OPENING OF SALONICA STUDIO / FOUR CORNERS
EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVE
The inauguration of this year’s educational initiative ‘Salonica Studio/Four Corners’ proceedings took place on Wednesday, November 19th at the Museum of Photography. It is the third year that the initiative is hosted at TIFF’s Industry Centre, in collaboration with the Film Department of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki’s School of Fine Arts.
Salonica Studio’s success led to its further expansion and internationalization, and resulted in the creation of the new European program ‘Four Corners’. Four Corners is funded and supported by MEDIA with the participation of three major cinema schools: The Film Department of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, the Bournemouth Screen Academy & Skillset from the UK and the ESCAC (Escuela Superior de Cine y Audiovisuales de Cataluna) from Spain. This new program started in Barcelona on March 2008, continued its course in Bournemouth in June and will come to an end this November at TIFF.
Athena Kartalou, consultant of TIFF’s educational and training programs and in charge of its publications, welcomed the participants on behalf of TIFF director Despina Mouzaki, and said: ‘I hope this last phase of the Four Corners program, a long trip which began in Barcelona, continued in Bournemouth and is ending here, will prove to be a fruitful one’.
The president of the Film Department of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Nikos Tsinikas thanked everyone for their help and expressed his hope that this year’s Four Corners program will be a productive one for all participants.
Renate Roginas, the Program’s Head of Studies, said addressing the students: ‘This new meeting seems like a family get-together. It is our last workshop together, but I hope that you will find your own place within the film world and that we will meet in the future under different circumstances. Four Corners gives you the unique opportunity to meet renowned cinema professionals, establish new relationships and learn from them’.
The details of the three-day program were introduced by its co-ordinator, Themis Valeni. During the program, film students that focus on production will have the chance to work on scripts in small teams, attend seminars and obtain knowledge in their field of expertise.
28 students from 6 different countries participate in the Four Corners program, including students from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Bournemouth Screen Academy & Skillset, the ESCAC, Germany’s Filmakademie Baden-Wurttemberg in Ludwigsburg, Romania’s National University for Theatre and Film in Bucharest and Finland’s School of Motion Picture, Helsinki.
Industry Center’s actions are supported by the Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Macedonia-Thrace.
The Four Corners/Salonica Studio is supported by MEDIA.
