{"id":5777,"date":"2026-08-12T13:11:02","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T13:11:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=5777"},"modified":"2026-08-12T13:11:02","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T13:11:02","slug":"teona-mitevska-celina-sciamma-and-more-to-launch-female-empowerment-initiative-sister-sister-at-sarajevo-film-festival-exclusive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=5777","title":{"rendered":"Teona Mitevska, C\u00e9lina Sciamma and More to Launch Female-Empowerment Initiative Sister Sister at Sarajevo Film Festival (EXCLUSIVE)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\tNorth Macedonia\u2019s Teona Mitevska (\u201cMother\u201d) and French director C\u00e9line Sciamma (\u201cPortrait of a Lady on Fire\u201d) are among the filmmakers who will launch an initiative at the Sarajevo Film Festival that looks to reshape the role of women in the film and TV industries with a \u201cbold, punk and revolutionary\u201d vision of an inclusive and sustainable screen sector.<\/p>\n

Read more Peter Chan\u2019s Toronto-Bound \u2018The Road Not Taken\u2019 Boards Moebius Entertainment for International Sales<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tDubbed Sister Sister, the initiative aims to foster sisterhood and togetherness with women working across professions and disciplines in film and television. It will include a think tank at this year\u2019s Sarajevo festival bringing\u00a0together\u00a0female\u00a0filmmakers, producers, writers and academics\u00a0from the former Yugoslavia\u00a0to explore the future of women\u2019s authorship in the region\u2019s cinema.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe event will include\u00a0three moderated roundtables\u00a0in which\u00a0participants identify key challenges, share experiences and formulate concrete recommendations\u00a0for how to create, in the organizers\u2019 words, \u201ca more inclusive, courageous and sustainable audiovisual industry.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tThe goal, says Mitevska, is to collectively draw up a manifesto \u201cthat addresses all of our concerns and ideals \u2014 something bold, punk and revolutionary.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThis is a gathering about strength, joyful hunger and revolutionary anger of taking the space deserved,\u201d says Mitevska. \u201cAnd finally\u00a0translating ideas into impact, as we\u00a0explore the expanding influence of women worldwide as they reinvent\u00a0the art of cinema, upend old rules and harness the power of this critical moment to shape a new way forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBorn in Skopje, Mitevska is one of the most prominent female filmmakers working in Southeast Europe today. Her latest feature, \u201cMother,\u201d starring Noomi Rapace as a young Mother Theresa, opened the Horizons sidebar at the Venice Film Festival last year.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt was after that film\u2019s North Macedonian premiere last fall, at the Manaki Brothers Film Festival, where the director fell into conversation with Sarajevo programmer\u00a0Asja Krsmanovi\u0107\u00a0and\u00a0Sister Sister was first conceived.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI told her of being tired of being defined by others, and of the incredible moment I find myself in life: a moment where finally I have the confidence and the audacity to define myself by myself entirely, without the pressure of being anything else than what I truly am,\u201d Mitevska recalls. \u201cTurning 50 had given me the confidence of an 18-year-old Xavier Dolan \u2014 a beautiful realization, yet with a dose of sadness within.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\tSeveral months later, the duo expanded on that initial chat, and the formal trappings of Sister Sister began to take shape. Mitevska then reached out to Sciamma, who she met at the Venice Film Festival in 2023, where their respective films, \u201c21 Days Until the End of the World\u201d and \u201cThis Is How a Child Becomes a Poet,\u201d screened together as a double bill in the Venice Days program.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cC\u00e9line\u2019s unapologetic tone and quest for a new feminist grammar in cinema made her the evident choice as someone to kick off Sister Sister,\u201d Mitevska says. To her delight, the French filmmaker enthusiastically threw her support behind the initiative.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe duo will take part in a conversation during Sarajevo\u2019s CineLink industry strand titled \u201cAre We Radical Enough? Reclaiming and Redefining Women\u2019s Authorship in European Cinema.\u201d Moderated by Mitevska, the panel will include Sciamma; Serbian director Jelena Maksimovi\u0107, whose feature debut \u201cUntil the Day Ends\u201d will premiere in the Venice Film Festival\u2019s Horizons strand; and Kosovo-born director Blerta Basholli, whose debut \u201cHive\u201d won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 2021, and whose latest, \u201cDua,\u201d premiered at Cannes Critics\u2019 Week this year and will compete in Sarajevo.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe conversation, which takes place on Aug. 20 at 1 p.m. in Sarajevo\u2019s Festival Garden, will explore how women filmmakers negotiate authorship within societies still shaped by patriarchal structures, political instability, contested histories and inherited cultural narratives. <\/p>\n

\n\tTaking stock of the gains made by women filmmakers in Europe over the past decade, it will examine lingering questions over who has the power to shape narratives, whose perspectives continue to be marginalized and what it means to be a radical female author today.<\/p>\n

\n\tMeanwhile, the Sarajevo think tank will culminate with the creation of a manifesto that proposes\u00a0actionable principles for strengthening creative freedom, equal opportunity and inclusive leadership across the regional\u00a0screen industries, while generating\u00a0practical recommendations and long-term commitments that can inspire policy, industry practice, funding strategies and future collaboration.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe goal, says Mitevska, is to explore \u201cthe possibility of creating a safe space for myself and others alike where we can define ourselves by ourselves entirely \u2014 a bold and fearless zone of not giving a damn.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\tThe Sarajevo Film Festival runs Aug. 14 \u2013 21.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The award-winning directors are spearheading the Sister Sister initiative to reshape the role of women in the film and TV industries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5776,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4497,4235,4498],"class_list":["post-5777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-film","tag-celine-sciamma","tag-sarajevo-film-festival-2","tag-teona-strugar-mitevska"],"yoast_head":"\nTeona Mitevska, C\u00e9lina Sciamma and More to Launch Female-Empowerment Initiative Sister Sister at Sarajevo Film Festival (EXCLUSIVE) - Relocation Observer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=5777\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Teona Mitevska, C\u00e9lina Sciamma and More to Launch Female-Empowerment Initiative Sister Sister at Sarajevo Film Festival (EXCLUSIVE) - 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