Džana Pinjo, Ermin Bravo
HEDGEHOGS IN THE HAZE
Three female best friends, and some men around them. All in a harsh struggle for survival. A box enters their lives – Pandora’s, or the solution to all their problems?
SYNOPSIS
Hedgehogs in the Haze follows the lives of three best friends as they navigate financial struggles, oppressive relationships, and an unexpected entanglement with the criminal underworld. The story begins on International Women’s Day, when they exchange gifts, marking a tradition amid their chaotic lives. Each woman faces a major turning point: Dunja, a struggling actor and single mother, is trying to rebuild her life while dealing with her abusive ex-husband Kemo, who is in prison; Ira is drowning in debt and navigating tensions with her ex-husband Dino; and Belma, trapped in an oppressive marriage, seeks freedom through a clandestine affair. Dunja asks Dino to deliver her daughter's drawings to Kemo in prison. Needing money, Dino agrees when Kemo asks him to transport a mysterious box across the border. He hides the box at his ailing mother’s apartment; then, when his elderly mother accidentally takes some of the drugs inside the box, she goes into a frenzy. An ambulance is called, and chaos ensues. In the confusion, the box disappears – and no one realises Dunja has stolen it. As Dino faces threats from Kemo’s men for losing the box, Ira and Belma help Dunja discover what the box contains – drugs worth a small fortune. Torn between returning the box, selling it, or destroying it, the trio ultimately decides to use it to dismantle Kemo’s criminal operation. Their attempts to sell the drugs are comically disastrous, and lead them deeper into trouble. Dunja’s relationship with Jan, a court-appointed expert in Kemo’s case, grows complicated as she fights to keep Kemo imprisoned. Struggling to make ends meet, Ira reluctantly grows close to Jasmin, a man grappling with his own family conflicts and a strained relationship with his daughter. Belma, realising her marriage is beyond repair, finds herself drawn closer to Srle, her younger lover. Throughout the series, the friends navigate a labyrinth of personal setbacks, legal troubles, and criminal entanglements. Despite mounting pressure and the threat of exposure, their bond remains the central force that drives them forward. In the end, a dramatic confrontation at a warehouse – where the illegal operations of Kemo’s network are finally exposed – forces them to confront their own choices and the cost of their actions. Even as their friendship is tested by betrayal and loss, they ultimately find a way to forgive each other, determined to leave their troubled past behind and start anew. The series concludes with the recurring dream sequence now realised: the three friends running together across a sunlit meadow toward the sunset. With Kemo imprisoned and their troubles in the past, their friendship endures – like hedgehogs finding their way through the haze, to freedom and light.
CREATORS
Džana Pinjo, Ermin Bravo
PRODUCERS
Ishak Jalimam, Lara Grozdanić
PRODUCTION COMPANY
Realstage
CO-PRODUCTION COMPANIES
Brand Vision DOO, Agitprop, Para Film & Theatre AS
COUNTRIES
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Bulgaria, Norway
FORMAT
50 x 6
GENRE
Dramedy
Džana Pinjo
CREATOR’S BIOGRAPHY
Džana Pinjo was born in Sarajevo in 1982 and completed studies in acting at the Academy of Performing Arts in Sarajevo. During her studies, she was honoured with the award for top student of her graduating class and began her professional career at that time. She has portrayed numerous roles in theatre, television, and film for twenty years and has performed in productions at all the theatres in Sarajevo. She has collaborated with many renowned directors, among them Dino Mustafić, Haris Pašović, Petar Veček, Selma Spahić, and Nikolai Skorik. She made her screen debut in the film 11.09.'01 by Academy Award-winning director Danis Tanović and has also worked with directors including Angelina Jolie and Miroslav Mandić. On television, she has filmed more than two hundredepisodes of popular series such as Crazy, Confused, Normal and From the Edge of Sanity directed by Elmir Jukić; I Know Your Soul directed by Jasmila Žbanić, and Prince from LA directed director Alen Šimić. Pinjo made her debut as a screenwriter and director with the film League of Champions, for which she won an award at an international festival in Venezuela for Best Short Film. The film has been shown at many regional and international festivals.Pinjo has been teaching acting at the Academy of Performing Arts in Sarajevo for twenty years, where she is currently employed as an Associate Professor.
