My First Script

A writer and director. He graduated in Film and TV Directing from the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb, where he has been working as a professor since 2013. He directed a segment of the anthology film Sex, Booze and Short Fuse (2004), after which he went on to write and direct All for Free (2005), Donkey (2009), Life Is a Trumpet (2015) and Mali (2018).

Jelena Paljan is a Croatian screenwriter. She holds master’s degrees in Film and TV Editing and in Dramaturgy from the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb, where since 2024 she has been teaching Feature Film Screenwriting. As a screenwriter, she has received awards for the short fiction film Cherries (2017), the drama series The Last Socialist Artefact (2021), and the feature film Celebration (2024). In addition to writing for film and television, she works as a script editor and script doctor.

Vedran Husremović (Zagreb, 1992) is a screenwriter and director. After studying dramaturgy, he enrolled into a master’s program in photography, and is currently studying directing in Belgium. His short film debut Cats Always Land on Their Feet (Mačka se uvijek dočeka na noge) screened at Tabor Film Festival, Days of Croatian Film, and the Cyprus Horror Society festival, and won Best Horror Short at the Underground Indie Film Festival in the US.

Alan, an artist preparing to move to America, spends his last night in Zagreb with his former best friend Fred, an investment banker. The farewell get-together devolves into a chaotic night where all strata of society collide in bizarre situations: from police stations and nightclubs to amateur revolutionaries and the mysterious underworld of municipal sanitation workers.

The project is in the development phase.

Vedran Husremović (writer, director)
vedran.husremovic@gmail.com

Matija Jovanović is a Montenegrin screenwriter and director, and the author of several short fiction and documentary films that have been screened and awarded at regional and international festivals. He is one of the directors of the sitcom Malo je falilo, as well as director, co-writer and co-creator of the upcoming crime series Estavela. He is currently developing his debut feature film, The Cull.

Vuk, an inconspicuous traffic policeman, joins the hunt for a killer in the woods. Dressed in his late father-in-law’s oversized hunting clothes and accompanied by two unruly dogs, he tries to finally become the protector he longs to be seen as. But when he stumbles upon a family camping in the forest, his need for recognition and belonging slowly turns into control, until the man who wants to protect them becomes the one they are trying to escape from.

The script development was co-funded by the Film Centre of Montenegro.

Matija Jovanović,
matijajovanovic1999@gmail.com

Ramazan Kılıç is a screenwriter, director, and producer from Türkiye. He is a member of the European Film Academy, and his short films The School Bus and Things Unheard Of premiered at Clermont-Ferrand, where the latter received a Special Mention from the jury. He produced the short film The Moisture, which premiered in Orizzonti at Venice. He heads the production company Remo Films.

Münir is a fifty-year-old barber in a small Anatolian town, still his mother’s good son. Her will contains only demand: that he sacrifice an animal with his own hand on Eid al-Adha. She bought the animal before she died; it waits in the garden with his name painted on it in red. Münir politely refuses, as he always does. But as he spends the holiday searching for a way out, his whistling cannot drown out his mother’s relentless voice.

The project is in the script development phase.

Elif Nur Kayalar,
elifnurkayalar@gmail.com

Isabella Margara is a Greek writer/director and medical doctor. Her short Nothing Holier Than a Dolphin won Clermont-Ferrand’s Int. Audience Award (2023); 54 / The Blind Turtle and the Endless Sea screened at Oscar-qualifying festivals and aired on CANAL+ and Disney+. Isabella is now developing her first feature film, Black Water, an award-winning Balkan western that blends post-apocalyptic elements with Greek mythology.

2050, the Balkans. The Father carries his disabled son on his back through an abandoned mountain village, where the water has turned black and the land has been poisoned after a disaster caused by greed for profit. As authorities attempt to erase all memory and cover up what happened, the Father sets out to fulfill his son’s dream: to ride a horse. Guided by the ghostly presence of women lost to the land that nature is now reclaiming, the fierce love between father and son becomes a revolutionary act of resistance.

In development, with the support of the French film lab Groupe Ouest (LIM). Foss Productions is attached to the project as a production company. Awarded at the CROSSROADS Co-production forum in Thessaloniki.

Isabella Margara (writer, director)
isabellamargara@gmail.com

Antigoni Rota / Foss Productions ( production)
antigoni.rota@fossproductions.gr

Katarina Zrinka Šarić is a Croatian director and screenwriter. She holds an MFA in Film Directing from FAMU in Prague. Her short films have screened at international festivals, including the Austin Film Festival, In the Palace International Short Film Festival, and the Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival. She lives and works in Zagreb, where she is developing her debut feature film.

Tara, a high school senior, discovers she is suffering from premature ovarian failure, forcing her to face an uncertain future. While her mother struggles to accept the diagnosis, Tara resists treatment, desperately trying to hold onto her old life and the freedom of youth. As her relationships with her mother and her best friend Selma fall apart, she is forced to confront her own identity and the person she is becoming.

In development.

Katarina Zrinka Šarić (writer, director)
katarina.zrinka.saric@gmail.com

Boryana Yovcheva is a Bulgarian actress, director, screenwriter, and human rights activist. Her work explores social division, discrimination, and human connection through theatre, film, and digital storytelling. In 2025, she received the Digital Awakener Award at Bulgaria’s Human of the Year Awards.

Milko Yovchev is a Bulgarian actor, director, and screenwriter. He is the co-founder of the independent theatre group Replica. He has extensive experience in theatre and film, with a strong focus on improvisation and documentary approaches. In his work as a director, he explores the intersection of reality and. His short film, Cake Story, has been screened and awarded at numerous festivals.

After missing their flight home for Christmas, two young Polish performers, Tosha and Kasper, find themselves stranded in Bulgaria. With no money or accommodation, they hitchhike across the country to join their friend Peter and his family for Christmas. This absurd adventure soon turns into a collision of cultures, identities, and prejudices, forcing them to confront the roles they play and the faces they hide.

Currently in development. The project received development support from the Creative Europe MEDIA sub-programme – Mini-slate development.

Petar Valchanov / Abraxas Film (production)
abraxasfilm@abv.bg