up for grabs include the €20,000 ($21,900) Eurimages Co-Production Development Award, as well as the CineLink Impact Award, launched last year, which also offers €20,000 ($21,900) in-kind support to support the development of an impact campaign around a film’s release. There’s also the CineLink Female Voices Award, launched in 2022 to help raise awareness for female filmmakers from the region, with prize money doubling again this year to €20,000 ($21,900).

The CineLink Talks programme, meanwhile, offers an extensive list of masterclasses, debates and panel discussions with key representatives from the regional and global film industry. The talks will focus on the growing influence of AI on film production, the opportunities and challenges for a sustainable film industry and how to make popular intellectual property from Southeast Europe a global phenomenon.

While other sessions have focused on creating safe spaces and improving representation and access in the global market, Marković said “responsibility” is at the heart of this year’s event, emphasizing efforts to “make the industry a safer and more inclusive environment.”

Such messages fit with the overall goal of making both CineLink and the Sarajevo Film Festival a welcoming place for all. That is perhaps one reason why the two events have developed a loyal and passionate community of filmmakers among the region’s talent, many of whom have grown with the festival, pitching projects at the co-production market and later walking the red carpet outside the National Theater at their festival premieres. For newcomers and established talent alike, Sarajevo feels like home.

“That’s the most important thing for us – finding a balance between the people who are trusted because they have co-produced their projects with us and the filmmakers and producers who are just entering the industry, so that they feel supported by us,” says Marković. “The balance we find is crucial so that we can serve both newcomers and established filmmakers from across the region.”

The Sarajevo Film Festival takes place from 16 to 23 August.