Folk Horror ‘Wolf Days,’ Family Drama ‘The First Week of August’ Win at Sarajevo Industry Awards
Emilija Gašić's folk horror "Wolf Days" and Filip Mojzeš's family drama "The First Week of August" took the top prizes at CineLink Industry Days, the Sarajevo Film Festival's industry section for projects in development from Southeast Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. The awards, which come with substantial cash prizes, help fund and promote promising European co-productions still in the works, giving filmmakers financial support and industry visibility ahead of completion.
"Wolf Days", produced by Serbia's Non-Aligned Films with Istok Films and Restart, won the €20,000 ($23,000) Eurimages Co-Production Development Award for its story of a menopausal woman drawn into unsettling folk rituals by a healer. The Eurimages Special Co-Production Development Award, also €20,000 ($23,000), went to Ukrainian director Oleksandr Roshchyn's political drama "Mamayi", while Mojzeš's "The First Week of August", a family drama set during a fraught island holiday, received the €30,000 ($35,000) HBO Award in the Works in Progress strand.
- "Wolf Days" and "The First Week of August" win top Sarajevo industry prizes
- Both films receive Eurimages co-production development cash awards
- "Mamayi" wins special Eurimages award; HBO backs "First Week of August"
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Wolf Days and The First Week of August took the top honours at CineLink Industry Days, part of the Sarajevo Film Festival. This section focuses specifically on films still in development or post-production from Southeast Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, offering emerging filmmakers cash awards and industry exposure before their projects are finished. Winning here can be a significant boost, helping secure further funding and distribution interest.
Wolf Days is a folk horror film from Serbian director Emilija Gašić, centred on a menopausal woman who becomes entangled in unsettling rituals led by a healer. The First Week of August, directed by Filip Mojzeš, is a family drama unfolding during a tense island holiday. Both films are the work of directors and production companies from the region who are still completing their projects, with these awards forming part of the wider financial and creative support that keeps such films moving toward release.
These prizes, funded partly by Eurimages, a European fund that supports co-productions across borders, and partly by HBO, are designed to keep independent and often lower-budget European cinema viable. They reflect how festivals like Sarajevo increasingly serve as launchpads not just for finished films, but for works still being shaped, connecting filmmakers with funding, co-producers and industry attention early in the process.