START OF PROCEEDINGS OF THE BALKAN FUND FOR SCRIPT DEVELOPMENT

 

 

 

 

The proceedings of the Balkan Fund began today with a large attendance at Warehouse 8 of the Port of Thessaloniki. Attending the opening were the Director of the Festival, Mrs. Despina Mouzaki and the Artistic Director of the Fund, Mrs. Christina Kallas-Kalogeropoulou.

 

Mrs. Mouzaki welcomed the Jury, the guests and the those attending the opening of the Balkan Fund, in a “typical Angelopoulos day”, as she said, and stressed the importance of the Fund in the international Thessaloniki Film Festival. “In the last five years, the Balkan Fund Script Development workshop has continued its successful course with the participation of many films from the broader region of the Balkans, many interesting scripts which the Festival is proud to present. This is the reason behind the Fund’s success”, she added. Mrs. Mouzaki thanked Artistic Director Mrs. Christina Kallas-Kalogeropoulou and her team for their outstanding work and whished good luck to all of the participants.

 

The Balkan Fund’s Artistic Director, Christina Kallas-Kalogeropoulou described the operation of the three-day workshop on November 17-19, mentioning the particular difficulty in selecting the films. The international jury will study the pre-selected scripts, which are presented by their directors and producers in “open jury sessions” during the workshop. Each presentation lasts for 45 minutes. “This way we are able to achieve a close relationship between the participants and the Jury”, said Mrs. Kalogeropoulou and continued: “As in previous years, besides being an important institution in the Film Festival, the 3-day workshop also has an emotional value. It’s like the reunion of a family, since often, close relationships between the participants are formed during these three days”.

 

Next, the Artistic Director of the Balkan Fund presented the members of the workshop’s jury which are four as opposed to five as was initially planned. The jury is comprised of Lenny Crooks, Tudor Giurgiu, Richard Kwietniowski and Mrs. Kallas-Kalogeropoulou, with Mr. Roman Paul missing this year’s workshop due to illness. In a message sent by Mr. Paul, the fifth member of the jury mentioned being sad to miss this year’s Balkan Fund and said that everyone should be proud of the work they have done. He sent his best wishes to the participants, adding that when leaving from Thessaloniki, they should leave with a feeling of having done their job well.

 

Please note that the award presentation ceremony which was programmed for Monday, November 19^th for 20:30, will take place half an hour later, at 20:00.