Bosnian-Dutch writer and director Ena Sendijarević has signed with Black Bear‘s management arm.
Sendijarević’s second feature “Sweet Dreams” was selected as the official Dutch submission for this year’s Academy Awards and deemed a “startlingly accomplished sophomore film” by Variety. She was also one of Variety’s 10 Directors to Watch for 2024.
Sendijarević’s feature debut, “Take Me Somewhere Nice,” an absurdist European road trip movie, won the Special Jury award at the 48th International Film Festival in Rotterdam, as well as the “Heart of Sarajevo” award at the 25th Sarajevo Film Festival. The film was then selected for the 72nd Cannes Film Festival Acid selection. Sendijarević has also made several short films, the latest of which, “Import,” had its world premiere in Cannes’ Director’s Fortnight section and was the official Dutch entry for Live Action Short Film at the 89th Academy Awards.
Next for Sendijarević is “The Possessed,” which is set to launch sales at Rotterdam’s upcoming CineMart. The film follows an eccentric female director on an isolated island who “shoots a film about the effects of the witch hunt on the modern female psyche… but nothing goes as planned.”
Led by partners Keith Redmon and Joanne Roberts Wiles, Black Bear’s management clients include Karyn Kusama (“Yellowjackets“), Cooper Raiff (“Cha Cha Real Smooth”), Morten Tyldum (“The Imitation Game”), John Hillcoat (“George & Tammy”), Kodi Smit-McPhee (“The Power of the Dog”) and Simona Tabasco (“The White Lotus”).
Outside of its management business, Black Bear produced the Netflix drama “Nyad,” which was nominated for Oscars for stars Annette Bening and Jodie Foster, as well as “I Care a Lot” with Rosamund Pike.