Romanian director Florin Şerban, whose film "You Don't Belong Here" won the Golden Leopard at this year's Locarno Film Festival, has revealed details of his next feature. Speaking to Variety at the Sarajevo Film Festival, where his award-winning film is screening in the main competition, Şerban confirmed that casting is already underway for the follow-up, titled "Ela, or the Diary of a Dutiful Daughter From Romania."

The new film, written by Adriana Neagoe and inspired by Simone de Beauvoir's "Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter," follows a young Romanian woman fleeing a family scarred by alcoholism and violence, who documents an idealised version of her life through a TikTok diary. It has secured backing from Romania's CNC and will be produced by Şerban's Bucharest-based Fantascope Films alongside Scharf Film and Avanpost, with the director now seeking international co-producers. "You Don't Belong Here," a decade in the making, explores institutionalised racism against Romania's Roma community and toxic masculinity through the story of a doctor and his teenage son; besides the Golden Leopard, it also won Locarno's Junior Jury and Europa Cinemas Label awards and a special mention for young star Teodor Butănescu.