CM 2024

Netherlands Film Fund

Aventura

The Possessed

De Bezetenen

Current Status &amp; Goals at CineMart A first version of the script is in place. In the upcoming months, Ena will work towards a solid rewrite which we will be able to share with potential international partners. The film will be in English language and we want to cast internationally. Ideally, we would like to already have creative partners involved throughout the last stages of the writing process, as well as the start of the casting process. With the limited number of characters and locations, as well as the playful angle that Ena envisions in the realization of the film, we want to make this film with a relatively small budget. For the shooting we are looking for desolate locations within vast nature, which could be provided by a co-producer. Ena also wants to explore potential new international collaborations with DoP&rsquo;s/Production Designers and other HoD&rsquo;s. We think that France and Belgium, as well as the UK, could be logical countries for co-production partners, but we are very open to explore other collaborations. Apart from that, we will be interested in meeting sales agents as well. The development funding by the Netherlands Film Fund is already in place. We are looking at applying for realization in 2024 Q3. Depending on the co-production timeline, shooting would take place in 2025/2026.&nbsp;SynopsisA desolate place in nature, somewhere in a corner of Europe. A young woman on the run for the witch hunts during the Inquisition stumbles upon the hiding place of an older woman. Already accustomed to her solitary existence, the older woman teaches the younger woman how to survive. However, as the younger woman starts to feel more and more suffocated, she kidnaps a young shepherd and he becomes their hostage. Between the three characters, who pass the time in complete isolation, exchanging disgust and anger, but also tenderness and affection, a triangular relationship develops, which slips further and further into an erotic fever dream&hellip; &lsquo;Cut!&rsquo; shouts eccentric film director Diana, who is in the same remote location with her small film crew, shooting the film as described above for little money. For Diana, it is a comedy about the witch hunts; a vision that is not understood by everyone in the team. As Diana, her crew and the three actors playing the main characters are trying to bring this story to life, they suffer all kinds of adversities. Diana's position of power is tested by all, especially when the producer of the film shows up to shut the project down. But Diana has invested too much of herself in this film and will bring the shoot to an end, against all odds, cost what may. Both stories unravel simultaneously in The Possessed. While past and present start to entangle, the distinction between fiction and reality becomes blurry, sucking Diana deeper and deeper into the madness she created herself.&nbsp;Director's BiographyBosnian-Dutch writer, director and producer Ena Sendijarević stood out internationally with her idiosyncratic feature debut Take Me Somewhere Nice (2019), which was selected for ACID Cannes and won the Special Jury Prize at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. She previously attracted attention with her short Import (2016), which premiered in Cannes' Directors Fortnight and was the Dutch entry for the Oscars. Her second feature film, Sweet Dreams (2023), premiered in Locarno's main competition and won the Pardo for best performance. Sweet Dreams is the Dutch submission to the Oscars 2024. In 2020, Ena co-founded the Netherlands based independent production company Aventura.

Past and present come together in The Possessed, a film within a film, in which an eccentric film director and her small film crew shoot a film about the witch hunts during the Inquisition in a corner of Europe. Of course, things don't go as planned.