52ND THESSALONIKI INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
November 4 –13 2011
AGORA / MARKET
PRESS RELEASE
17 projects at the 7th CROSSROADS CO-PRODUCTION FORUM
10 films in WORKS IN PROGRESS
250 international titles in the FILM MARKET
THESSALONIKI AGORA / MARKET (November 5-12, 2011) is an industry event offering many ideal networking opportunities for the global film industry in a hospitable, relaxed and professional atmosphere.
THESSALONIKI AGORA / MARKET runs parallel to the Thessaloniki International Film Festival as an international meeting and trading umbrella and offers to its visiting industry professionals a variety of industry activities:
• Crossroads – TIFF Co-Production Forum (November 8-12)
• Works in Progress - Screening of films in post-production (November 11)
• Film Market with a Digital Video Library (November 5-12)
All Industry activities focus on the countries of Central and South-eastern Europe and the Mediterranean region.
CROSSROADS, the Co-Production Forum headed by Marie-Pierre Macia, has selected 17 projects this year, based on the quality of the script, the creative team and the likelihood of it being produced. All selected projects are either produced or co-produced by a country in South-eastern and Central Europe or the Mediterranean or contain story elements linked to these regions. The selected projects come from the following countries: Algeria, Bulgaria, Croatia, France, Greece, Jordan, Italy, Israel, Lebanon, Serbia, Slovenia, and Turkey.
The producers of these 17 projects will be introduced to a variety of industry professionals from all over the world. The program is varied and provides opportunities to meet, formally and informally, producers, distributors, broadcasters, sales agents and consultants. CROSSROADS’ goal is to support the producers of feature-length film projects that are linked to the Mediterranean and Balkan regions, in order for them to find the right partners to finance and complete their projects.
Crossroads is a MEDIA supported program and its partners include
• Greek post-production house 235, offering a co-production award (image and sound) to the winning project
• CNC offering 7.000 euro for project development
• Producer’s Network of Cannes Film Festival, offering a free accreditation for the Producer’s Network in the Cannes Film Festival 2012
• Sofia Meetings at the International Sofia Film Festival, selecting one project to be presented in March at the Sofia Meetings 2012
• Mediterranean Film Institute Script 2 Film Workshops offers a scholarship for its next round of Script 2 Film Workshops to one of the selected projects
• Initiative Film a consultancy firm in France offers its services to one project from the Crossroads selection
• Festival Scope the B2B online platform for film professionals worldwide
The Crossroads jury consists of
Roberto Olla, Eurimages – Executive Director, France
Guillaume De Seille, Arizona Films– Producer, France
Yorgos Tsourgiannis, Horsefly Production – producer, Greece
This year’s projects are the following:
1. BACK TO THE JUNGLE
Direction: Wissam Charac, Production: Charlotte Vincent, Aurora Films / …ne . a Beyrouth France / Lebanon
2. BARBARIANS
Direction: Ivan Ikic, Production: Milan Stojanovic, Sense Productions Serbia
3. BEIRUT HOLD’EM
Direction: Michel Kammoun, Production: Georges Schoucair, About Productions Lebanon
4. COLORED FEATHERS
Direction: Mohammad Hushki, Production: Rula Nasser, The Imaginarium Films Jordan
5. THE COUCH
Direction: Duccio Chiarini, Production: Fabrizio Mosca, Acaba Produzioni Italy - MFI SCRIPT 2 FILM Project
6. HOLE IN THE WALL
Direction: Hadar Morag, Production: Elie Meirovitz, EZ Films Israel
7. THE HOUSE
Direction: Zoran Sudar, Production: Igor A. Nola, Mainframe Production Croatia
8. LOW LIVES
Direction: Zeki Demirkubuz, Production: Gokce Is?l Tuna, Motiva Film Turkey
9. THE MINER
Direction: Hanna Slak, Production: Dunja Klemenc, Studio Maj Slovenia/Bosnia Herzegovina
10. RADIOGRAM
Direction: Rouzie Hassanova, Production: Ralitsa Veleva, Hassanova Films Bulgaria - Sofia Meetings Project
11. RIGHTEOUS PATH
Direction: Okacha Touita, Production: Yacine Laloui, Laith Media Algeria
12. SEA BURNERS
Direction: Melissa Onel, Production: Nadir Operli, Bulut Film Turkey
13. SEPTEMBER
Direction/Production: Penny Panayotopoulou P.P Productions, Co-production: Thanassis Karathanos, Twenty Twenty Vision Greece / Germany
14. SILENCE S'IL VOUS PLAIT
Direction: Thodoris Papadoulakis, Production: Ioanna Davi, Indigo View Productions Greece
15. A SLIGHT CONCERN
Direction: Cyril de Gasperis, Production: Jean-Christophe Soulageon, Les Films Sauvages France
16. STANDING ASIDE, WATCHING
Direction: Yorgos Servetas, Production: Fenia Cossovitsa & Konstantinos Kontovrakis, Blonde Production Greece
17. VIRUS
Direction: Angelos Frantzis, Production: Maria Tsigka, Argonauts Productions Greece
WORKS IN PROGRESS are closed sessions for Thessaloniki’s invited industry professionals only, presented to our invited sales agents, distributors, producers and festival representatives. 10 films have been selected to be presented in front of our industry guests from Greece, Israel, Jordan, Turkey, France, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Argentina, Spain, Venezuela and Bulgaria.
