The presentation of the projects taking part in this year's Works in Progress of the 65th TIFF Agora took place on Tuesday, November 5th, offering an exciting look into the future of cinema. The Agora Works in Progress section of the Agora focuses on post-production projects from the regions of the Mediterranean and Southeastern Europe.
This year's Works in Progress features nine films from fifteen countries, presented to key players in the film industry, such as sales agents, distributors, producers, streaming platforms and film festival developers. The aim is to support these projects in order to secure funding, attract sales agents, premiere at festivals, and establish key partnerships.
The attendees were welcomed by the head of the Agora Angeliki Vergou: "Good morning to everyone, welcome back to Thessaloniki and to Agora Works in Progress. We wish you a wonderful Agora, discussions, meetings and screenings full of meaning and joy. We are getting ready to see Works in Progress and I would like to invite Orestis Andreadakis, artistic director of the Festival, to the stage." Orestis Andreadakis, went on to welcome the participants and underline the importance of Works in Progress for the cinema of tomorrow. "Works in Progress is the most promising part of the film industry. It reflects the future, hope, the moment where everything is possible. And here, at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, everything is possible thanks to your talent," he said.
Then, Orestis Andreadakis invited this year's Agora ambassador, beloved British writer Victoria Hislop, to the stage. "I think being together is a very important part of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival. I have met many amazing people, and some of them are already here in the theatre. I thank the Festival for this invitation to be the ambassador of the Agora which, as Orestis said, is a very important part of our mission and the reason why we are here. It is about the future; it is about the films that we will soon watch on the big screen. All the works that we are going to see, as far as I can tell from the synopses, are very original, they make sense, and they are very up-to-date. Storytelling is a key concept; it has an effect on all of us. It awakens our emotions, provokes reactions, and possibly changes us as viewers. All the projects we are going to see have the power to do that. So we have an exciting morning ahead. Good luck to those who managed to get to this point and at this stage. I'm really impressed. All I do is write some words and you've done so much more to create these movies that we're about to see. Thank you all, as well as the Festival", she said.
Thanos Stavropoulos and Elena Gaitanarou, Coordinators of Agora Works in Progress, welcomed and thanked the attendees, the creators, the participants of Agora Works in Progress, the sponsors of the Festival, as well as the members of this year's jury. Director and consultant Hakim Mao was the moderator of the presentation.
This 2024 Agora Works in Progress Jury consists of:
Daniela Cölle, Sales agent, Pluto Film - Germany, Zacharias Mavroidis, Film director and screenwriter - Greece, Andrei Tănăsescu, Programmer / Member of the Giornate degli Autori selection committee section of the Venice Film Festival - Greece.
The Agora Works in Progress Awards include:
The Jury Awards:
The independent award Onassis Film Award: €10.000 to a Greek project participating in the Agora (Crossroads Co-production Forum or Agora Works in Progress)
Selected Agora Works in Progress films 2024
BEARCAVE
Directors/Scriptwriters: Stergios Dinopoulos, Krysianna Papadakis, Production: Emily Sky Hickin - PUCCI Productions, Stergios Dinopoulos, Krysianna Papadakis, Arsinoi Pilou, Thanasis Michalopoulos - Pameligo Collective
Greece, United Kingdom
PATTY IS SUCH A GIRLY NAME
Director/Scriptwriter: Giorgos Georgopoulos, Production: Stefanos Koutsardakis - Chaotic Good Productions, Co-production: Christos V. Konstantakopoulos - Faliro House Productions, Fenia Cossovitsa - Blonde Audiovisual Productions
Greece
CINEMA JAZIREH
In collaboration with Sofia Meetings Director/Scriptwriter: Gözde Kural, Production: Gözde Kural - Toz Film Production, Milad Khosravi - Seven Springs Pictures, Bulut Reyhanoğlu - Koskos Film, Svetla Tsotsorkova - Front Film
Turkey, Iran, Bulgaria, Romania
DIRTY LAND
Director/Scriptwriter: Luis Campos, Production: Luis Campos, Ana Almeida - Matiné, Co-production: Luigi Chimienti, Alessandro Amato - Dispàrte, Mario Patrocínio - Bro Cinema, Humberto Rocha, Pedro Medeiros - Um Segundo Filmes, Marta Lima - Agente a Norte, Nuno Tavares - Anticyclone Productions
Portugal, Italy
LIFE IN A BEAT
Director: Amerissa Basta, Scriptwriters: Amerissa Basta, Dimitris Nakos, Production: Ioanna Soultani, Dimitris Nakos - Soul Productions, Co-production: Despina Mouzaki - Breaking Wave Productions, Ivan Tonev - Ars Digital, Dejan Krajcevski-Krug Film, Marko Jaćimović - Videa Production
Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Montenegro
LIFELIKE
Director/Scriptwriter: Ali Vatansever, Production: Selin Vatansever Tezcan, Oya Özden Özdemir - Terminal Film, Aytun Aktan Bahçeci - Aktan Görsel Sanatlar, Co-production: Antigoni Rota-Foss Productions
Turkey, Greece
MY FATHER'S SHOES
Director: Hristo Simeonov, Scriptwriters: Petar Krumov, Hristo Simeonov, Production: Katya Trichkova - Contrast Films, Co-production: Jean-Laurent Csinidis, Jérôme Nunes - Films de Force Majeure
Bulgaria, France
OTTER
Director: Srđan Vuletić, Scriptwriter: Stefan Bošković, Production: Ivan Đurović - Artikulacija Film, Co-production: Katarina Prpić - 365 Films, Ishak Jalimam - Realstage, Daniele Segre - Redibis Film, Fatmir Spahiu - Buka Production
Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Italy, Kosovo*
THEY COME OUT OF MARGO
Director/Scriptwriter: Alexandros Voulgaris (The Boy), Production: Nicholas Alavanos, Christina Stavropoulou - Filmiki Productions
Greece
