Senad Sahmanović ssahmanovic@t-com.me Ben Vandendaele ben@radiatorsales.eu
BIOGRAPHIES Senad Sahmanović (Writer/Director) studied at the Faculty of Drama Arts in Cetinje, Montenegro. His short film, Tranquility of Blood premiered at the Tampere International film festival, was screened at more than 40 international film festivals (Busan, Sarajevo, DokuFest...) and won several awards (Grand Prix in Drama International Film Festival 2015). Claudia Bottino (Writer/Director) was part of the writing team of the award-winning tv series Ainsi soient-ils (ARTE), after moving to France to study Modern Literature. Her first short film, Duo, was screened at many film festivals (Palm Springs, Odense, Arcipelago Roma etc). Ben Vandendaele (Producer) studied at Rits film school in Brussels, after which he started working at Czar. In 2009 he produced his first short film, Siemiany, that premiered at ClermontFerrand IFF and at Berlinale. Since 2012 he’s a freelance producer/postproducer and he founded his own production company, Bekke Films.
INTENTIONS Growing up is like travelling from one world to another. That’s the first moment when you stop seeing things as black or white and discover that there is something else in between, that you need to get used to if you want to understand the adult’s world and eventually make the big step forward. That’s usually when growing up becomes a compromise and a dirty job. Hunt aims to explore this moment, when boundaries are becoming fluctuant. We will follow a 12-year-old boy point of view, allowing a very intimate approach to his story. We will confront our main character with a strong moral issue. However, it is important for us not to bring any judgment on this situation. The main idea is how the same feeling of guiltiness - the mother’s and the son’s - will reunite them at the end. Concerning the visual style, we will give priority to minimalistic choices and we will create a peculiar atmosphere, playing with sounds and perception; suggesting rather than showing, especially in the scenes with the animal in the forest.
PRODUCTION NOTE Genre: Drama Length: 15 – 20 min Language: Serbo-Croatian Estimated budget: 45.000
Producers: Ben Vandendaele (Belgium), Senad Sahmanovic (Montenegro) Status: In development Looking for: International Co-producer, Festival Programmers
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