The epidemic of gender-based violence is a stark reality in Bosnia and Herzegovina and across the Balkans. Behind closed doors, countless women face systematic abuse – physical, emotional, and perhaps most insidiously, financial. Economic violence remains one of the most under-recognised forms of domestic abuse, yet it serves as the invisible chain that often prevents women from escaping abusive situations. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, a country that, according to Eurostat, is the second poorest in Europe, just after Albania, the statistics are grim. The unemployment rate is two per cent higher than in any EU country, with sixty per cent of the unemployed being women. This economic inequality creates fertile ground for financial dependency and abuse. Morality is the virtue of the naive, connections are the tool of the capable, and success is the privilege of the favoured. Fast-paced events, constant struggles, and rapid scene changes define the rhythm of Hedgehogs in the Haze. Extended tension in certain scenes, coupled with quick dialogue, will enhance both the comedic tone and the underlying seriousness of the themes. Dynamic transitions between scenes will allow us to follow multiple narrative threads simultaneously. The rhythm will also be set by the “poetry of the everyday” - those moments of pause when we recognise beauty in the ordinary. For example, popcorn falling on Ira like snow while she sits on the kitchen floor crying, or three women lying in the middle of the street to watch the stars while an irritated driver honks at them, and they just laugh – a rare moment of freedom and safety they find only in each other's company. Existential drama, situational comedy, and this poetry of the everyday will be the three parallel genre tones of the series. The focus is, of course, on the three protagonists Ira, Dunja, and Belma. Longtime friends of completely different temperaments and personalities, bound by shared experiences, deep mutual love, and the silent understanding of what it means to be a woman. Each of them is like a closed box. Some wait for someone to open them and reveal their light, some explode into oblivion, while others roll along seemingly invincible, only to crack unexpectedly. For these women, their friendship becomes the crack – the path toward liberation and healing in a system designed to keep them isolated. The goal is for the audience to fall in love with their friendship – to root for them to keep singing together, like hedgehogs in the fog searching for each other through song. Through their journey, the audience will gain insight into the insidious nature of economic abuse and its role in perpetuating gender-based violence – a reality too often overlooked in discussions of domestic abuse.
CREATOR’S STATEMENT
Ermin Bravo
CREATOR’S BIOGRAPHY
Ermin Bravo was born in in Sarajevo in 1979. For the past twenty years, he has worked as an actor in theatre, television, and film, and has been awarded more than twenty international and regional awards for his acting achievements. He is a four-time winner of the Golden Laurel Wreath for Best Actor at the International Theatre Festival MESS, and has received awards for Best Actor at the Cairo International Festival for Experimental Theatre, the International Small Scene Theatre Festival, and the International Actors’ Festival in Nikšić. He has also been awarded for his film roles at various festivals, including the Wine Country Film Festival in San Francisco and the Herceg Novi Film Festival. In the theatre, he has collaborated extensively with renowned directors including Dino Mustafić, Paolo Magelli, Selma Spahić, Peter Schumann, Lenka Udovički, and Ivo Milošević. He has performed in productions in all of Sarajevo’s theatres, as well as the Yugoslav Drama Theatre, Atelje 212, the Bitef Theatre, the Belgrade Drama Theatre, the Dubrovnik Summer Festival, BNP Zenica, the Ulysses Theatre in Brijuni, and the Gate Theatre in London. In film, he has worked with acclaimed directors Jasmila Žbanić, Angelina Jolie, Danis Tanović, Dino Mustafić, Semih Kaplanoglu, and Pjer Žalica, among others. Films in which he has appeared have won more than seventy international awards. Bravo has also served as a dialogue coach on numerous film productions. For the past six years, he has worked as an acting mentor for Talents Sarajevo. As a screenwriter and director, he made his debut with the film Breath, for which he received the Heart of Sarajevo for Best Short Film, as well as the Best Short Film Award at the Cinema Lido Festival in Italy. He has been teaching acting at the Academy of Performing Arts in Sarajevo for twenty years, and currently works there as a full professor. Hedgehogs in the Haze is his debut as a screenwriter.
