From the Balkan Documentary Center and Sarajevo Film Festival, the 2022 edition of CineLink Industry Day’s Docu Rough Cut Boutique has come to a close with awards presented on 18 August 2022.
Docu Rough Cut Boutique presented sicx projects overall in 2022 with countries represented, including Ukraine, Romania, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Georgia, Kosovo, and more. The workshop itself focuses on projects at the advanced stage of post production and in the past, has supported well-known 2021/2022 premieres like 2022 Heart of Sarajevo Documentary Award winners Bigger Than Trauma (dir. Vedrana Pribačić) and Museum of the Revolution (dir. Srđan Keča), as well as recent DokuFest main prize winner Factory to the Workers (dir. Srđan Kovačević). Organized across three modules (Budapest, Sofia, Sarajevo) the workshop matches projects with high-profile mentors, intensive group sessions, numerous individual one-on-one meetings and in-depth story editing sessions. For 2022, aside from the usual five selected projects, one project from Ukraine was also welcomed.
The 2022 projects included:
- Fairy Garden (dir. Gergő Somogyvári) – Hungary
- Fragments of Ice (dir. Maria Stoianova) – Ukraine
- My Muslim Husband (dir. Daniel Barnuti, Alexandra Lizeta Barunti) – Romania
- The Soldier (dir. Aleksandar Nikolić) – Serbia, Germany, UK
- Requiem to the Hot Days of Summer (dir. Giorgi Parkosadze) – Georgia, Greece
- Snajka (dir. Tea Vidović Dalipi) – Croatia, Italy, Kosovo
Of the six projects, a jury consisting of Margje de Koning (Movies That Matter), Hanka Kastelicova (HBO Europe), Eugen Kelemen (Avanpost), Catherine Le Clef (Cat&Docs) and Marcel Maiga (DOK Leipzig) each awarded projects with their respective prizes. Somogyvári’s Fairy Garden received both the Avanpost and HBO Europe award. The film follows Fanni, a rejected transgender amazon who finds shelter at do-it-yourself hut run by solitary homeless man Laci, who gradually becomes her father, going on to fight Fanni’s demons and the rejection of the outside world together. Nikolić’s The Soldier was recognized by Cats&Docs with an award of €2,000. The DOK Leipzig Preview Award went to Parkosadze’s Requiem to the Hot Days of Summer and Movies that Matter awarded Daniel and Alexandra Lizeta Barnuti’s My Muslim Husband.
On the significance of Docu Rough Cut Boutique participation, Daniel Barnuti explains to Modern Times Review: «all three sessions of mentoring were really full of inspiration to take the project to another level… it helped us to see the cut from many different perspectives… it was an amazing experience!» A sentiment consistently echoed from year to year, filmmaker to filmmaker, and mentor to mentor.
