News

Celebrating its 20^th anniversary, the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival looks back at its first edition in 1999, seeking the filmmakers and heroes of two documentaries screened at the 1^st TDF, to find out what they did in the two decades that followed. In the context of this anniversary initiative, Nikos Grammatikos’ Nightflowers (1998) was screened on Friday March 9 2018 at Pavlos Zannas theatre, as part of the 20^th TDF, in the presence of the film director and protagonist, Manolis Diamantidis.

Before the beginning of the screening, the director of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival Orestis Andreadakis warmly welcomed the two guests, noting: "Twenty years ago, when the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival began, a very sweet film by Nikos Grammatikos titled Nightflowers was presented. The protagonist was a 12-year-old boy, Manolis Diamantidis. It is a great pleasure to welcome them both today, after such a long time”.

Immediately after, Nikos Grammatikos, who was moved by the opportunity to meet some of his dear friends on the occasion of the screening, made special mention to Menelaos Tsaousis, mobility trainer and director of the Center for Education & Rehabilitation for the Blind (CERB), without the help of whom the documentary wouldn’t have been shot. Subsequently, the film’s protagonist Manolis Diamantidis thanked the audience for attending the event.

After the film’s screening, a discussion with the audience took place. Nikos Grammatikos spoke about how the original idea behind the documentary was born, underlining: "We have to go a long way back in November 1996, when I left Thessaloniki happy and satisfied as my film Truants/ Apontes had been awarded in the Thessaloniki IFF event that year. A few days later, I watched a news report on Seven-X television channel –which is no longer broadcasting- about the education of children who are born blind. It touched me deeply, I was literally shuddered by this; I must tell you that I'm terrified of the dark, it's probably something like the fear of a blind filmmaker like the one in Woody Allen's film Hollywood Ending, said the director.

The filmmaker went on to add that he contacted Menelaos Tsaousis and began filming the daily routine of the children of the CERB, resulting in having a total of 70 hours of material. "I then spoke with the actor Vangelis Mourikis, with whom we often work together, and we decided to turn this material into a film. Honestly, I do not know if we have recorded the best moments in the documentary, but what we had decided from the beginning was to focus on a particular person, and that was Manolis Diamantidis. I don’t think that Nightflowers is a film about blind children, but a film about how we overcome the difficulties and obstacles in life, obtaining strength from both our own resources as well as the help we get from the people around us. This is also the meaning behind the film’s last scene, in which Manolis climbs on the door fence of the CERB premises”, said the director.

On his part, the documentary’s protagonist Manolis Diamantidis, after saying that filming was a wonderful experience, despite having endured enough, was asked whether it is preferable for a blind child to join a school environment with children who don’t have vision problems or prefer a specialized school for children with vision problems. "I think that when you are part of an environment with people without such problems, you have to meet new people, face new situations, find ways to solve some new issues, which altogether will prove useful for you in the future. On the other hand, this is a very painful process, so it also depends on how each person handles the obstacles and difficulties they encounter, "he explained.

Nikos Grammatikos took the floor right after, stating that he refuses to deal with the children who are born blind as handicapped people. "Honestly, I think there is nothing these children can not cope with; one can even become the country’s Prime Minister. The difficulties faced by these children arise to a great extent from the obstacles posed by a society that has been made by people who see for people who see as well. As I have already said, this is essentially the subject of the film; the overcoming of difficulties and obstacles in life”, said the director.

Closing the conversation, Menelaos Tsaousis warmly thanked Nikos Grammatikos not only for making this documentary, but also for all the painstaking work he had done before finishing the film. "People need to know that Nikos Grammatikos first made sure he spent approximately two whole years with the children of CERB, in order to gain their trust and immerse into their world. This documentary travelled to many international festivals, was screened on the Greek television and enabled many people, especially children without visual impairments, to familiarize with the world of blind children and get to know better their potential and needs. Right now, we are trying to open up to the society, because I think we have to move from the stage of awareness to the stage of taking action. Our big goal at the moment is to increase the number of guide dogs and I hope you will soon see many of them in the streets of Thessaloniki”, he concluded.

