News

A special evening introducing the audience to a journey through space took place on Saturday 3 March 2018 at a packed Olympion Theatre, as part of the 20^th anniversary edition of the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival. The screening of Emer Reynolds’ documentary The Farthest, about the captivating tales of the people and events behind the historic Voyager spacecraft mission, was followed by a conversation with the acclaimed space scientist, a NASA collaborator and an Academy of Athens member Dr. Stamatis Krimigis. Greek journalist Makis Provatas moderated the conversation.

Ample humor and camera shots full of fondness and sensitivity set the tone on Friday, March 2, 2018, at the opening ceremony of the 20th anniversary edition of the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, in a packed Olympion Theatre, and in the presence of politicians, artists and prominent representatives of the audiovisual industry. The experienced stand up comedians Andreas Paspatis and Ira Katsouda, the evening’s hosts, kept the audience attention with their cheerfulness and teasing -besides, as they explained, that is why they were hired- and joshed with speakers and audience.

20^th THESSALONIKI DOCUMENTARY FESTIVAL [2-11/3/2018]

Doc Market

March 4 – 10, Warehouse C, Thessaloniki Port  

The International Doc Market, introduced in 1999, will be held in Warehouse C at the Thessaloniki Port, providing a substantial space to its participants, outfitted with 30 digital booths for private viewing. The Market, supported by Creative Europe Media program, caters to television networks from European countries and a wide range of professionals from various parts of the world. The Doc Market is fully digital; all films are easily accessible in the video library.

Approximately 490 films will be available in this year’s Doc Market, including the majority of the films that are screened as part of the 20^th TDF official program.

Approximately 80 buyers out of 140 industry professionals will be attending from all over the world, among them: Jordi Ambros (TV3 Catalunya), Abel Ksiksi (Al Jazeera), Emmanuel Chicon (Visions du Réel), Monika Mikusova (RTV Slovakia), Rui Madruga (RTP Portugal), Krishan Arora (SBS Australia), Charlotte Madsen (SVT Sweden), Madeleine Avramoussis (ARTE), Jenny Westergard (YLE Finland), Ines Pedoth (ORF Austria), Mohamad Soueid (Al Arabiya UAE), Caroline Libresco (Sundance FF USA).

DOCS IN PROGRESS 2018

Wednesday, March 7, 10.00-13.00, Pavlos Zannas Theatre

The Doc Market will present for the seventh consecutive year the Docs in Progress section: 10 projects from Central Europe, the Balkans and the Mediterranean region participate in closed sessions for Thessaloniki’s invited industry professionals, sales agents, distributors, producers and festival representatives. This year the segment features an impressive number of 6 projects –out of 10- directed by women. The participants will present and screen 6-8 minutes from their projects, aiming towards securing coproduction deals, funds for project completion, as well as deals for presales and distribution. 2|35 Inc Post-Production House offers for the fourth time an award of up to 15.000 euro in post-production services. In addition, the MuSou award for music and sound services, amounting up to 6.500 euro, will be presented for the second time and the Greek Film Centre offers an award of 3.000 euro in cash.  The DiP awards amount to 24.500 euro in total.

The international Docs in Progress jury consists of:

Laia Aubia, Distribution Manager, DocsBarcelona, Spain

Charlotte Madsen, Buyer, SVT, Sweden

Takis Veremis, Distributor, StraDA Films, Greece

The projects are:

