La Factory, envisioned by Dominique Welinski and Cannes’ Quinzaine des Réalisateurs, started in 2013 with Taipei Factory, continued with the Nordic Factory in 2014, the Chile Factory in 2015, the South Africa Factory in 2016, the Lebanon Factory in 2017 and the Tunisia Factory in 2018.

“It’s the first time we’re able to explore five different countries, five countries in the same region. Since I first came to the Sarajevo Film Festival a couple of years ago, I’ve been dreaming to do a Factory in the region”, Dominique Welinski said in a statement.

Five films make up the South East European Factory: Love Supreme by Dušan Kasalica (Montenegro) and Teodora Ana Mihai (Romania, Belgium), Red Stain by Urška Djukić (Slovenia) and Gabriel Tzafka (Greece, Denmark), The Sign by Eleonora Veninova (Macedonia) and Yona Rozenkier (Israel, Switzerland), Mommy by Maša Šarović (Serbia) and Sharon Angelhart (Israel), and Spit by Neven Samardžić (Bosnia and Herzegovina) and Carolina Markowitz (Brazil).

"It was very intensive and exhausting, but a very interesting and beautiful experience at the same time. Working with a co-director is a very complicated process and sometimes it can seem completely unnatural, but that is one of the main ideas of the project and in time, when you accept it, it is a good exercise both in communication and restricting your ego, and in instinctive decision making, as time for production and postproduction was very limited”, Neven Samardžić told FNE.

The films were supported by regional film centres including Film Center Serbia, the Macedonian Film Agency, the Slovenian Film Centre, the Film Centre of Montenegro and the Ministry of Culture and Sport of Canton Sarajevo. They were produced by the Sarajevo Film Festival (Obala Art Centre) in cooperation with the Academy of Performing Arts in Sarajevo.

“Supporting young and talented Slovenian filmmakers is one of our main goals and SEE Factory is a project which works in the same direction. Through this project, we are joining forces to present one of our filmmakers on the stage of the most important film festival in the world”, Nataša Bučar, Managing Director of Slovenian Film Centre told FNE.

The films will open this year’s Quinzaine des Réalisateurs at the Cannes Film Festival and their directors will have an opportunity to present their first feature film projects to the professionals at the Cannes Film Festival and Marché du Film.

Production Information:

Producer:
Sarajevo Film Festival (Obala Art Centre) (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Credits:
Directors/Writers: Dušan Kasalica, Teodora Ana Mihai, Urška Djukić, Gabriel Tzafka, Eleonora Veninova, Yona Rozenkier, Maša Šarović, Sharon Angelhart, Neven Samardžić, Carolina Markowitz
DOPs: Dušan Grubin, Lev Predan Kowalski, Naum Doksevski, Marko Milovanović, Amel Đikoli
Cast: Jelisaveta Seka Sablić, Mirjana Karanović, Mediha Musliović, Doroteja Nadrah, Marija Pikić, Andrea Aković, Lidija Kordić, Muhamed Hadžović, Boris Ler, Mladen Nelević, Jelena Kordić