Celebrating its 20th anniversary, the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival looks back at its first edition in 1999, seeking the makers and heroes of two films screened at the 1^st TDF, to find out what they did in the two decades that followed. In the context of this anniversary initiative, Fatima Jebli Ouazzani’s documentary In my Father’s House was screened on Thursday March 8 2018 at Pavlos Zannas theater, as part of the 20th TDF, in the presence of the film director.

The film In my Father’s House, which had premiered in the 1^st TDF, is about the position of women in Moroccan society seen through the film director’s personal history and her refusing to accept an oppressive marriage, as well as through the story of another woman, Naima, who chose a different path. The film touches upon subjects such as virginity in Islamic tradition, the husband and father dominance and inequality between women and men.    

In the discussion with the audience following the screening, the director talked about the experience of watching her film two decades after it was presented for the first time at the festival. She did not hide her frustration at seeing so few things having changed since, as to the role of women in Islamic tradition: “I was hoping that women’s role would change for the better after the Arab Spring, that some steps towards equality would be made. Not only such a thing did not happen, but things got worse in Egypt and Libya. The only Arab country where women and men are equal before the law is Tunisia. In all the other countries, men are women’s ‘patrons’. I understand that traditions are very difficult to change, they stick with girls since early ages. This becomes clear in the film. But the law can and needs to be changed. And I want to be alive when this happens. Besides, that’s the reason why I made this documentary. To help change things.”

The film director also spoke about the difficult relation with her father, which she deals with in the film, noting: “I chose to live my own life because I believe my body belongs to me. It belongs to me, not my husband, not my brother, not any master. But I missed my father. I couldn’t close that door. I had migraines, depression because of that. So I decided to face my demons and move on making the film. You could say that the film was the ‘excuse’ for me to approach my father. Of course, I was determined to make the documentary whether my father would, or would not agree to see me. In case he would not agree, I would show this too in the film”.

In an attempt such as this documentary, dealing with such an experiential, autobiographical material on a sensitive topic which is taboo for some communities, obstacles or difficulties are inevitable. “I wanted to make a film on the tradition of virginity, and of course I did not want to get married following this tradition. But all the stories of my family, either my mother’s or mine when I was a kid and started to figure out what virginity means, had happened in the past. So in order to recount those real facts I needed the actors and the dramatization I used in the film, to visualize the narrative. The story of the young Naima, who we see in the film choosing to follow the virginity tradition and getting married like this, is real and not dramatized. She is still married to her husband and they have two kids. The most difficult was finding a character like hers, who would give me the permission to film her story and marriage. It took me two years to find her”, the film director noted.

Another issue that deeply touches the filmmaker is immigration, since she moved to the Netherlands with her family when she was seven years old, and she lives there ever since. “I’m an immigrant, that’s why I have been able to change my life. I went from Morocco to the Netherlands and it only took a generation for things to change, for a Moroccan woman to be able to leave her home without being married and to make relevant documentaries”, the film director stressed. And added: “I believe EU does not treat Greece and Italy as it should, though these countries are dealing with the biggest immigration problem.  Poverty is what makes things explosive and worsens the situation. I can’t say I agree with this, but that’s the way things are. I believe you Greeks must fight, demand a change of things, first from your politicians. The film director concluded: “Coming from Amsterdam, I was hearing Greeks all around the plane. Many Greek families were going home. And I felt I was one of these people who left their country to go to the Netherlands, an immigrant among immigrants”.

The film has never been screened in any Islamic country, but the director hopes that this will change this summer. “In 1998, the film was awarded the National Prize in Casablanca and I found two distributors for its screening in Morocco. But my producer, who had the exclusive rights for distribution, did not want to proceed with this, because he was afraid the copy could be stolen. He had a similar experience in Russia and did not want to lose money. Perhaps this year, after 20 years, I will be able to go to Morocco in summer an organize a screening. I will do everything I can to make that happen”, the film director noted.

For the first time the Moving Docs conference takes place during the Doc Market of the 20^th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, from Thursday March 8 to Saturday March 10, 2018, at Warehouse C and “Takis Kanellopoulos” theatre, both located at the port of Thessaloniki. With 19 partners across Europe, Moving Docs enables a selection of the best European documentaries to cross borders and reach new audiences in over 20 territories.