Ishak Jalimam
PRODUCER’S BIOGRAPHY
Ishak Jalimam graduated with a degree in production and managementf rom the Academy of Performing Arts in Sarajevo, where he currently works as a teaching assistant. He previously served as Head of CineLink at the Sarajevo Film Festival. Jalimam is a producer at the Sarajevo War Theatre (SARTR) and produces Juventafest, the International Festival of High School Theatre. He previously worked as Technical Director of the MESS International Theatre Festival. Over the course of his career, he has worked on numerous films in various production roles, many of which have screened at prestigious festivals including the Sundance Film Festival, CPH:DOX, the Venice Film Festival, the Sarajevo Film Festival, Dokufest, the Nashville Film Festival, the Wisconsin Film Festival, DOK.fest Munich, and the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, among many others. He is the founder and president of the production company Realstage. In 2020, he received the Young Producers Award at the Sofia Meetings during the Sofia International Film Festival. In 2024, he was awarded the Ivica Matić Award, presented by the Association of Film Workers of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Selected filmography: As producer – The Pavilion (Paviljon; 2025, fiction feature, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Croatia, Montenegro, Slovenia, Serbia); Sky above Zenica (Nebo iznad Zenice; 2024, feature documentary, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denmark); Gym (2024, fiction feature, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Slovenia); X-Men (2023, fiction short, Bosnia and Herzegovina); Radio Freedom (2021, fiction short, Bosnia and Herzegovina). As production coordinator – Excursion (Ekskurzija; 2023, fiction feature, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, France, Norway
PRODUCER’S STATEMENT
With Hedgehogs in the Haze, we are particularly excited to collaborate with Ermin Bravo and Džana Pinjo, who are stepping into the role of writers for the first time. Their involvement in the series stems from a creative process initiated by Danis Tanović, who designed a workshop in which actors explored story ideas and developed concepts. Bravo and Pinjo emerged as the strongest creative duo, and Danis continued to mentor them throughout the screenwriting process. Having worked with the two of them as producer-actors in stage plays and television projects, we are thrilled to support their transition into writing alongside directors Nermin Hamzagić and Danis Tanović. Today, with Hedgehogs in the Haze, we are determined to combine experience and fresh creative voices, to push artistic boundaries even further. At its heart, this series is a dramedy, a narrative that elegantly weaves together the bittersweet realities of life with moments of levity and humour. We believe that, even in the midst of pain, laughter and friendship remain our most powerful antidotes. This is particularly true in this portrayal of strong female friendships among women in their forties, a narrative strand rarely seen in the Bosnian market. By spotlighting these relationships, Hedgehogs in the Haze not only celebrates resilience and camaraderie but also brings forth a much-needed representation of mature, authentic female bonds. Our confidence in the project is amplified by a strong international co-production structure. Early support from BH Telecom has already given us assurance in the production, while the early involvement of three production houses – Brand Vision (Serbia), Agitprop (Bulgaria), and Para Film & Theatre (Norway) – has enriched the project with a diverse range of expertise. Agitprop, in particular, brings a legacy of crafting content that resonates on a global scale (have won an award at CanneSeries, among other accolades), mirroring the innovative approach we envision for the series. In an era when the need for authentic, socially conscious narratives has never been more pressing, Hedgehogs in the Haze stands as a beacon of hope. We are proud to be part of this transformative journey and look forward to sharing a story that not only entertains but also enlightens and empowers audiences around the world.
Lara Grozdanić
PRODUCER’S BIOGRAPHY
Lara Grozdanić was born in Munich in 1998 and grew up in Sarajevo, where she attended the École française de Sarajevo. She graduated from Durham University with a degree in French and Spanish literature, and has worked in the film industry since the age of eighteen. While most of her experience has been in production, she has held numerous roles both in front of and behind the camera. She collaborated with the Sarajevo Film Festival for several years in various departments and positions. She is a long-term associate of the renowned and internationally acclaimed Bosnian production company SCCA/pro.ba, where she currently works as a junior producer in film and television project development. For the past three years, she has also collaborated with the Spanish production company La Claqueta on the development of feature films and television series. In 2023, she joined the Sarajevo-based production company Realstage as a producer. She has worked on films that have had their premieres at the Sundance Film Festival, the Locarno Film Festival, the Sarajevo Film Festival, the Málaga Film Festival, and the San Sebastián International Film Festival, and have been distributed on platforms including HBO, Netflix, and Disney. Alongside her work in film, Grozdanić has published the poetry collection If I Could Tell You. She is currently writing her first feature-length screenplay and editing her second poetry collection. Selected Filmography: As producer – Enlightenment (Osvjetljavanje, dir. Mina Vavan, fiction hort); as line producer — The Pavilion (Paviljon, dir. Dino Mustafić, fiction eature); A Perfect Love Story (Savršena ljubavna priča, dir. Emina Kujundžić, fiction feature; as production coordinator – Excursion (Ekskurzija, dir. Una Gunjak, fiction feature); as development coordinator – Smashing It (Princ iz Eleja, created by Amra Bakšić Čamo, Elma Tataragić, Enes Zlatar, Dušan Vranić, dir. Alen Šimić, television series; as associate producer – The Sky above Zenica (Nebo iznad Zenice, dir. Nanna Frank Møller and Zlatko Pranjić, documentary feature).
