59th THESSALONIKI INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL [1-11/11/2018] || 1-11/11/2018
Agora Works in Progress Opening
Agora Works in Progress session opened on Thursday, November 8, 2018 at Olympion theatre, as part of the 59th Thessaloniki International Film Festival, presenting the 12 films that participate in this year’s event.
Agora Works in Progress gives the opportunity to selected sales agents, distributors and festival representatives from all over the world to be the first to discover feature films from Southeastern Europe and the Mediterranean one step before their completion.
First, TIFF art director Orestis Andreadakis warmly thanked everyone, and wished good luck to all participants.
Then Agora head, Yanna Sarri, made mention to the institutional and financial supporters of Work in Progress session: the MEDIA sub-program of Creative Europe and the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF). She also thanked the prizes sponsors:
- a) The European fund for the co-production of cinematographic works Eurimages that offers the Lab Project Award which amounts up to 50,000 euros to an unconventional film participating in Works in Progress section
- b) The Greek post-production house Graal, that provides a post-production award in kind services to one film participating in the Agora Works in Progress section.
- c) The Greek music company MuSou that offers the music and sound award (composition and production of an original film score, music supervision, and assistance in licensing of commercial music for use in the film and audio post-production services).
After that, Yianna Sarri thanked the 2018 Agora Works in Progress Jury, consisting of Lorenzo Esposito (Italy - Cinéma du Réel), Sofia Exarchou (Film Director - Greece), Valeska Neu (Germany - Films Boutique) and Tamara Tatishvili (Georgia - Eurimages).
Consequently, the 12 films participating in the section were presented with clips and short introductions by the producers and directors who attend the festival.
This year’s films are:
- ALASKA, Direction: Alain Raoust, Production: Tom Dercourt – Cinema Defacto, Co-production: Terratreme Filmes, France-Portugal
- THE CANDIDATE, Direction: Ercan Kesal, Production: Kerem Catay, Yamac Okur, Suzan Guverte – Ay Yapım, Poyraz Film, Turkey
- THE CONSPICUOUS PARTS, Direction: Assaf Gruber, Production: Assaf Gruber, Co-production: Filmblades, Talking Projects, Cyprus-Belgium-Germany-France
- COOK F—K KILL, Direction: Mira Fornay, Production: Viktor Schwartz - Cineart Tv Prague, Co-production: MIRAFOX, Czech Republic-Slovakia
- FREEDOM LANDSCAPES, Direction: Marta Popivoda, Production: Dragana Jovovic - Theory at Work, Co-production: Marta Popivoda, Serbia-Germany
- IN THE STRANGE PURSUIT OF LAURA DURAND,Direction: Dimitris Bavellas, Production: Gina Petropoulou – Vox Documentaries, Co-production: Alatas Films, 2|35, Cekta, Fantasia Audiovisual Ltd, Novi Film, Greece-Serbia-Bosnia & Herzegovina
- THE KING OF THE FOREST, Direction: Szabolcs Tolnai, Production: Szabolcs Tolnai – Atalanta Doo, Co-production: Kép-Árnyék Bt, Serbia-Hungary
- OROSLAN, Direction: Matjaž Ivanišin, Production: MihaČernec – Staragara, Co-production: i/o post, Slovenia-Czech Republic
- PAPICHA, Direction: Mounia Meddour, Production: Patrick André - High Sea Production, Co-production: The Ink Connection, France-Algeria
- SQIZO, Direction: Duccio Fabbri, Production: Laura Romano – FilmAffair, Co-production: Les Films d’Ici, Italy-France-USA
- UNDERGROWN, Direction: Marta Ribeiro, Production: Joana Peralta – VIDEOLOTION, Portugal
- A SIMPLE MAN, Direction: Tassos Gerakinis, Production: Nikos Moustakas – Bad Crowd, Co-production: Arizona Productions, Greece-France (Out of Competition)
