Jasmila Žbanić & Pia Marais Unveiled As Mentors For 2nd Circle Fiction Orbit Project Incubator In Montenegro

EXCLUSIVE: Female-focused training initiative Circle has unveiled the line-up for the second edition of its Circle Fiction Orbit in Montenegro, with mentors including award-winning directors Jasmila Žbanić and Pia Marais this year.

The event – unfolding in the Montenegrin resort coastal resort town of Herceg Novi from November 24 to December 1 – is supporting a diverse line-up of six fiction projects with strong international potential.

They include historic drama Tethys Ocean by Polish director Anna Jadowska, who made waves with 2022 bank robbery drama Woman On The Roof, and award-winning Slovenian director Barbara Zemljič’s It Will Fade Away, following a woman who discovers her daughter is being sexually harassed by a child at her kindergarten. (scroll down for full list of projects).

Oscar nominated Romanian producer Bianca Oana, whose credits include Berlinale Golden Bear winner Touch Me Not and Oscar-nominated doc Collective, has returned as head of studies for a second year.

Oana is joined by Romanian editor and sound designer editor Dana Bunescu (The Death of Mr Lazarescu, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days);  Dominique Welinski, French producer and founder of the Director’s Factory in the scope of Director’s Fortnight in Cannes; South African, Germany-based filmmaker and artist Marais (Transamazonia) and Quo Vadis, Aida Academy Award and BAFTA nominee Žbanić, who also won the Berlinale Golden Bear for Grbavica (2005).

“I’m happy to see that CIRCLE Fiction Orbit will have its second edition, in the name of equality, solidarity and a more meaningful industry environment,” said program director Biljana Tutorov.

“As the first titles from our inaugural 2023 edition are getting ready for World premieres and festivals, we will gather in Montenegro to further expand this space of community support and reflect together on professional and personal challenges that we all face today.”

In the frame of the workshop, there will be a screening for the local public in Herceg Novi of Marais’s drama Transamazonia.

The feature, which world premiered in Locarno, stars Helena Zengel as an adolescent whose sense of identity as a miracle healer alongside her missionary father in the Amazon forest is shaken when she discovers a lie about past at the same time as the indigenous community she grew up with comes under threat from ruthless loggers.  

The Circle Fiction Orbit meeting builds on Circle’s Women Doc Accelerator, a year-round initiative open to projects and professionals at all stages. In its seventh year, it has supported than 80 directors and producers hailing from 45 different countries.

The fiction focused initiative is co-funded by Creative Europe – MEDIA and organized under patronage of Eurimages in partnership with the Film Centre of Montenegro.

The full list of 2024 projects and participants are:

IN FOG, FOLLOW THE DOTS (Serbia)

Maša Nešković (Director) & Ena Bajraktarević (Writer)

Produced by Čarna Vučinić for NAKED (Serbia)

IT WILL FADE AWAY (Slovenia)

Barbara Zemljič (Director)

Produced by FILMSERVIS (Slovenia)

NO ROOTS (Brazil)

Joana Oliveira (Director, Brazil/Germany)

Produced by Luana Melgaço for Bukaya Filmes & Anavilhana (Brazil)

PEEKABOO (Turkey, Germany)

Aysim Türkmen (Director) & Nesra Gürbüz (Producer)

Produced by: Nesra Gürbüz for Monomit (Turkey)

TETHYS OCEAN (Poland)

Anna Jadowska (Director) and Maria Blicharska (Producer)

Produced by Maria Blicharska for Blick Productions International (Poland)

GUEST PROJECT:

BAPTISM OF SILENCE (South Africa)

Kanya Viljoen (Director) & Casey-Ann Diepeveen (Producer)

Produced by: Casey-Ann Diepeveen for Unusual Bones & Agile Films (South Africa)