Moving Docs workshop’s first day included three presentations. Cecilie Bolvinkel, EDN Network and Partnerships Manager for Moving Docs, welcomed the participants and afterwards Andrea Arvidsson and Maja Lindquist, Co-directors of Doc Lounge, a company based in Malme, Sweden, and specialized both in Scandinavian film distribution and the organization of parallel marketing events spoke, highlighting the following main points:

• The key idea is to expand the content available to the viewer-consumer (subjects diversification, guests enriching the main subject of the respective documentary, parallel artistic events).
• Developing partnerships is a crucial element to success (academic institutions, NGOs, citizen organizations, institutions with specific scope of action).
• Besides the marketing of the respective documentary, it is equally crucial to build an original brand name.
• An ideal way to sidestep spacing limitations is to organize screenings and events through live streaming, which gives access to areas with no cinema venues.
• Doc Lounge also provides services such as holding and organizing tailored events (small-scale conferences for companies, gaming events).
• Innovative ideas, such as event organizing in venues not directly linked with cinema and documentary can rapidly boost the positive impact (e.g. Doc Lounge organized screenings of the documentary MonaLisa Story in the six women’s prisons of Sweden).
• Organizing screenings for children under 18 may activate an untapped target group.

Consequently, Ben Kempas, the mastermind behind Film & Campaign, a company based in Edinburgh which specializes in organizing marketing campaigns, mainly for documentaries, stressed the following:

• The public can function not only as an ambassador of a documentary’s value, but as an organizer of screenings and events, through special platforms.
• Video on Demand can fulfill additional special purposes (training, collection of donations, event organizing).
• Another platform worth mentioning is the “pay it forward” scheme, where some viewers can watch a documentary whose screening is paid by others, and then be asked to do the same for new audience.
• An idea carrying many advantages is the ability to watch a documentary at home; this could become available to a multitude of viewers, through streaming at a common hour.
• A documentary’s impact crystallizes in five axes: recognition - change of mood and attitude - change of external behavior - adoption of new daily routines - building of “communities” for common action and thinking.
• Drawing a marketing schedule long before the documentary’s release can prove of key importance.

Subsequently, the workshop participants split into three working groups, each one focusing on a particular case study, the core subject being the documentaries Over the Limit, Golden Dawn Girls and Silvana respectively, all of which are screened in the 20^th TDF. The working group with Marta Prus’ documentary Over the Limit, focusing on the life of the Russian rhythmic gymnastics athlete Margarita Mamun, was moderated by Johanna Solecka, head of Facebook marketing for several international festivals, and ended up to the following conclusions: a) this particular documentary’s anticipated audience mainly consists of athletes, sports enthusiasts, parents (especially with children involved in sports) and psychologists, b) the institutions one could possibly seek a cooperation formula with, in order to promote the particular documentary, are schools, sporting equipment companies, makeup and women’s makeup companies, fitness centers and other organized sports venues, the various Olympic medalists associations, c) summing up, the additional actions which could assist with promoting the particular documentary are the direct involvement of the person shown, the reference to the film director’s personal story, since she was seriously involved with rhythmic gymnastics up until the age of 15, having guests coming from the particular field in the various marketing events, as well as a rich accompanying material in the form of videos and/or pictures. 

At the end of the brainstorming procedure, Amilie Leenahardt, Head of ARTE, said that this documentary will premiere on October 2018 in French and German TV, during the prime time zone, while in ARTE’s platform it will be released in four more language versions: English, Italian, Spanish, Polish. The discussion ended with the moderator, Mrs Solecka, stressing the importance of creating a main page on Facebook to reach a global audience, apart of individual pages in each country where the respective documentary will be released, while she explained that the promoting videos on Facebook should not come from YouTube, since in that case the Facebook algorithm would “eradicate” them.

The third and last presentation of the first day of Moving Docs Workshop was hosted by Ben Johnson, CEO at Gruvi, a technology media company that helps entertainment businesses reach and engage online audiences. Mr Johnson shared valuable insights that can help with digital film marketing, and spoke about the ability to reach and communicate with the audience, as well as the new marketing tools and practices. More information on this presentation can also be found here: http://www.filmfestival.gr/en/professionals-b2b-tdf/press/news-press-en/26536-20th-tdf-edn-docs-in-thessaloniki-masterclass-how-to-reach-and-build-an-audience

The 20^th anniversary edition of the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival’s Doc Market award ceremony (Docs in Progress section) took place on Wednesday March 7 2018 in Warehouse C, in a friendly, relaxed atmosphere, with filmmakers exchanging views and personal stories.