Graal S.A & Kodak Cinelabs Greece, a leading post- production house in Greece has joined forces with Thessaloniki Agora Market providing to the winning film of the Works in Progress section a high quality award in post–production.
The Works in Progress Jury consists of:
Nikolaj Nikitin, festival delegate for Berlin Film Festival / Palic European Film Festival
Olimpia Pont Chafer, Sales Agent, Coproduction Office
Zinos Panagiotidis, Managing Director, Rosebud
The films are:
1. BEYOND THE HILL, 2011
Director: Emin Alper, Producers: Enis Kostepen, Seyfi Teoman, Bulut Films, Turkey
Beyond the Hills participated in the Crossroads Co-production Forum in 2010
2. ΤΗΕ ΒΟΥ IS EATING THE BIRD’S FOOD, 2011
Director: Ektoras Lygizos, Producers: Ektoras Lygizos/George Karnavas, Stefi Productions Greece
3. CHINATOWN-THE THREE SHELTERS, 2011
Director: Aliki Danezi-Knutsen, Producer: Anna Tsiarta, Roads and Oranges Film Productions, Co-producer: Christoph Heckenbuecker, Cyprus
Chinatown – The Three Shelters participated in Thessaloniki’s Balkan Script Development Fund in 2005 and the Crossroads Co-production Forum in 2006.
4. DOGS, CATS & RATS
Director / Production: Andrianos Georgantas, A&G Productions, Co-producer: Yiannis Exindaris – N-Orasis, Co-producer: Guillaume De Seille – Arizona Films Greece/France
5. OUT IN THE DARK, 2011
Director: Michael Mayer, Producer: Lihu Roter, Cyns Rios Ltd, Israel
6. PRIVATE UNIVERSE, 2011
Director: Helena Trestikova, Producer: Katerina Cerna, Pavel Strnad, Negativ,s.r.o., Czech Republic
7. RABBIT WOMAN
Director: Veronica Chen, Producer: Luis Angel Ramirez, Co-production : Bambu Cine,IMVAL Producciones, Argentina/Spain/Venezuela
8. SHANGHAI-BELLEVILLE, 2011
Director: Show-Chun Lee, Producer: Juliette Grandmont, Clandestine Films France
Shanghai – Belleville participated in the Crossroads Co-production Forum in 2008
9. WHEN I SAW YOU, 2011
Director: Annemarie Jacir, Producer: Ossama Bawardi, Philistine Films, Jordan
When I Saw You participated in the Crossroads Co-production Forum in 2008
10. ZINCOGRAPH
Director: Emil Christov, Producer: Vladislav Todorov, Bouriana Zakharieva, Peripeteia Ltd, Bulgaria
Zincograph was awarded at Thessaloniki’s Balkan Script Development Fund in 2008
For more information please contact Angeliki Vergou at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
FILM MARKET - November 5–12, 2011
The Film Market promotes the majority of the feature films participating in the official sections of the TIFF. From this year on, more titles from the countries that the Thessaloniki Agora – Market focuses on will be presented in the Film Market. Thus, they will have the opportunity to find their way to other international film festivals, sales agents and distributors. Also, the Film Market includes the previous films of Crossroads participants and a selection of Greek films produced within the past two years.
This year, we are organizing Market Screenings in the Agora/Market venue with the Greek films that do not participate in the Greek Films 2011 section of the festival. Amnesty, Fish & Chips, Burning Heads, Wasted Youth, Hannibal Ante Portes, Three Minutes of Happiness, Tied Red Thread are only a few of the 22 presented titles.
For information please contact Yanna Sarri at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