1. 1000 m2 of Time, Direction: Maro Anastopoulou, Production: Lilette Botassi - Inkas Film Productions, Co-producer: Pangaia Pictures, Greece
2. Body Struggles, Direction: Francesco Corona, Production: Lorenzo Cioffi – Ladoc, Italy
3. Figures, Direction: Eugenio Canevari, Production: Eugenio Canevari, Melina Pereyra, Waking Films Co-producer: Felipe Yaryura - Mamá Húngara Cine, Spain-Argentina
4. Frugal Abundance, Direction: Giorgos Savoglou & Frantzeska Romanou, Production: Amanda Livanou - Neda Film, Greece
5. Gentle Warriors, Direction: Marija Stonyte, Production: Giedre Zickyte – Moonmakers, Co-producer: Riho Vastrik, Lithuania-Estonia
6. Janitou, Direction: Amine Hattou, Production: Boualem Ziani - Libre image Production, Co-producer: Thomas Kaske - Kaske Film, Algeria-Germany-France-Qatar
7. KAT People, Direction: Marco Gastine, Production: Eleni Chandrinou, Marco Gastine - MINIMAL FILMS, Co-producer: Alexandre Cornu - Les films du tambour de soie, Greece-France
8. Seeds of Columbus, Direction: Marianna Economou, Production: Spyros Mavrogenis -Stefi/ Lynx Productions, Co-producer: Rea Apostolides – Anemon, Greece 
9. Staring at the Sun, Direction: Atieh Attarzadeh & Hesam Eslami, Production: Etienne de Ricaud - Caractères Productions, Co-producer: Hesam Eslami, Atieh Attarzadeh, France-Iran
10. Tiny Souls, Direction: Dina Naser, Production: Dina Naser - Mad Moshawash, Co-producer: Khaled Haddad - Jordan Prioneers, Palmyre Badinier- Urban Factory, Jordan-Lebanon-Qatar-The Netherlands-France

DOCS IN PROGRESS AWARD SPONSORS

MOVING DOCS

Thursday 8 – Saturday 10 March 2018, Warehouse C & Takis Kanelopoulos theatre (both at the Thessaloniki Port)

For the first time the Moving Docs conference will take place during the Agora Doc Market giving the opportunity to even more professionals to come to Thessaloniki and share their knowledge and expertise for documentaries. Moving Docs brings powerful films to screens big and small, by combining live screenings and event cinema with innovative online distribution. With 19 partners across Europe, it enables a selection of the best European documentaries to cross borders and reach new audiences in over 20 territories. Moving Docs is the very first initiative of its kind, powered by national partners across Europe, managed by the European Documentary Network, and supported by Creative Europe. For more information: www.movingdocs.org

EDN DOCS IN THESSALONIKI – PITCHING FORUM 2018

March 2- 6, 2018

Workshop (2-4/3, Warehouse C and Takis Kanelopoulos theatre located at the Thessaloniki Cinema Museum, Thessaloniki Port) &

Pitching (5/3, 09.30–14.00 and 6/3, 09.30–13.00, Pavlos Zannas theatre).

The Docs in Thessaloniki, running since 2001 in collaboration with the European Documentary Network -a member-based organisation for professionals working with documentary feature projects- and with the support of the EU MEDIA Program, gives documentary professionals the opportunity to have their projects pitched to a panel of international financiers, commissioning editors and representatives of the international audiovisual media. The first 3 days focus on project development and polishing, under the guidance of the following industry professionals: Jesper Osmund, Editor, Denmark, Gitte Hansen, Deputy Director, First Hand Films, Switzerland, Brian Hill, Director, Century Films, UK, Paula Vaccaro, Producer, Pinball, UK, Christine Camdessus, Producer, Alegria, France, Arash Riahi, Producer & Director, Golden Girls Filmproduction, Austria, Ove Rishøj Jensen (EDN, Denmark).

The last 2 days are reserved for pitching (Monday, March 5, 09.30–14.00 & Tuesday, March 6, 09.30–13.00, at Pavlos Zannas theatre).

The following 21 projects have been selected to take part in Docs in Thessaloniki 2018:

1. A Violent Past, Director-Producer Alex Tieleman, Co-director Marjolein van de Water, The Netherlands
2. ALL-IN, Director Volkan Üce, Producer Emmy Oost, Cassette for timescapes, Belgium
3. Antoine the Fortunate, Director Nefin Dinç, Producer Ömer Atay, Atlantik Film, Turkey
4. Blazing the Trail, Director Ariadna Relea, Executive Producers Luis Collar & Senay Ozdemir, Nephilim Producciones/House of Red & White, Spain
5. Bottlemen, Director/Producer Nemanja Vojinović, Rt dobre Nade, Serbia
6. Debouttes Director Maxime Faure, Producer Estelle Robin-You, Les Films du balibari, France
7. Eyewitnesses Directors Ditteke Mensink & Dirk Boelhouwer, Producer Martijn Winkler, VERTOV, The Netherlands
8. Franci Goes to Hollywood, Director Lorand Balazs Imre, Producers Laszlo Jozsa, Franciska Farkas & Lorand Balazs Imre, SpeakEasy Project, Hungary
9. Holy Father, Director Andrei Dăscălescu, Producer Anamaria Antoci, Tangaj Production, Romania
10. Into the Bank, Directors Eva Hillström & Oscar Hedin, Producers Oscar Hedin & Åse Fougner, Film and Tell, Sweden
11. MEL, Directors Inna Sahakyan & Paul Cohen, Producer Vardan Hovhanisyan, Bars Media, Armenia
12. My Father's Daughter, Director Lea Podhradska, Producer Balázs Lévai, Színfolt Film, Hungary
13. People, Gods and Other Creatures, Director Sveta Strelnikowa, Producers Frank Müller, Viktoria Lupik & Vicky Miha, Germany-Russia-Greece
14. Princesse, Heritiere, Director Nevine Gerits, Producers Bram Crols & Nina Landau, Associate Directors, Belgium
15. Riders of Destiny, Director Michael Niermann, Producer Ansgar Pohle, 7T1 Media, Germany
16. Salam’s Odyssey, Director Jonas Bruun, Producer Malene Flindt Pedersen, Hansen & Pedersen Film and Television, Denmark
17. Society must be Defended, Director Antonino D'Ambrosio, Producer François Le Gall, a_BAHN, France
18. The Pipe, Director Marko Kumer, Producers Katja Lenarčič & Marko Kumer, EnaBanda, Slovenia
19. The Unbearable Lightness of the Golden Age, Director Ana Lungu, Producer Anca Puiu, MANDRAGORA, Romania
20. The World According to Amazon, Director Jean-Baptiste Malet, Co-director Adrien Pinon, Producer Valérie Montmartin, Little Big Story, France
21. Women of the Sun, Director Nuray Sahin, Producers Alex Tondowski & Ira Tondowski, Tondowski Films, Germany

The ΕRT Doc on Air award 

With the aim to enhance documentary production, ERT S.A., the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation, bestows the ERT Doc on Air award to the best project of the Doc in Thessaloniki pitching forum organised by EDN. The award winner is decided by the tutor team of Docs in Thessaloniki. The winning project team receives 3.000 euro and the documentary will be broadcasted by ERT. 

Docs in Thessaloniki 2018 is organized by EDN and the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival with the support of the EU Creative Europe MEDIA Program. EDN is a member-based organisation for professionals working with documentary film and television. EDN supports, stimulates, and creates networks within the documentary sector. www.edn.dk.

EDN DOCS IN THESSALONIKI MASTERCLASS

Tuesday, March 6, 17:30 – 19:30, Pavlos Zannas Theatre

“How to Reach and Build an Audience” with Ben Johnson, CEO at Gruvi

How do you reach and build audiences in the early stages of a film production? The answer lies in aligning the film’s marketing early on, and thinking about the wider scope of the life cycle of the production. Ben Johnson, CEO at Gruvi, a technology media company that helps entertainment businesses reach and engage online audiences, will provide valuable insights that can help film professionals with digital film marketing, as well as the possibilities to reach and communicate with audiences en masse.

This master class takes place within the framework of Docs in Thessaloniki Pitching Forum 2018. It is organized by EDN – European Documentary Network and the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival.

The 20^th anniversary edition of the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival presents approximately 180 feature and 48 short documentary films by directors from all over the world, as well as a parallel events program.

53 feature and 25 short Greek documentaries will be screened during the 20^th anniversary edition of the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival. Two of these films participate in the event’s International Competition section, 23 are included in the various International Program sections and 53 in the Greek Panorama.