Production company profile
Founded in 2015, Realstage is an independent, non-profit civil society organisation and multidisciplinary production house based in Bosnia and Herzegovina. At its core, the organisation is driven by a commitment to challenging social norms, addressing taboo subjects, fostering critical artistic expression, and advocating for human rights and social justice through the transformative power of culture. Over nearly a decade of continuous operation, Realstage has built an extensive and diverse portfolio of more than seventy interdisciplinary projects spanning theatre, film, performance, and new media. Its work consistently bridges artistic innovation and meaningful social impact, tackling pressing issues such as gender-based violence, political repression, environmental justice, and youth marginalisation. The organisation has established itself as a recognised cultural leader in the region, capable of producing both experimental and policy-oriented work of the highest calibre. Realstage collaborates with some of the most prominent contemporary artists in Bosnia and Herzegovina, including Šejla Kamerić, Bojan Stojčić, Adna Muslija, and Hana Ćurak. Among its landmark projects are Devouring Architecture and Invasive Species, developed in partnership with the Prince Claus Fund and the Goethe-Institut in Berlin, which brought together artists and scientists to engage with critical human-rights issues in an interdisciplinary format. In the field of cinema, Realstage has produced short films that have been screened at internationally renowned festivals, including the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, the Sarajevo Film Festival, and the Cottbus Film Festival. Its most recent documentary, Sky Above Zenica, a co-production with Magic Hour Films and HBO Europe, celebrated its world premiere at CPH:DOX in 2024 and was awarded the Environmental Award at the Sarajevo Film Festival. Another notable co-production, Gym, directed by Srđan Vuletić and produced alongside partners from Croatia, Slovenia, and Montenegro, premiered at the Sarajevo Film Festival and boldly confronts the complex societal challenge of violence against women. Realstage continues to expand its international footprint through co-productions such as Vuletić’s feature The Otter, a co-production of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Italy, Kosovo, and Croatia, which had its world premiere at the Sarajevo Film Festival in 2025. Dino Mustafić’s feature The Pavilion, a co-production of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia, and North Macedonia, had its world premiere at the Sarajevo Film Festival in 2025, where it immediately drew the attention of local and international audiences and critics.
Realstage's programmes are primarily oriented towards young people between the ages of fifteen and thirty, with a particular focus on students and early-career artists from the performing arts, the visual arst, and cinema. Inclusion is a fundamental principle: Realstage actively targets women, under-represented youth, and marginalised communities across all of its initiatives. Its activities regularly involve students from drama academies in Sarajevo, Banja Luka, and Tuzla, and reach communities in all major urban centres across Bosnia and Herzegovina, including Mostar, Zenica, and beyond. Realstage employs a gender-sensitive, rights-based, and participatory methodology. Its programmes foster collaboration between emerging talent and seasoned professionals through co-creation, mentorship, drama techniques, guided research, and media literacy. This model ensures that young people are not passive recipients of cultural content, but active participants in socially relevant artistic processes – empowered to engage critically with the world around them.
Where are we at?
TOTAL ESTIMATED BUDGET
1,902,917 €
FINANCES PENDING
855,837 €
FINANCING IN PLACE
1,047,079 €
Production timeline
January - May 2026
Script development
May - August 2026
Draft script, casting
August - October 2026
BNFC, Media TV and online / Eurimages results, casting
October 2026 - February 2027
Pre-production
March 2027
Start of PP