The 20th anniversary edition of the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival hosts a special tribute to the legendary auteur Agnès Varda, with 10 of her most compelling documentaries, including her latest work Faces Places that will be the opening film of the 20th TDF.

The new festival logo, originated from the Vergina Sun like the former one, gains movement and this makes it more extrovert. It becomes a more organic, brighter, sharper and flexible symbol that evokes the camera shutter. The words and typography now play an active and decisive role in the composition of the logo, as the position of the letters defines a rectangular shape that refers to a cinematic frame. These two elements, the light and the frame, are combined to highlight and embrace what has value; views, stories, fiction, lies, love, violence, seas, titles, films, everything.

The Thessaloniki International Film Festival is pleased to launch collaboration with the 47^th International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), hosting the IFFR Live event for the first time in Thessaloniki, Greece, from Friday 26 January to Sunday 28 January, 2018, at TIFF’s Stavros Tornes theatre (Warehouse 1, Thessaloniki Port).

A multifaceted artist who fully embodies the term “independent filmmaker”, American director, writer and producer Sara Driver is given a carte blanche in the 20^th anniversary edition of the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival to select some of her favorite films that will be presented in this year's event.

The Thessaloniki Documentary Festival celebrates the fascinating art of documentary in its 20^th anniversary edition that will take place March 2-11, 2018.

We invite you to experience reality like never before with documentaries from all over the world, special tributes, important guests, sidebar events and many film surprises that highlight our devotion in actively promoting the documentary genre for the past two decades.

THESSALONIKI INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

EUFORIA II Program 2016-2017 (Creative Europe-Media) is completed

Students make short documentaries about the refugee issue:

Screenings & Awards

The Thessaloniki International Film Festival, main administrator of the European educational program EUFORIA (Creative Europe-MEDIA), is happy to announce that the second edition of the project (EUFORIA 2016-2017) is successfully completed with its last phase: the EUFORIA Student Digital Short, a special school students’ documentary screenings and awards event held on Saturday, November 25, 2017 at TIFF’s packed Stavros Tornes theatre (Warehouse 1, Thessaloniki Port, Greece).

In the framework of the EUFORIA Student Digital Short project, 200 secondary education students from Greece, Hungary and Poland worked in 24 groups and filmed 24 short documentaries that highlighted this year’s topic "Forced Displacement”, depicting their thoughts and feelings about migration and refugees.

Regarding the groups, 10 out of 24 came from Greece, 8 from Poland and 6 from Hungary. It is worth noting that the groups from Greece consisted of students from Greek schools, as well as children refugees who attend schools in Greece. The documentaries that were jointly created by these groups were the result of excellent collaboration and interaction that was developed between them.

Following the films screenings, which were warmly applauded by the audience, the jury bestowed the awards.

The jury consisted of:

-Malgorzata Jakubowska, professor in the Department of Audiovisual Culture and Medias, University of Lodz (Poland)

-Ferenc Biro, educational expert (Hungary)

-Lina Mylonaki, journalist, film historian, Phd in Film Studies, AUTH

The awards of the EUFORIA II Student Digital Short are the following:

Jury Award (Greece):

The award was bestowed ex aequo to the documentaries:

Athinaios Metoikos (1^st High School of Aghia Paraskevi, Αthens)

The jury’s rationale: “the documentary highlights the ways of how refugees can be successfully integrated in modern European societies through the story of a political refugee. His portrait reveals a character who is so friendly and sapient in his relation with the students, so authentic and welcoming; a personality that we can remember after the end of the film”.

Yesterday’s Foreigners, Today’s Friends (2^nd High School of Chalkidona, Thessaloniki)

The jury’s rationale: “a deeply emotional story that transfixes the audience with the passion of its characters, mainly through the story of a young Syrian refugee and his forceful attempts to integrate in the local community of a Greek village”.

Jury Award (Poland):

Asma (General Secondary School no 2 Łódź, Poland)

The jury’s rationale: “an authentic and emotional story with a clear sense of shape and purpose, which succeeds in growing empathy to the viewers towards the refugee issue”.

Jury Award (Hungary):

From a Foreigner’s Point of View (Szent László Gimnázium, Hungary)

The jury’s rationale: “the film’s plot line is successfully developed, revealing an intriguing story about tolerance and respect for strangers, which is personified in the narration of its protagonist; an Indian immigrant living in Budapest”.

In addition, taking into account the unique skills and features of each film group, the EUFORIA II educational team took the initiative to present a series of honorable awards:

Best Artistic Achievement Award

Suppliants of Yesterday, Today's Supplicants
(2^nd Junior High School of Ilioupoli, Athens) 

Best Film Memory Award

Refugee in my Homeland
(1^st Junior High School of Lagada, Thessaloniki)

Best Film Research Award

Destination Sapes

(Intercultural Junior High School of Sapes, Komotini)

Best Film Alliance Award

Sonder

(16^th High School of Thessaloniki, in collaboration with the Information and Documentation Centre on racism, ecology and non violence “Antigone”).

