Female-Focused Circle Fiction Orbit Project Incubator Unveils 2026 Cohort

EXCLUSIVE: The Circle Training Initiative, dedicated to women and gender-expansive filmmakers, has unveiled the five feature film projects selected for its third Circle Fiction Orbit incubator event taking place in Montenegro this week. They include Portuguese director and screenwriter Leonor Bettencourt Loureiro’s Por Este Arroios Acima, exploring the connection between the rapid transformation of the body, city and community building in the aftermath of a traumatic accident. It is the director’s second fiction feature after C’est Pas la Vie en Rose, which tapped into the zeitgeist of contemporary Lisbon as longtime residents grapple with implications of gentrification. Rita de Moura Santos at Grumpy Panda Productions is producing. Georgian director and screenwriter Irine Jordania is participating with Tbilisi-set Nutsa.Love revolving around the unfolding relationship between an unlikely couple. It is her second feature after Air Blue Silk which premiered at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival. She is joined by producer Elene Margvelashvili. Watch on Deadline The selection also features Dutch director Sabine Lubbe Bakker’s Premier Souffle, exploring whether a rebellious outsider can find her place in the world after years of isolation from her community. It is produced by Baldr Film. The director’s 2020 film Becoming Mona travelled the festival circuit. Montenegrin director and producer Katarina Bulajić is participating with first feature project Leech, about a woman returning to her hometown who is confronted by the magnitude of betrayal. Bulajić latest short film A Special Day is currently on the festival circuit and due to screen at Germany’s FilmFestival Cottbus next week. She is joined by screenwriter and producer Ana Vujadinovic at Montenegrin company Giggling Goat Production. The selection also includes Polish director and screenwriter Marta Prus’ drama Soloist, exploring the elite world of ballet and reinvention of the body and soul at the end of a career and beginning of something new. It follows Prus’ award-winning documentary Over The Limit about Russian gymnast and Olympic gold medalist Margarita Mamun. The new film is produced by Telemark. The lineup, focused on mid-career filmmakers and teams, was selected by a three-person committee consisting of writer and producer Suzy Gillet, film scholar Jelena Mišeljić and writer and director Ivana Mladenović. They were guided by Circle Head of Programme Biljana Tutorov – writer, director and producer of To Hold A Mountain, which is currently shortlisted for the European Film Award – and Circle Co-Head of Programme Brigid O’Shea. The seven-day residential project development retreat is currently underway in Herceg Novi, Montenegro and runs until November 1. It is led by award-winning producer and screenwriter Bianca Oana (Touch Me Not, Collective, Anhell69). “This is a rare opportunity for filmmakers and producers to come together, to think and exchange experiences outside the norms and the excruciating pulse of the industry,” said Oana. “We make space to reflect not only on the films we want to make, but also on how we want to make them. Urgency and immediacy give way to listening and care. This slow time is the real time of cinema, where projects can grow into films.” She is joined by producers Myriam Sassine (Costa Brava Lebanon), Dana Bunescu (The Death of Mr Lazarescu) and Dominique Welinski, founder of the world cinema focused Next Steps Studio taking place within the framework of Cannes Critics’ Week. The programme also features a keynote session with Dea Kulumbegashvili and screening of her Venice Special Jury Prize-winning film April. “Circle Fiction Orbit is our cherished space for filmmakers working to reach the next level of their careers,” said Tutorov. “Dedicated to filmmakers, this mission informs every aspect of our methodology and framework: from the curation of mentors, experts and screenings to the location of Herceg Novi and led by Bianca Oana’s unique approach to activate their potential and find a new dynamic, all contributes to creating and environment conductive to holistic project development.” Three projects from the first two editions have come to fruition and are travelling the festival circuit: Lex Juliaby director Laura Hyppönen which will compete for Best Baltic Film in Tallinn in November; IDDA, directed by Irene Dionisio, which world in Toronto and Perla by Alexandra Makarová (Austria and Slovakia) which played in Rotterdam. Founded in 2018, Circle was built to support women and gender-expansive filmmakers. It is co-funded by Creative Europe MEDIA and organised under the patronage of Eurimage by Wake Up Films.