The Thessaloniki Film Festival is intensifying its efforts for the greater extroversion of Greek cinema and the promotion of Greek filmmakers abroad. The Festival gives the opportunity to three film professionals from Greece who have participated in Thessaloniki Locarno Industry Academy, to travel to the Locarno Film Festival and participate in Locarno Pro. At the same time, the directors who participated in the Agora Short Film Lab of the 64th TIFF will take part in the Cinelink of the Sarajevo Film Festival, where they will present their work to film professionals from abroad. The actions are implemented within the framework of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan "Greece 2.0" with the funding of the European Union - NextGenerationEU, within the integrated project "SUB 6.3 - Market extroversion of the Thessaloniki Film and Documentary Festival".
After successful actions in large film festivals, like Cannes, Berlin and Rotterdam, the documentary festivals Sunny Side of the Doc and DOK Leipzig, the Thessaloniki Film Festival continues its extroversion initiatives at the Locarno Film Festival and the Sarajevo Film Festival. More specifically, the Festival financially covers the travel costs for cinema professionals (accreditation, travel expenses, accommodation etc.), while with the input of specialists, it provides consulting services before, during and after the completion of their trip. At the same time, the Festival supports the participation of professionals in special programs held in the framework of the international film markets.
Participation at Locarno PrAfter their participation at the Thessaloniki Locarno Industry Academy of the 64th Thessaloniki International Film Festival, Dimosthenis Kontes and Eftychia Terzi will travel to the Locarno Film Festival, in order to participate to the Locarno Pro actions, from August 9 to August 12. Also, Stavros Markoulakis, who participated in the Thessaloniki Locarno Industry Academy 2021, was selected for the U30 program of the Locarno Pro. U30 is a think tank that aims to give a voice to a new generation of cinema professionals.
Eftychia Terzi
Eftychia Terzi was born in Athens and studied Cultural Management and Communication at Panteion University of Social and Political Science in Athens and Université Sorbonne Nouvelle - Paris III, in Paris. After her studies, she went on to pursue an internship as an assistant at the Greek Program of Thessaloniki International Film Festival before starting to work at Cinobo, the first Greek streaming platform dedicated to independent and arthouse cinema. Currently, she is working as part of the Cinobo curation team, programming both for the digital platform and theatrical distribution of the company.
Dimosthenis Kontes
Dimosthenis Kontes received a Bachelor’s Degree in Electronic Engineering, In 2018 he acted as a jury member for 28 Times Cinema, a collaboration between Giornate degli Autori in 2018, Lux Film Prize and Europa Cinemas. He took on the role of Sales Assistant for Heretic (Greece), and after moving to Berlin, of Sales Manager for Pluto Film (Germany). Some of the celebrated titles he has represented so far are Golden Bear Winner Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn by Radu Jude and Semaine de la Critique Grand Prix Winner Feathers by Omar El Zohairy. He is, also, a Thessaloniki Locarno Industry Academy and an MFI Script2Film Assistant Trainer alumnus.
Stavros Markoulakis
Stavros Markoulakis is a writer, director, and film programmer, working between Greece and the Netherlands. In recent years, he has worked in various positions in the Programme and Industry departments of several film festivals in Europe, including the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, and continues as Q&A Coordinator at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, Producers Connection Producer at International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, Head of Programme at Leiden Shorts, and Film Programmer at Anafi International Film Festival. His films have been presented in film festivals around the world like Clermont-Ferrand, Sarajevo, Palm Springs, etc. He is currently developing his debut feature film, Sunbruise.
Also, Errika Zacharopoulou who works as the Agora Coordinator, will also travel to Locarno in order to participate at this year's Locarno Industry Academy.
Three filmmakers at SFF’s Cinelink
Three directors who participated in the Agora Short Film Lab 2023 and had won the biggest awards at the National Competition section of the Drama International Short Film Festival will travel to the Sarajevo Film Festival, in order to participate in the Cinelink Industry Days from August 17 to August 20. Agora Short Film Lab is an initiative hosted by the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, in collaboration with Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival and Drama International Short Film Festival.
Participants are Krysianna Papadakis, Stergios Dinopoulos and Alexis Koukias-Pantelis. The participants will have the opportunity to present their work to top film professionals, they are given networking opportunities and will be present in Agora’s networking cocktail party in Sarajevo on August 19. Their consultant is producer Yorgos Tsourgiannis.
Krysianna Papadakis
Krysianna Papadakis grew up in Athens. She studied Political Science with an emphasis on philosophy at Harvard University and did a Masters of Science on media, language and performance in international politics at the University of Oxford. She co-founded a theater group in London and worked as a director and screenwriter for theater before moving to film. Her first film, Bearcave, co-directed with Stergios Dinopoulos, won the Golden Dionysus at the Drama Festival. She is currently working on her first feature film, Bearhole, which is an extension of the short.
Stergios Dinopoulos
Stergios Dinopoulos grew up in Athens, Greece and studied Art, Film, & Visual Studies at Harvard University. He is a director, writer, cinematographer, and producer. He has worked as an assistant film curator at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMa) and has spent years teaching filmmaking and storytelling to young adults and teenagers including storytelling seminars for teenage refugees and documentary and activism workshops for young adults. His previous short film Bluebird was an official selection at the Athens International Film Festival and his latest short film Bearcave, which he co-directed and co-wrote with Krysianna Papadakis, won the Golden Dionysus for Best Film at the DISFFl. He is currently in post-production of his first feature film, Bearcave.
Alexis Koukias – Pantelis
Alexis Koukias - Pantelis is a film director, scriptwriter and production sound mixer. He holds an MA degree in Film Directing from Screen Academy Scotland. He has directed seven short films which have traveled in dozens of film festivals around the world counting multiple awards. His latest short film Aerolin has been awarded with a candidacy for the European Film Awards 2024. As a sound mixer he has worked in films which have been screened in some of the most prestigious film festivals around the world including Cannes, Venice, Sundance and Locarno. In addition, he has worked in international productions for Amazon Studios, Paramount Pictures and Focus Features.
