TDF announces Agora Docs activities and submission deadlines
Agora Docs is an inseparable and invaluable part of the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, which supports the documentary medium from the stage of development to the financing, completion and distribution of the film. The most dynamic documentary industry event in Southeast Europe, Agora Docs of the 23rd Thessaloniki Documentary Festival will take place from June 25 to July 4, 2021 and invites documentary filmmakers to submit their films in the Agora Doc Market, the Docs in Progress and the Thessaloniki Pitching Forum sections.
Agora Docs is supported by Creative Europe Media and its developmental activities focus in the Southeast Europe and the Mediterranean. In a friendly and relaxed environment, industry professionals are meeting with film producers and directors (onsite and online) to discuss their projects and get advice.
Agora invites filmmakers who have a documentary in post-production and are looking for a distributor, festival premiere or completion funds to submit their films in Agora Docs in Progress (deadline for entries: April 20, 2021 – for more info and for the submission form: https://www.filmfestival.gr/en/professionals-b2b/agora-docs).
For the tenth consecutive year, the Docs in Progress segment remains the main event in the Balkans for directors and producers from Southeastern Europe, the Balkan and Mediterranean regions to present their documentary films to buyers, co-producers, festival representatives and sales agents at the stage just before completion. Τhe Docs in Progress has become an important path for selected projects to major festivals, sales agents and distributors around the world. It offers major awards including: the 2|35 Post-Production Main Award, the MuSou Music Company Group Music and Sound Award, the Neaniko Plano Subtitling Award.
The selected projects will have the opportunity to prepare their pitch and get advice on their next steps in an online consultation session before the Festival.
Agora Docs presents a new initiative: The Agora Lab offers to Greek filmmakers sessions with experienced editors and doc professionals, who guide filmmakers along sharpening and fine-tuning their projects toward their final cut, while also navigating them through the terrain of festival strategy. These projects are selected from the Docs in Progress pool of submissions.
The Festival and Agora continue the Thessaloniki Pitching Forum (deadline for entries: April 20, 2021 - for more info and for the submission form: https://www.filmfestival.gr/en/professionals-b2b/agora-docs), an initiative focused on developing documentaries. The Thessaloniki Pitching Forum explores the limits of documentary by inviting TV and creative documentaries, documentaries for children and new media projects (Virtual Reality or/and Augmented Reality, etc.).
The participants will have the opportunity to discuss their project and get feedback on their content during the two-day online workshop at the beginning of June and will participate in a pitch preparation onsite in Thessaloniki by experienced international tutors, before their one-day pitching session to international documentary players and one-on-one meetings with industry professionals suited to their project.
The projects will be evaluated by an international selection committee. In all, up to 15 projects will be selected.
Thessaloniki Pitching Forum and Docs in Progress focus on the following countries: Albania, Algeria, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Egypt, France, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Kosovo, Lebanon, Libya, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Morocco, North Macedonia, Palestine, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine.
Agora Docspresents Meet the Future, a spotlight on up-and-coming documentary filmmakers, each year from a different country. This year the focus is on Serbia. Serbian directors participating in Meet the Future will introduce themselves to the industry professionals and will present material from their upcoming films.
The Thessaloniki Documentary Festival is happy to present a new service offered by Agora Docs to attending filmmakers: Doc Counselling provides hands-on one-on-one consultancy sessions on topics such as festival strategy, documentary funding, distribution, Media desk help, TV buys, social media, marketing etc.
Moreover, the Agora Doc Market video-library hosts a large number of documentaries produced within the last two years and gives the opportunity to filmmakers to present them to the film professionals (producers, sales agents, distributors, festival representatives, etc) who attend the festival. Agora Doc Market cooperates with the online network for film professionals Cinando. Press and industry accredited guests will have the opportunity to access online a selection of films from Agora and the Festival’s program. Each year the Agora Doc Market hosts around 400 films and invites more than 100 buyers and industry professionals who visit Thessaloniki to promote or buy documentary films. Filmmakers can submit their films for Agora Doc Market by contacting Denise Andreola at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by May 28, 2021.
For more information on the Agora Docs visit the website: https://www.filmfestival.gr/en/professionals-b2b/agora-docs or contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
