Sandbag Dam, which had its world premiere at the 75th Berlinale, will be featured at Festival do Rio as part of a specially curated programme titled Europe! Voices of Women+ In Film, created in cooperation with the network European Film Promotion, with the aim of increasing the visibility of European female directors. Besides the festival in Rio, the EFP also collaborates with festivals in Busan and Sydney. 

Since its premiere in Berlin, the second feature directed by Čejen Černić Čanak and written by Tomislav Zajec has screened at a number of international festivals, winning four awards at the Pula Film Festival (three Golden Arenas and the Breza Award).

With Kinorama as the main producer, Sandbag Dam was created in co-production with companies Tremora from Lithuania and Perfo Production from Slovenia. The producers are Ankica Jurić Tilić, Hrvoje Pervan and Dragan Jurić, with co-producers Ieva Norvilienė, Aleš Pavlin and Andrej Štritof. The film was financially supported by the Croatian Audiovisual Centre, Lithuanian Film Centre, Slovenian Film Centre, Viba Film Studio, and Creative Europe MEDIA.

Sandbag Dam screens in Brazil in the Expectations section, which also features two minority co-productions.

Little Trouble Girls by director and screenwriter Urška Djukić had its world premiere in the Perspectives competition at 75th Berlinale, its North American premiere at the 24th Tribeca Film Festival, where it also won the award for Best Cinematography (Lev Predan Kowarski). It has also appeared at other prestigious festivals such as Karlovy Vary and Sofia IFF.

The co-producer is Katarina Prpić (356 Films), while the rest of the Croatian crew consists of editor Vlado Gojun, assistant make-up artist Anela Sokolac, and Srđan Kokanov and Filip Friščić in the camera department.

The main producers are Jožko Rutar and Miha Černec. The feature was made under the auspices of the SPOK Institute, in co-production with Staragara (Italy), Non-Aligned Films (Serbia), 365 Films (Croatia) and Nosorogi (Slovenia), with financial support from the Slovenian Film Centre, RTV Slovenia, FVG Film Commission, Croatian Audiovisual Centre, RE-ACT, Eurimages, MEDIA Sub-programme and others.

Little Trouble Girls is another one of the titles selected for the EFP’s programme Europe! Voices of Women+ In Film.

The second minority co-production in the Expectations section is the feature documentary Wishing on a Star, which had its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival. After that, it appeared at dozens of international festivals, including festivals in Toronto, Rotterdam, Dok Leipzig and many others. 

The documentary is directed by Slovak director Péter Kerekes and co-written with Erica Barbiani, while the cinematography was done by Martin Kolar.

Wishing on a Star is a co-production between Italy, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Austria, and Croatia. The producers are Erica Barbiani and Lucia Candelpergher (Videomante), with co-producers Péter Kerekes (Péter Kerekes Films), Vanja Jambrović and Tibor Keser (Restart), Mischief Films (Austria) and Artcam Films (Czech Republic).

Festival do Rio is one of the largest film festivals in Latin America, bringing together film screenings, discussions, and business opportunities for film industry professionals. Every year, the festival screens over 300 titles, including the latest titles from Brazilian production and international festival hits, also standing out for its rich industrial programme.