OPENING OF
THE BALKAN FUND
FOR SCRIPT DEVELOPMENT
TIFF director Despina Mouzaki and director Luc Dardenne announced today, November 15th at the Photography Museum the inauguration of this year’s Balkan Fund proceedings. A part of Industry Center, the Balkan Fund is taking place for the 6th year in the row and it will be completed in three days, on November 17th.
‘BALKAN FUND represents TIFF’s innovative spirit. I would like to thank its art -director Mrs. Christina Kallas for her determinative contribution to the institution’s success’, quoted Mrs. Despina Mouzaki, after welcoming the Jury and the audience.
Mr. Luc Dardenne underlined the importance of a good script. ‘The screenwriter is like an architect who must pay attention to the construction rules before building a house. The script and the direction of a film should share the same spirit and atmosphere. This is why, according to my opinion, the selection of the screenwriter is as important as the selection of the director. It is my belief that there are no rules in the writing of a script. French screenwriters do not follow the same methods as the Anglo – Saxons; there is no specific formula’, claimed the Belgian auteur. Regarding his collaboration with his brother Jean – Pierre, he mentioned: ‘We exchange ideas as if we were writing letters to a friend’.
Mrs. Christina Kallas stretched the Workshop’s role in the emergence of new talents in screenwriting. ‘Since 2003, the Balkan Fund’s main aim has been the promotion of Balkan screenwriters’, she said and she numbered the scripts which have received awards in the past years.
She also announced the 11 selected scripts, coming from 8 different countries, which will be presented to the jury by their screenwriters, directors and producers. Each presentation, followed by a discussion among the jury and the screenwriters, will last 45 minutes. After the completion of the procedure, 4 selected scripts will be awarded with the amount of 10.000 Euros. The Awards ceremony will be held on Monday, November 17th, at 20.00 at Pavlos Zannas Theater.
The jury consists of Milcho Manchevski, Razvan Radulescu, Simon Perry, Richard Kwietniowski and Mrs. Christina Kallas herself.
