SIRIN
Senad Šahmanović
Cut-Up d.o.o. (MNE, HR, AL, KOS, BA, FR), fiction
After 20 years abroad, NATHALIE, an American lawyer, comes back to Balkan to insure the last wishes of her client. An unusual inheritance case becomes an inquiry about Nathalie’s own past and herself.
NATHALIE and her boss are on their way to Balkan to solve a complex and unusual inheritance case. The deceased, SANJA, who was from the Balkans but lived in America, has bequeathed a large sum to the orthodox church in her hometown for the construction of a chapel in her name. Nathalie finds herself confronted with the uncomfortable parallels between her life and that of the deceased. The legal investigation thus shifts to a personal interrogation.
SENAD ŠAHMANOVIĆ / IMDB
SENAD ŠAHMANOVIĆ completed three years of undergraduate studies (BA) and specialistic studies of film and TV direction at the Faculty of Drama Arts in Cetinje – Montenegro. During the study he shot two short films, two short documentaries, several commercials and music videos. He also worked as an assistant director in film and theatre. He took part in many workshops and panel discussions related to film and television (Berlinale Talents, Sarajevo Talent Campus, Nisi Masa, Midpoint, Balkan Documentary Discovery, among others). His short films TRANQUILLITY OF BLOOD and THE ROAD, were screened so far in more than 70 international festivals (Tampere Film festival, Odense Short Film Festival, Busan SFF). The film also won several awards: Grand Prix for Best Film at the prestigious Short Film Festival in Drama – Greece. Since January 2015 he has collaborated as a director with the National Television of Montenegro, in their documentary department. Now, Senad is an editor for Art and Culture in Montenegro National Television.
Director’s statement:
SIRIN is my first feature-length project as a director. The idea has developed both from my and my co-writer’s personal experience.
Sirin unites our common desire to write about the long-term consequences of uprooting and transplanting. We don’t want to talk about people trapped in nostalgia for their origins, but about those who’ve erased everything from their past in order to build a fresh identity and integrate themselves fully in a new culture. Both of us know intimately the feelings at the heart of this story and its characters. Our aim is to raise questions about a contemporary phenomenon. What happens if someone’s identity is caught in between, so to speak? Neither able to find its old home nor make a new one?
What I would like to share with the audience is a very simple feeling, like the one contained in the fairy tales that our mothers told us before going to bed; the Slavic legend of Sirin, a strange hybrid creature whose identity is split in two - half-woman and half-bird.
Where are we at?
Total budget: 600.000,00 EUR
Financing in place: 550.000,00 EUR
Sales agent: /
Territories available: Worldwide
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Production company profile
CUT-UP d.o.o. (www.cut-up.me) is a production company dedicated to projects with strong visions and brave ideas. Our goal is to support that kind of authors and make their ideas more visible in the international market. Cut-Up was established in 2013, by the initiative of several producers that felt the urge to participate in projects since the very beginning of their creation.