Best Film Gastronomy Award

Briyianni with Greek Salad

(Vasileiadis School in collaboration with the Shelter for Unaccompanied Minors Arsis, Oraiokastro - Thessaloniki)

Best Innovative Script Award

It’s all Greek to Me

(Accommodation Centre for Unaccompanied Minors Iliaktida, Mytilene)

Best Film Innovation Award

Mytopia

(Evening High School of Mytilene)

Best Film Award

Friendship’s Experiments

(1^st Junior High School – Refugee Accommodation Center Softex, Kordelio – Thessaloniki)

EUFORIA (European Films for Innovative Audience Development) is an innovative Film Education project designed to support the idea of film in school, focusing on Secondary Education and offering a variety of benefits for Film Education in European countries. The Thessaloniki International Film Festival is the main administrator of the EUFORIA project, responsible for the organization, coordination and supervision of the program’s common activities applied by the Cinema Museum of Thessaloniki (TIFF’s educational institution), the University of Spoleczna Akademia Nauk – San in Poland and the cultural organization Laterna Magica Kulturális és Oktatási Szolgáltató Kft in Hungary.  

In a warm atmosphere, the curtain fell on the 58^th Thessaloniki International Film Festival with the awards ceremony on Sunday November 12, 2017 at a packed Olympion theatre. 

The evening started with a small twist: TIFF director Orestis Andreadakis took the stage to present the event, but was humorously “replaced” by Andreas Konstantinou, the protagonist of Pantelis Voulgaris’ new film The Last Note, who became presenter.

Well-established film industry professionals shared valuable practical advice and guidelines with young producers and film directors in Agora/Industry Training Day, which took place in collaboration with CED Media Greece, on Tuesday November 7, 2017, at Warehouse C, as part of the 58th Thessaloniki International Film Festival.

At the first part of the action entitled “how to introduce yourself and your project”, Vicky Miha (Heretic Asterisk Film and Media Consulting) and Satu Elo, programme manager of the network EAVE (European Audiovisual Entrepreneurs) shared their experiences.

What kind of impression do I have to make?
Be professional, avoid unnecessary repetitions and try to showcase your project’s comparative advantages.
It goes without saying that you have to be perfectly fluent in English, both spoken and written.
Implement SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) as a strategic planning tool, in order to detect the strengths and weaknesses of your approach. As to the latter, do not hesitate to mention them explicitly.

How can I make good impression at my project presentation?
- Avoid vagueness and generality, e.g. with phrases such as “took part in many festivals”. If you refer to previous films by the same film director which are not distributed abroad, present them with a legitimate English title. Finally, if a distinguished personality took part in the project you are presenting, be sure to mention them.

What my approach should be regarding the film budget and funding?
Create a realistic budget plan and define with accuracy all amounts of money and contingency fees included / expected.
Seek information about previous projects that were funded by the particular program (e.g. if other projects from Greece have been funded recently, the possibilities automatically decrease).

At the second part of Training Day, entitled "bridging the gender gap in European film industry”, Alessia Sonaglioni (EWA - European Women’s Audiovisual Network Head), cited statistics on gender inequalities in European film industry.

EWA network produced a two-year study across seven European countries (Austria, Croatia, Italy, France, Germany, United Kingdom, and Sweden). The most encouraging results are observed in the field of academic education, while proportions are discouraging in women working in the film industry and the funding to female directors and producers.

EWA network actions and initiatives
EWA network has been engaged to a series of actions and initiatives, with the aim of making the problem clear and known to all participants in the film industry, regardless of gender:
The creation of a Scriptwriter Residency, where female scriptwriters are offered guidance on scriptwriting.
The “EWA Mentoring Programme for Female Producers” offers a one-on-one 12-month close cooperation and interaction.
A series of awards given to female producers (Mentoring Emerging Women Producers), for works in progress, as part of various European festivals such as Dok Leipzig, WEMW Trieste, FEST’s Fest Forward section.

In the third part of Training Day, entitled “online distribution, Netflix and other cases”, it was the turn of Guillaume de Seille and Weerada Suchariktul, representatives of production company Arizona Films and the video on demand platform Filmdoo respectively.

What do I have to know about distribution today?
In present conditions, it is extremely difficult for a non-English speaking film to find distributors abroad. The potential buyer must spend a lot of money, which they will not get back even if the film sells 10,000 or 20,000 tickets. The film buyers are now counting on the royalties for television airings or the DVD release. In both cases, though, numbers are falling, especially in DVD case. The new tendency are video-on-demand platforms, where either you pay a fee for each film you choose to watch or you pay per month to have full access to the platform’s list of movies.

What do I need to pay attention to when making a decision on my film’s distribution?
You must always be fully aware of all time and legal limitations each country imposes to film distribution.
Pay attention to issues such as the attentiveness and the special care your film will treated with by the given platform. This care is anything between quality accompanying material (e.g. editorials, interviews, high-class subtitles) and drawing a comprehensive marketing strategy. Define with accuracy your audience and try to preserve the loyalties for as long as possible.
Be sure to be present in the international festival network and always keep in mind that highest offers come during the following four festivals: Cannes, Berlin, Sundance and Toronto.

In the fourth and last part of Training Day the case study of the Roman film Charleston by Andrei Cretulescu was presented, after being awarded in Agora/Industry Works in Progress section of last year’s 57th TIFF and screened this year in “Balkan survey” section.

What are the obstacles involved and what are the problems solved in a co-production?
- In general, co-production resolves problems. One of the things decided in common was hiring a sales agent for the film’s promotion. If you won’t be able to find a co-producer for more than two years, though, maybe it is wiser to quit the idea, since you will have distanced yourself largely from the project. What we certainly understood is that meeting with companies representatives, taking part in festivals’ market sections, attending to workshops, seminars etc is never a bad idea. Even if nothing concrete occurs, thoughts and ideas you can hear in there may some time help. Of course, we should make clear that we would never accept something bigger and more participatory than a triple co-production. Ultimately, it is a sine qua non making sure that the director gets the final cut privilege for the film.