From Sarajevo Pitch to Sarajevo Premiere: Dina Duma's Skateboarding Is Not for Girls Comes Full Circle
Four years after winning a development prize at the Sarajevo Film Festival's industry market, Macedonian director Dina Duma's Skateboarding Is Not for Girls has returned to the festival as a European premiere, screening in competition for the Heart of Sarajevo awards at the 32nd edition (Sarajevo Film Festival).
The film had its world premiere at the Tribeca Festival earlier this year, with an additional screening on 5 June (Tribeca Festival; Instagram). At Sarajevo, it was one of 51 titles competing for the Heart of Sarajevo awards and was also selected for the festival's Special Award for Promoting Gender Equality (Sarajevo Film Festival; Sarajevo Film Festival).
The journey began in 2022, when Duma's script won the Female Voices CineLink Award at the CineLink Industry Days, Sarajevo's co-production market. The prize carried 20,000 Euros to help launch production (The Hollywood Reporter). A second CineLink award, worth 10,000 Euros from the Film Center of Montenegro, followed at the 20th edition of the industry days (Sarajevo Film Festival).
The story centres on 11-year-old Adela, played by Efkjar Abaz, who is devoted to her elder sister, 15-year-old Zara (Dzefrina Jashari). Their mother, Esma (Simonida Selimovic), struggles to make ends meet after the girls' father leaves for Switzerland. When Esma decides to marry Zara off for the dowry, Adela enters a skateboarding competition, hoping to win the cash prize and save her sister (The Hollywood Reporter). The CineLink market synopsis describes Adela as a Romani girl trying to save her sister from being sold at a bridal market (CineLink Industry Days). Ganimet Abdula also appears in the cast (IMDb).
Duma's inspiration came from two encounters. She spotted a young girl skateboarding in a traditional Islamic shalwar on a riverbank in Skopje, Macedonia's capital. That image collided with the memory of an old school friend who was married at 14 and became pregnant soon after (The Hollywood Reporter). The film addresses patriarchy and child marriage in Macedonia, portraying women stripped of agency.
Shot in Skopje, the 82-minute feature is a co-production of North Macedonia, Belgium, Slovenia and Croatia. The producing team includes Labina Mitevska, Lidija Mojsovska, Teona Strugar Mitevska, Sébastien Delloye and Danijel Hočevar (Sarajevo Film Festival; Tribeca Festival).
For a festival that doubles as a marketplace, Duma's return closes a loop the industry calls the development arc: a project that arrived as a script with prize money, and comes back as a finished film in competition. The Sarajevo Film Festival runs through late August.
