ROUND TABLE:
THE PRESENT STATE AND FUTURE OF BALKAN CINEMA
Celebrating its 10-year anniversary of the “Balkan Survey” section, the Thessaloniki Film Festival, organized a round table titled “Balkan Cinema and the Prospects of Co-production” that took place in the CITY hotel on Saturday, November 27th. Participating in the round table were: Dionisis Samiotis, Behrooz Hashemian (France/Iran), Mirsad Puritrava (Sarajevo), Miroljub Vuckovich (Serbia & Montenegro), Stefan Kitanov (Bulgaria), Yesim Ustaoglou (Turkey), Anna Stratton (Canada) and Nicolas Manuel (France). Heading the discussion was the Coordinator of the “Balkan Survey” section, Dimitris Kerkinos.
First at the stand was the Director of the Festival, Michel Demopoulos, stating that the tribute to Balkan films is in its tenth year. As Mr. Demopoulos said, when the “Balkan Survey” section began in 1994, its main goal was to promote Balkan films, but in the meantime, it managed to discover some fresh talent. Balkan films have caught the Greek audience’s attention, which constantly asks for more. “If Thessaloniki is the crossroads of culture, as they say, then the Thessaloniki Film Festival becomes a place of friendship and communication between the people of the Balkans”, said Mr. Demopoulos.
Following Mr. Demopoulos were Tina Panagopoulou, Director of MEDIA DESK, Despina Mouzaki, the President of SAPOE (Association of Film, TV and Video Producers), and an address by the Director of the Hellenic Audiovisual Institute (IOM), Olga Kliamaki. Finally, Christina Kallas, the Artistic Director of the Balkan Fund took the stand. The problems in Balkan Cinema In the beginning of the discussion the participants started off with a short reference to their career in cinema, speaking about their experiences from their countries and the difficult situations and problems that the film industry faces in the Balkans.
They all agreed that the most serious problem they face is financing, followed by distribution and television screening. Miroljub Vuckovic, the Director of the Belgrade Cinema Institute said that the only one who is not getting paid to watch a film is the audience. “People watch films because they want to discover what’s new”, he said. Mr. Vuckovic also stated that after the Thessaloniki Film Festival’s initiative of founding this special section for Balkan films, many other festivals have followed its example. Referring to Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami, Mr. Vuckovic characterized him as living proof of shooting a movie just using a digital video camera and having no crew. “At this moment, European and American cinema are being recycled, whereas Iranian cinema has something innovative to present. This comes to show how a film can be made with a low budget, just like Kiarostami’s films, how it can become successful and how additional financial support can be attained for future films”, he said.
Mirsad Puritrava, the Director of the Sarajevo Film Festival, noted that during the last two years the Sarajevo Film Festival has shown special interest for local films. “We ask for support from the government and we try forge alliances with public television in order to finance film co-productions. Besides finances, though, what you really need is a good script; then, the money can be easily found”, Mr. Puritrava said.
Bulgarian producer and distributor Stefan Kitanov, the Director of the Sofia International Film Festival, stated that from the beginning of 2004, a series of meetings are being held in Sofia, where Bulgarian films are screened to an international audience. “Soon all Balkan countries will be members of the EU so their cooperation is rather crucial. The present state of cinema in Sofia is rather grim. I believe that the promotion of Balkan cinema needs better distribution in television and in the DVD format”, said Mr. Kitanov. The co-productions Silkroak Production producer, Behrooz Hashemian, spoke about an unpleasant experience he had collaborating with a producer from Greece. “The film was shot but I still can’t find my co-producer who disappeared with the money. I spoke with the Greek Film Centre but I have yet to receive an answer”, he said.
Triptych Media producer, Anna Stratton, is an avid fan of international co-productions, noting, however, that an agreement had been made in 1997 between Greece and Canada that has still to be fulfilled to this day. “Perhaps co-productions cost more but they are more easily distributed in the market”, said Mrs. Stratton.
Producer and member of SAPOE, Dionisis Samiotis, mentioned that having cooperated with Balkan directors has led him to discover the links between Balkan people. “We share common roots and a common culture. Perhaps we could use some more institutions like the Balkan Fund, however we need to cooperate and enrich whatever initiatives are taken. As a matter of fact, we had asked for the establishment of a unit in Thessaloniki, responsible for the distribution of Balkan films and for information on the Balkan Films industry but nothing has happened to this day”, said Mr. Samiotis.
According to him, the promotion and distribution of Balkan Films in larger markets is a very important issue, something that can be achieved with the cooperation of England, France and Germany. “For example, in Greece there is not even one company dealing with the sale of Greek films in the European market”, stated Mr. Samiotis. Furthermore, he mentioned that in order to promote films, certain pressure must be put on governments till they realise that promoting culture depends strongly on audiovisual media and especially television, through which films can be screened. “I consider co-productions very important. Someone is engaged with writing the screenplay while someone else deals with securing the financial support. What Balkan industry lacks is marketing, i.e. ways to promote our product”.