The General Director of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival Elise Jalladeau opened the event, while the Head of the Agora, Yianna Sarri, welcomed the attendants. Docs in Progress were hosted for a seventh year in a row in TDF’s Doc Market section. This year ten films from Eastern Europe, the Balkans and the Mediterranean were presented to the producers, sales agents, distributors and festival representatives who attend the 20^th TDF.

This year’s international Docs in Progress jury consisted of Laia Abuia (Distribution Manager, DocsBarcelona, Spain), Charlotte Madsen (Buyer, SVT, Sweden) and Takis Veremis (Distributor, StraDA Films, Greece).

The first prize for post-production services, amounting to 15,000 euros, was granted by the Greek post-production company 2|35 Inc to the film Seeds of Columbus directed by Marianna Economou – Greece (Production: Stefi/Lynx Productions, Spyros Mavrogenis, Co-production: Rea Apostolides - Anemon Productions). “I warmly thank the Festival; everything I know about documentary I learned it here in Thessaloniki” said the film director.

The second MuSou prize in sound and music services, amounting up to 6,500 euros, was granted to the film Staring at the Sun directed by Atieh Attarzadeh and Hesam Eslami – France, Iran (Production: Etienne de Ricaud, Caractères Productions, Co-production: Hesam Eslami, Atieh Attarzadeh). “I will inform the film’s directors, I’m sure they will be thrilled with the news. We thank the TDF and the jury”, said the film’s producer. Also, the jury awarded special mention to the film Gentle Warriors directed by Marija Stonyte – Lithuania, Esthonia (Production: Giedre Zickyte, Moonmakers, Co-production: Riho Vastrik).

Consequently, the Greek Film Centre’s Hellas Film Promotion director Kostas Aivaliotis presented the new award, amounting to 3,000 euros, which was offered by the Greek Film Centre as a gesture of support to the 20^th anniversary edition of the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival and the Doc Market. The award was offered to the film Tiny Souls directed by Dina Naser – Jordan, Lebanon, Qatar, The Netherlands, France (Production: Dina Naser and Ruba Ghazi Hannun - Mad Moshawash, Co-production:  Khaled Haddad - Jordan Prioneers, Palmyre Badinier- Urban Factory). The director warmly thanked the Festival for the opportunity to participate in Docs in Progress.

How do you reach and build an audience in the early stages of a film production? How do you draw and execute the appropriate marketing strategies for a film promotion? In an effort to answer these and many other questions, the EDN Docs In Thessaloniki Masterclass entitled “How to find and approach your audience” took place on Tuesday March 6 2018 in “Pavlos Zannas” Theater, as part of the 20th anniversary edition of the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival. 

This masterclass forms part of Docs in Thessaloniki Pitching Forum 2018, co-organized by EDN - European Documentary Network and the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, and supported by the MEDIA Creative Europe program. EDN, the leading European organization for professionals working with documentary films and TV from around the world, supports and builds networks for the production of documentaries in Europe and has a long and vigorous presence in the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, in close collaboration with the festival’s Doc Market. For yet another time in the 20^th TDF, EDN attracts film professionals, as well as some of the most renowned TV networks worldwide, such as Al Jazeera, ARTE, HBO Europe, SBS Australia and Films Transit, who participate in its events this year.  

The masterclass presenter was Ben Johnson, CEO at Gruvi, a technology media company that helps entertainment businesses reach and engage online audiences. Mr Johnson shared valuable insights that can help film professionals with digital film marketing, and spoke about the ability to reach and communicate with the audience, as well as the new marketing tools and practices.

A valuable guide in Q&A:

What is not taken into consideration by the modern film industry?

