60th THESSALONIKI INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL || 31/10-10/11/2019
Crossroads Opening
The 15th Crossroads Co-Production Forum of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival Agora opened on Wednesday, November 6th, 2019, in Warehouse C.
Ms. Elise Jalladeau, Director of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, welcomed the participants to the 15th Forum, to a “professional but at the same time friendly environment”, as she said. The actor Mr. Yorgos Pirpassopoulos, this year’s Agora ambassador, gave his welcome address and talked about the duty of communicating the content and the activities of the Agora entrusted to him and wished all participants good luck.
Ms. Yanna Sarri, Director of the Agora, presented the program of this year’s activities (Agora Τalks, Works in Progress, Film Market, Thessaloniki Locarno Industry Academy International, Meet the Future, EUandMe), along with the new collaboration with the European Women’s Audiovisual Network (EWA) that conducts its mentoring session for the first time in Thessaloniki.
The work of the Movement of Disabled Artists, collaborating for the third year with the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, was presented by the representative of the Movement Ms. Emmanuella Patiniotaki, who explained that in the framework of the collaboration the Festival’s films are accessible by all, through sign language and subtitles for the hearing impaired and audio description for the visually impaired.
The former Director of the Crossroads Co-Production Forum, Marie-Pierre Macia, passed the torch to her successor, Angeliki Vergou, and noted that she will remain close to the team but in a different role from now on. “I will continue as an artistic advisor, sharing my knowledge and passion”, she stressed. The new Crossroads Director, Ms. Angeliki Vergou said: “We're very happy to announce a partnership with Filmarket Hub, the first online market place dedicated to content in development from Europe and Latin America. This online marketplace connects series and films in development with the film industry players: producers, sales agents, broadcasters, OTT platforms., etc. We have a joined online representation of the Crossroads Co-production Forum and the Connecting Cottbus projects showcasing the best projects from the region handpicked by the two markets”.
The Crossroads Co-Production Forum selects film projects based on the quality of their scripts, the teams behind them and the likelihood that they will be produced. The goal of Crossroads is to support feature-length film producers coming from Central Europe, the Balkans and the Mediterranean.
This year’s Crossroads committee consists of French producer Rita Dagher, of Senorita Films; German producer Peter Rommel, of Rommel Productions; and the head of Sofia Meetings, producer Mira Staleva.
The 15th Crossroads Co-Production Forum will host fifteen projects.
The contributors talked about their projects during the mini pitching that took place at the beginning of the event.
More specifically:
Acrylic – Director: Nikos Pastras
Producers: Christos V Konstantakopoulos, Andreas Zoupanos Kritikos – Faliro House (Greece), Amanda Livanou – Neda Films (Greece)
A young girl in Athens during the last days of school. A film full of music, feelings, adolescent angst, and at the same time a film roaming the independent underground Athenian music scene.
The Gospel According to Kimon – Director: Neritan Zinxhiria
Producer: Vasilis Chrysanthopoulos - PLAYS2PLACE (Greece)
A dark fantasy that gradually comes true, a film about death, mourning and forgiveness.
Peter and the Wolf – Director: Thanasis Neofotistos
Producer: Ioanna Bolomyti – Argonauts Productions (Greece)
Co-producer: Dibona Films (France)
An adolescent strives for familial and social acceptance because he is different: those around him think he is cursed because he has blue eyes.
Riviera – Director: Orfeas Peretzis
Producer: Konstantinos Vassilaros – StudioBauhaus (Greece)
Co-producer: KG Productions (France)
A tragic comedy with Lagonissi as its background, the Greek Riviera. A study on the process of changing, the past, and nostalgia through the story of a mother and her daughter after they decide to sell their home.
Third Kind – Director: Yorgos Zois
Producers: Antigoni Rota, Stelios Cotionis – Foss Productions (Greece)
Co-producer: Squared Square Films (Greece)
A science fiction Balkan retro film; an English-speaking film shot in five countries. At a certain point in the future Earth has been abandoned by its inhabitants. When humans face a threat, they must return in order to find a way to save their planet.
