News

AGORA Crossroads Opening

The 13th Crossroads Co-Production Forum opened on Wednesday, November 8, 2017, at Warehouse C, as part of the Agora of the 58th Thessaloniki International Film Festival.

The TIFF’s General Director, Elise Jalladeau, welcomed the participants by saying: “We wish you enjoy the event. The Agora team has done tremendous work and you will appreciate it. We will be glad to see you in the Festival's venues in the coming days”.

Immediately afterwards, the head of TIFF’s Agora, Yianna Sarri, took the floor to thank the sponsors and contributors of the section, emphasizing: “Agora is expanding and evolving, remaining an important creative part of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival”.

In its previous editions, Crossroads hosted projects by Greek and foreign directors such as Athena Rachel Tsangari, Penny Panagiotopoulou, Constantine Giannaris, Alexis Alexiou, Angelos Frantzis, Michael Konstantatos, Deniz Gamze Erguven, Annemarie Jacir, Radu Jude, Zeki Demirkubuz, Amos Gitai and Florin Serban, among others.

This year, the Crossroads jury is comprised of: Dominique Welinski (producer, - DW, France), Teresa Hoefert De Turegano (Funding Advisor – Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Germany) and Konstantinos Kontovrakis (producer – Heretic, Greece).

The Agora Crossroads section, headed by Marie-Pierre Macia, selects film projects based on the script quality, the creative team and the production potential. It aims at supporting producers of feature films related to Central Europe, the Balkans and the Mediterranean.

This year, Crossroads includes the following projects:

  1. 200 Meters, Director: Ameen Nayfeh, Production: May Odeh – Odeh Films, Palestine
  2. Avanos, Director: Panagiotis Charamis, Production: Kostas Baliotis – 2D2R, Greece
  3. Fishers of Men, Director: Alex Camilleri, Production: Oliver Mallia – Pellikola, Malta
  4. Fronteira, Director: Nuno Baltazar, Production: Leonel Vieira - Stopline Films, Portugal - in collaboration with CINEMED
  5. Girl without Clothes, Director: Yannis Korres, Production: Alexis Pilos - Zero-Zero Productions, Greece
  6. Margherita, Director: Valentina Carnelutti, Production: Marco Alessi - Dugong Films & Valentina Carnelutti - Fiore Leone Produzioni, Italy
  7. Other People, Director: Meedo Taha, Production: Wesam Nassar – ESHMAWI, Meedo Taha – drawFILM, Lebanon
  8. Protected Species, Director: Hristo Simeonov, Production: Katya Trichkova - Contrast Films, Bulgaria - in collaboration with Sofia Meetings
  9. Rainbows Don’t Last Long, Director: Mayye Zayed, Production: Halina Dyrschka – Ambrosia Film, Mayye Zayed – Rufy’s Films, Germany-Egypt
  10. The Rooftops o f Fez, Director: Abdelhai Laraki, Production: Caroline Locardi - A2L Production, Morocco
  11. Un Peu De Chaos Inexplicable, Director, Producer: Yorgos Gkikapeppas – Film Society, Greece
  12. We Kiss in Dark Nightclubs and I Explain, Director: Daphné Hérétakis, Production: Jasmina Sijercic - Bocalupo Films, Co-production: Yorgos Tsourgiannis – Horsefly Production, France-Greece
  13. Zuhal, Director: Nazlı Elif Durlu, Production: Anna Maria Aslanoğlu - istos film, Turkey - in collaboration with MFI Script 2 Film Workshop

 

In the framework of the Agora, producers of the above-mentioned projects have the opportunity to present and discuss their projects with co-producers, distributors, sales agents and production industry experts.

 

Crossroads collaborates with:

  • The Greek post-production house Two Thirty Five 2|35 Inc, which offers the co-production award (image and sound) to the winning cinematic project.
  • The CNC (Centre national du cinéma et de l’ image animée), which grants 10.000 euro for script development in a cinematic project.
  • The Greek music company MuSou, which funds the winning project in order to compose and produce an original film score, acquire and license commercial music for use in the film and offers audio post-production services. 
  • The Producers Network of the Cannes Film Festival, which provides the winning producer with an accreditation, in order to participate in the upcoming 2018 edition of the Producer's Network.
  • The Sofia Meetings of the Sofia Film Festival, which selects one cinematic project to be presented in the upcoming Sofia Meetings, on March 2018.
  • The Mediterranean Film Institute Script 2 Film Workshops, which provides one of the projects with a scholarship for its 2018 Workshop.
  • The French script-development consultancy firm Initiative Film, which offers its services to one of the cinematic projects.
  • CINEMED, which will pick at least one Greek project for its annual Development Grant selection.
  • The 58th edition will also award the new Heretic Asterisk* prize, which will provide the winner with professional advice on Packaging, Development Strategy, International Financing Strategy, Project Marketing Strategy and Distribution Strategy.

Agora, part of which is the Crossroads section, is TIFF’s industry branch. Agora welcomes an international network of professionals and provides the facilities, as well as the occasion for meetings, discussions and professional collaborations in an informal, hospitable and professional atmosphere. The TIFF Agora is funded by the Creative Europe-MEDIA European program.

TIFF’s Agora awards will be bestowed on Friday, November 10, 2017, at 22:00, Warehouse C.