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AGORA

November 4-11, 2017 – Warehouse C

 

13 projects in the 13th CROSSROADS CO-PRODUCTION FORUM

12 films in the AGORA WORKS IN PROGRESS

264 international titles in the AGORA FILM MARKET

 

TIFF’s AGORA (November 4-11, 2017), supported by Creative Europe-MEDIA, is an industry event offering various networking opportunities for the global film industry in an informal, welcoming and professional atmosphere. As an international meeting and trading event, AGORA runs parallel to the Thessaloniki International Film Festival and offers to its visiting industry professionals a variety of industry activities which focus on the countries of Central Europe, the Balkans and the Mediterranean:

 

  • The Agora Film Market with a Digital Video Library (Nov. 4-11)
  • The Crossroads Co-Production Forum (Nov. 7-11)
  • The Agora Works in Progress - Screening of films in post-production (Nov. 9)
  • The Thessaloniki Locarno Industry Academy (Nov. 6-11)
  • ACE Producers Think Tank (Nov. 8)

 

Moreover, TIFF’s AGORA organizes a series of additional activities which contribute further in reinforcing its role and potential in the international festival circuit:

 

Thessaloniki Locarno Industry Academy International (November 6-11, 2017)

Thessaloniki International Film Festival in collaboration with the Festival del Film Locarno launched in 2016 the Thessaloniki Locarno Industry Academy International in the South Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean. The second edition will take place in Thessaloniki from November 6-11 2017, during the 58th TIFF’s AGORA. The Thessaloniki Locarno Industry Academy is a training program created to help young professionals of the cinema industry –sales agents, distributors and new media professionals– to extend their experience and networking in the fields of international sales, marketing, distribution and programming.

 

This year’s participants are:

Maximilien Dejoie, Just a Moment, Lithuania

Christina Liapi, Heretic Outreach, Greece

Anjali Mandalia, Thunderbird Releasing, U.K.

Ivan Mihalic, Everything Works, Croatia

István Mráz, Mozinet, Hungary

Joanna De Sousa, Outsider Films, Portugal

Isabella Weber, Europa Distribution, Italy

 

Agora Training Day co-organised with CED Media Greece (November 7, 2017)

The AGORA provides valuable tools to the professionals of the film industry, as well as the environment to develop fruitful collaborations and creative projects. The Training Day event encourages even more the above goals by addressing to all young film directors and producers who will attend the 58th TIFF. They will have the opportunity to meet with well-established professionals who will share with them their knowledge and experiences. This year’s edition Training Day includes speakers such as Satu Elo (EAVE – European Audiovisual Entrepreneurs) together with Vicky Miha (Heretic Asterisk*) and Alessia Sonaglioni (EWA - European Women’s Audiovisual Network). In addition, Guillaume de Seille (Arizona Films) and Weerada Sucharitkul (Filmdoo) will discuss the online distribution of festival films, while director Andrei Creţulescu will present a study case on his film Charleston that participated both in Crossroads and Agora WiP and is screened in the Balkan Survey section of this year’s edition.  

 

ACE Producers Think Tank Discussion (November 8, 2017)

The event takes place during the 58th TIFF as part of the series of think tank sessions organized by ACE Producers that will be also held in the Netherlands Film Festival and the International Film Festival Rotterdam. These sessions will touch upon issues such as co-production, financing and legislation and policy, with the aim to address the idea of a functioning European cinema exploring both practical issues and aesthetic considerations. The sessions’ findings will be collated and presented to ACE and international industry professionals with the purpose of the need to better promote European films and increase exports outside the continent.

 

The AGORA FILM MARKET promotes the majority of the films included in the Festival’s official program selection. In addition, this year more titles from the countries that the AGORA INDUSTRY focuses on will be also presented, even though they are not part of the Festival’s main program. Moreover, the Agora Film Market includes the previews films of the Crossroads participants and a selection of Greek films produced within the last year. This year the Digital Video Library of the Agora Film Market includes 264 films from all over the world, available for viewing by the professionals who participate in the AGORA (producers, distributors, broadcasters, sales agents and consultants), as well as the Greek and international press representatives.

 

CROSSROADS, the Co-Production Forum headed by Marie-Pierre Macia, has selected 13 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 area, or contain story elements linked to these regions. The selected projects come from the following countries: Bulgaria, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Lebanon, Malta, Morocco, Palestine, Portugal and Turkey.

 

The producers of these 13 projects will be introduced to a variety of industry professionals from all over the world. The program is varied and provides opportunities to meet other 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 finding the right partners to finance and accomplish their projects.