17 Moments of Summer – Directors: Sonja Prosenc, Mitja Ličen
Producers: Rok Sečen, Sonja Prosenc – Monoo (Slovenia/Croatia)
A comedic drama in 17 moments/fragments for four interconnected people during a hot summer on a Mediterranean island.
How Is Katia? – Christina Tynkevych
Producers: Olha Matat, Veronika Stepanchuk – Evos Film (Ukraine), in collaboration with MIDPOINT
A social drama whose protagonist is a woman that loses her daughter in a car accident; behind the wheel is an eighteen-year-old girl. A hunt for revenge and justice becomes a story of understanding and forgiveness.
Iris – Director: Myrsini Aristidou
Producer: Nathalie Dennes – The Living (France)
Co-producers: Filmblades (Cyprus), 1.61 Films (Cyprus), Road Movies (Germany), Graal SA (Greece)
A young girl tries to redefine her stance towards her estranged father in today’s Cyprus.
The Land Beyond – Director: Nadine Sabil
Producer: Hala Lotfy – Hassala (Egypt)
A myth for lost heritage. A young girl, unable to speak, is its protagonist, trying to keep the memory of her mother alive through a lullaby.
Let It Be – Director: Łukasz Grzegorzek
Producer: Natalia Grzegorzek – Koskino Film (Poland), in collaboration with Sofia Meetings
Sometimes things cannot get worse, or can they? This is the question that preoccupies the protagonist. A contemporary story concerning relationships and their balance in a familial context and the danger that they become a living hell.
Leyla – Director: Erol Mintaş
Producer: Etienne de Ricaud – Caractères Productions (France)
A nineteen-year-old girl of Kurdish descent decides to follow her dreams and goes to Marseille where she gets married to a compatriot. Yet things do not go as planned and the girl must put up a fight for her dream.
Luna Park – Director: Florenc Papas
Producer: Dritan Huqi – On Film Production (Albania)
Co-producer: Argonauts Productions (Greece)
The story of a couple taking place in Greece and Albania in 1997. Part of the film will be shot in Thessaloniki.
Oceane – Director: Eva Pervolovici
Producer: Tudor Giurgiu – Libra Films (Romania)
A Parisian girl falls in love with a Romanian photojournalist. A film that touches on the major subject of immigration in Europe, a continent that changes through the lives of young people that are off course.
Planet 7693 – Direction: Gojko Berkuljan
Producer: Marko Jaćimović – A Production (Montenegro)
Co-producer: Ivica Vidanović – Cinne Rent & Production (Serbia)
A family drama with science fiction elements. An unusual, sentimental, nostalgic story; its hero, a boy that tries to restore familial relationships after a tragic event.
With Skin and Hair – Director: Elene Naveriani
Producer: Britta Rindelaub – ALVA Films (Switzerland)
Co-producer: Takes Film (Georgia)
A film with historical references to a legendary case of the orthodox tradition in Georgia. The story of a woman that goes against sexism, oppression and prejudice.
Crossroads’ associates are:
- The Greek company post-production 2|35 Inc that provides the co-production award (image and sound) to the awarded film project.
- The CNC (Centre National du Cinéma et de l’image animée), which provides 8,000 euros for developing a screenplay into a film project.
- The Festival de Cannes Producer’s Network that provides accreditation to the awarded producer, in order to participate in the forthcoming Producer’s Network 2020.
- Sofia Meetings, of the Sofia Film Festival, which selects a film project that will be presented in the next organization, in March 2020.
- The Mediterranean Film Institute Script 2 Film Workshops, which provides a scholarship to a film project.
- The French consulting firm Initiative Film, which provides services to a Greek film project.
- Cinemed, that will select at least one Greek film project for the Development Grant organized annually.
- The THESSALONIKI EAVE Marketing Workshop Scholarship award that will select a film project for the Marketing 2020 workshop.
Crossroads is also associated with MIDPOINT - A Training and Networking Platform for Film and TV Development.
Agora, with Crossroads under its aegis, is the Festival’s Development Section, bringing together an international network of professionals and providing the space, but also the conditions for meetings, conversations, and professional agreements in an informal, welcoming, and professional ambiance. The Thessaloniki International Film Festival is supported by the European program Creative Europe by MEDIA.
