OPEN CALL bosnia
Research & Text Development (m/f/d)
for a film project developed by Studio Softic for Obojena Klapa
About the Project
We are developing a musical-essayistic film in three acts that examines how a shared reality dissolves - through invisibility, obfuscation, and the withdrawal of those who can afford to detach from it.
The film moves from the abstract landscapes of the Arctic, whose global significance eludes immediate perception, through a polyphonic scene in smog-filled Sarajevo, to a radically reduced visual setting of a luxury resort in the desert of Saudi Arabia.
At its core lies not a single event, but the question under which conditions reality can still be perceived - and what happens when this perception breaks down. Text, sound, and image are composed as equally important elements, set in tension with one another rather than functioning illustratively.
The Role
We are looking for a person to work on research, the co-development of the film's textual structure (libretto - as a form between essay, sound, and dramaturgy), and the development and placement of the film's texts.
This role operates between research, essayistic writing, and dramaturgical composition. It is not a support position, but involves working with text as cinematic material on a structural and conceptual level, as well as developing accompanying texts (e.g. essays, concept texts).
Tasks
Research and selection of material from scientific, theoretical, and discursive contexts (including digital spaces such as forums and comment sections)
Co-development of precise essayistic and/or poetic textual elements
Development of distinct textual registers and voices for specific scenes
Condensation, reduction, and arrangement of texts as part of a cinematic composition
Developing tensions between text, image, and sound
Close collaboration with author, director, sound, and editing
Profile
We are looking for an independently thinking person with:
strong analytical and conceptual abilities
a highly precise sense of language
interest in essayistic, documentary, or experimental forms
the ability and motivation to engage with complex material and translate it into clear and deliberate textual
decisionsDesirable, but not required:
background in film, dramaturgy, literature, philosophy/theory, art, or related fields
experience with documentary or essayistic formats
interest in questions of perception, knowledge production, and their instability in the context of ecological
and technological transformationsImportant
This work is not about “writing texts” in a conventional sense, but about understanding, condensing, and transforming material - through a collaborative process - into a precise cinematic and linguistic form.
We are looking for someone who can work with reduction, placement, and structure.
Framework
Project phase: Development
Timeline: by arrangement, expected from summer 2026
Working mode: flexible, partly remote
Fee: EUR 5,000
About MCSB
Building on the 2014-2016 Creative Europe project ‘Moving Classics’ & the 2018-2022 “Sonic Flux” our new project Moving Classics: Sonic Bridges (MCSB) is a project that will be creatively inspired by the Skopje 2028 theme ‘Culture over Diversity”. Working with personal testimony, original music and AV/Film installations It will connect Writers, musicians and AV/Film artists with our production teams to explore modern European identity at the edges.
The OVERALL Project will create 10 hybrid sonic & visual experiences (art films, projections) enabling musicians and artists from all corners of Europe to work with diverse ethnographers, visual storytellers and communities along with the Project Partners and their creative teams. The films will be published by creative placemakers and presented at project partner events and our festival networks.
