TIFF’s Agora Works in Progress opened on Thursday, November 9, 2017, at the Olympion theatre, as part of the 58th Thessaloniki International Film Festival, in the presence of TIFF’s General Director, Elise Jalladeau.
Yianna Sarri, head of the Agora, welcomed the participants and thanked the sponsors and the collaborators of the section, announcing: “This year, we have twelve projects, eleven of which are competing and one is not. We wish you enjoy the screenings!”.
In its previous editions, Works in Progress hosted cinema projects by directors such as: Argyris Papadimitropoulos, Angelos Frantzis, Margarita Manda, Yannis Economides, Asaf Korman and Mira Fornay, amongst others.
This year's Works in Progress jury is comprised by Dorien van de Pas (Representative of Netherlands Filmfund-Eurimages, The Netherlands), Bero Beyer (Artistic Director of International Film Festival Rotterdam, Netherlands) and Ilias Georgiopoulos (Distributor, Danaos Films, Greece).
The Agora Works in Progress section hosts exclusive screenings for the Agora's accredited guests: producers, sales agents, distributors and festival representatives who attend the 58th TIFF. This way, said professionals are given the opportunity to be the first ones to discover feature films from the Mediterranean, Central Europe and Balkan regions at a near-completion stage.
This year’s Works in Progress films are:
- A Shelter among the Clouds, Director: Robert Budina, Production: Robert Budina & Sabina Kodra – ERAFILM, Albania - The film was presented as a project in Crossroads 2015
- Bad Poems, Director: Gábor Reisz, Production: Julia Berkes - Proton Cinema, Co-producer: Estelle Robin You - Les films du Balibari, Hungary-France
- Charcoal, Director: Esmaeel Monsef, Production: Etienne de Ricaud - Caractères Productions, Co-producer: Nader T. Homayoun - Alias Films, France-Iran
- Dead Horse Nebula, Director: Tarik Aktaş, Production: Güneş Şekeroğlu - Hay Film, Co-producer: Guillaume De Seille - Arizona Films, Turkey-France
- Siren’s Call, Director: Ramin Matin, Production: Emine Yıldırım, Oğuz Kaynak - Giyotin Film, Turkey
- Sister, Director: Svetla Tsotsorkova, Production: Svetoslav Ovcharov - Omega Films, Co-producer: Svetla Tsotsorkova, Bulgaria
- Snowing!, Director: Kristina Nedvědová, Production: Jitka Kotrlová - Frame Films, Co-producer: Barrandov Studio, Frame100r, Bystrouška, i/o post, Czech Republic
- Speak So I Can See You, Director: Marija Stojnic, Producer: Marija Stojnic, Milos Ivanovic – Bilboke, Co-producer: Tibor Keser, Vanja Jambrovic - Restart, Serbia-Croatia
- Trot, Director: Xacio Baño, Producer: Luisa Romeo - Frida Films, Co-producer: Marija Razgute - Ciobreliai Films, Spain-Lithuania
- Unpleasant, Director: Giorgos Georgopoulos, Producer: Giorgos Georgopoulos – Multivision, Co-producer: Antonis Kotzias, Yafka, Greece
- The Waiter, Director: Steve Krikris, Producer: Steve Krikris – Filmiki Productions, Co-producer: Nikolas Alavanos, Greece
- Zizotek, Director: Vardis Marinakis, Producer: Konstantinos Vassilaros – StudioBauhaus, Co-production: Red Carpet Films, Greece-Bulgaria - The film was presented as a project in Crossroads 2016
The Works in Progress section hosts the Eurimages Lab Project Award that amounts up to 50,000 euros for unconventional projects, while, for the seventh consecutive year, the Agora collaborates with Graal, which provides a post-production award in kind services to one film participating in the Agora Works in Progress section.
