Desire Lines

Source: Courtesy of Square Eyes

‘Desire Lines’

EXCLUSIVE: Wouter Jansen’s Vienna-based Square Eyes has acquired international sales rights to Bosnian director Dane Komljen’s Desire Lines, which is making its world premiere in the international competition at Locarno Film Festival next month.

Desire Lines follows an emotionally damaged but charismatic man played by Ivan Čuić, as he roams through shadowy Belgrade cityscapes and eventually heads towards the mountains.

The writer-director described his film as drawing “a line between this reality and fantasy found in fairytales and horror films, pointing towards the hunger for the unknown”.

Komljen shot his third feature in the remote rural Bosnian locations that have become one of the migration routes for thousands of migrants trying to reach the EU. 

Komljen’s 2022 film Afterwater screened in the Berlinale Forum. His first feature All The Cities Of The North was in official selection in Locarno 2016 and was released in the US by Grasshopper Film.

“Desire Lines is Dane’s most ambitious film to date, revolving around the theme of radical solidarity and stylistically even exploring fantasy elements,” said Jansen.

The film was produced by Nataša Damnjanović and Vladimir Vidić through Belgrade-based Dart Film. Further partners on the project include Marc Thelosen from SeriousFilm in the Netherlands, Miljenka Čogelja of Croatia’s Pipser, Zsuzsanna Kiraly of Germany’s Flaneur Films, and Bosnia’s Mak Film and Marletti.

Backing came from International Film Festival Rotterdam’s Hubert Bals Fund, Creative Europe Media, Film Center Serbia, Netherlands Film Fund, Audio-visual Center of Republika Srpska, Sarajevo Canton Ministry of Culture and Sport, Croatian Audio-visual Center, Medienboard Berlin Brandenburg and Eurimages, among others. 

Desire Lines takes its place on Square Eyes’ slate alongside films including Ukrainian feature doc Militantropos, which premiered at Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight, and Cuban director David Bim’s To The West, In Zapata, which won a special jury award at Visions Du Réel earlier this year. 

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