• Above all, the fact that the audience willing to watch movies in theaters is experiencing the attention deficit and the lack of free time that are typical of our times.
• The overabundance of available options, since a very large number of films are being released each week, which means that some films are pulled from theaters before people can really make the decision to go and watch them.
• The fact that we witness a large deviation between the decreasing number of tickets and the non-decreasing prices.
• The extremely complex and long chain intervening between the filmmaker and the audience, with many interim phases and many intermediaries who, though aiming to satisfy the audience, are unaware of its likes and dislikes.

Which are the facts that we should examine thoroughly in order to get a clearer view of the modern scenery as to which films make it to the theaters, but also to home entertainment industry?

• We have to study properly and assisted by scientific tools the psychology of the consumer, who has nothing to do with the traditional cinema regulars of past decades.
• Piracy remains a plague, though downloading has receded worldwide thanks to the rapid rise of live streaming. Piracy counts on the fact that there are long intervals between the first announcement of an upcoming film and its release in theaters. The numbers are so discouraging that even if a mere 10% of those who resort to piracy came back, the landscape would change radically.
• The excellent ratings given to well-made TV series, in comparison to the very low ones that Hollywood blockbusters receive by Internet users, show that, even in our times, a solid plot and a satisfactory dramaturgy can attract mass audience.
• Hollywood seems to have run out of script ideas, since the percentage of sequels and remakes remains impressively high during the last decade.
• New powerful players prevail since, besides Netflix’s blistering rise in the last three years, Amazon, Hulu and Apple are set to seize a growing market share.
• Big studios are confused as to the traditional distribution procedure and the profit potential it offers. A typical example is Alex Garland’s recent film Annihilation, which Paramount basically got rid of, conceding its distribution to Netflix, though its strong cast and high budget.

What do filmmakers have to focus on to differentiate themselves from distribution companies?

• They have to move away from the mentality of a two-week marketing campaign, which is more or less the time of films release, and keep in mind that they have to start the whole procedure, or at least make some trial tests on where and how they need to focus, a lot sooner.
• It is useful to remember that, while the decision to go to the movies is more or less spontaneous, the selection of the film to watch is a product of preparation and “scanning” among various potential films.
• It is necessary to keep in mind that the main attraction for a platform to accept buying a film is not what exactly they have made, but why they chose to make it in a specific way; the rationale behind the work itself, which consists its “charter”.
• Their film, as well as its promotion, has to prompt an immediate emotional and intellectual involvement on behalf or the viewer, focusing on five axes: The sense of availability and accessibility in a tangible and subconscious level, the sense of permanence that the first positive impressions must prompt, the underlining of all assets the work possesses, the sense of coherence between the film and its promotion, and finally the careful and thorough “framing” of the target audience.
• The abandonment of the false stereotype that successful films are “films for all”, since rather the opposite is true: they have to be very well aware whom their film is aimed at, at least in the initial phase.
• The necessity to move away from the target group of avid moviegoers and their trained audience and approach the much more crowded groups of people who interact with the trained audience and those who affect mass and popular culture.
• The detailed and systematic defining of the target group, the use of specialized demographic filters, as well as methods for analyzing and calculating this target group. Example: The audience calculator method used by Gruvi company.
• The simultaneous trial of some basic assumptions, based on which the respective strategy will be drawn. The less successful assumptions must be abandoned immediately, while the most successful ones must become the keystone for the film’s promotion. Case Study: Promotion of the film Iron Lady in Scandinavia. Initial assumptions as to the main target group: Female emancipation / comparisons to great female politicians in Scandinavia / audience who admire the leading character, Meryl Streep (which was proved the most successful assumption).

What is the role of the creative part in the whole promotion procedure?

• It is equally important as the successful audience targeting. As to the initial visual stimulus, we must remember that: a) the first impression of a site must be created within 90 seconds, b) each image has to have a positive effect to the eye in less than 2 seconds (1.8, to be precise), c) it is necessary to provide in advance a big volume of available accompanying pictures, so that the promotion campaign switches “covers” constantly, invigorating the audience’s interest, d) the pictures with positive effect in a country may have zero effect in another part of the world, e) there must be an analogy between the means selected (image, picture, video), the source audience and the platform through which the film is promoted.
• The main picture for promoting the film must include bright faces in high resolution.
• The duration of each accompanying video must not be particularly long, since it is proven that the audience is nowadays rejecting anything they consider time-consuming and wordy.