 

The Crossroads Awards are:

  • The Greek post-production house Two Thirty Five (2|35 Inc) offers the main prize of a co-production award (image and sound) to the winning project.
  • Centre national du cinéma et de l’ image animée (CNC) offers 10.000 euro for script development.
  • The Greek music company MuSou offers the music & sound award (composition and production of an original film score, music supervision, licensing of commercial music for use in the film and audio post-production services). 
  • The Producers Network of the Cannes Film Festival offers a free accreditation for the 2018 edition.
  • Sofia Meetings of the Sofia IFF will select one project to be presented in March at the Sofia Meetings 2018.
  • The Mediterranean Film Institute Script 2 Film Workshops offers a scholarship for its 2018 Workshop to one of the projects.
  • Initiative Film, the script-development consultancy firm in France, offers its services to one of the Greek projects.
  • CINEMED will include at least one Greek project in the Development Grant selection according to its state of development and follow the films from Crossroads and Works in Progress in regards to its program selection.
  • Heretic Asterisk* will offer for the first time an award consulting on Packaging, Development Strategy, International Financing Strategy, Project Marketing Strategy and Distribution Strategy. 

 

The 2017 Crossroads jury consists of:

Dominique Welinski, Producer – DW, France

Teresa Hoefert De Turegano, Funding Advisor - Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Germany

Konstantinos Kontovrakis, Producer - Heretic, Greece

 

This year’s projects are:

  1. 200 Meters, Director: Ameen Nayfeh, Production: May Odeh – Odeh Films, Palestine
  2. Avanos, Director: Panagiotis Charamis, Production: Kostas Baliotis – 2D2R, Greece
  3. Fishers of Men, Director: Alex Camilleri, Production: Oliver Mallia – Pellikola, Malta
  4. Fronteira, Director: Nuno Baltazar, Production: Leonel Vieira - Stopline Films, Portugal - in collaboration with CINEMED
  5. Girl without Clothes, Director: Yannis Korres, Production: Alexis Pilos - Zero-Zero Productions, Greece
  6. Margherita, Director: Valentina Carnelutti, Production: Marco Alessi - Dugong Films & Valentina Carnelutti - Fiore Leone Produzioni, Italy
  7. Other People, Director: Meedo Taha, Production: Wesam Nassar – ESHMAWI, Meedo Taha – drawFILM, Lebanon
  8. Protected Species, Director: Hristo Simeonov, Production: Katya Trichkova - Contrast Films, Bulgaria - in collaboration with Sofia Meetings
  9. Rainbows Don’t Last Long, Director: Mayye Zayed, Production: Halina Dyrschka – Ambrosia Film, Mayye Zayed – Rufy’s Films, Germany-Egypt
  10. The Rooftops of Fez, Director: Abdelhai Laraki, Production: Caroline Locardi - A2L Production, Morocco
  11. Un Peu De Chaos Inexplicable, Director, Producer: Yorgos Gkikapeppas – Film Society, Greece
  12. We Kiss in Dark Nightclubs and I Explain, Director: Daphné Hérétakis, Production: Jasmina Sijercic - Bocalupo Films, Co-production: Yorgos Tsourgiannis – Horsefly Production, France-Greece
  13. Zuhal, Director: Nazlı Elif Durlu, Production: Anna Maria Aslanoğlu - istos film, Turkey - in collaboration with MFI Script 2 Film Workshop

 

The AGORA WORKS IN PROGRESS are closed sessions for Thessaloniki’s invited industry professionals, presented to sales agents, distributors, producers and festival representatives. This year 12 films are produced or coproduced by the following countries: Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iran, Lithuania, Morocco, Netherlands, Serbia, Spain, Sweden and Turkey.

 

The awards for a film in post-production include:

  1. The Eurimages Lab Project Award for unconventional projects which amounts up to €50,000. Through the Lab Project Award, Eurimages is investing in new forms of cinematographic expression and actively participating in the renewal of European cinema.

 

  1. Greek post-production house Graal provides a post-production award in kind services to one film participating in the Agora Works in Progress section.

 

The 2017 Agora Works in Progress Jury consists of:

Bero Beyer, Artistic Director of International Film Festival Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Dorien van de Pas, Netherlands Filmfund/Eurimages, The Netherlands

Ilias Georgiopoulos, Distributor, Danaos Films, Greece

 

This year’s films are:

  1. A Shelter among the Clouds, Director: Robert Budina, Production: Robert Budina & Sabina Kodra – ERAFILM, Albania - The film was presented as a project in Crossroads 2015
  2. Bad Poems, Director: Gábor Reisz, Production: Julia Berkes - Proton Cinema, Co-producer: Estelle Robin You - Les films du Balibari, Hungary-France
  3. Charcoal, Director: Esmaeel Monsef, Production: Etienne de Ricaud - Caractères Productions, Co-producer: Nader T. Homayoun - Alias Films, France-Iran
  4. Dead Horse Nebula, Director: Tarik Aktaş, Production: Güneş Şekeroğlu - Hay Film, Co-producer: Guillaume De Seille - Arizona Films, Turkey-France
  5. Siren’s Call, Director: Ramin Matin, Production: Emine Yıldırım, Oğuz Kaynak - Giyotin Film, Turkey
  6. Sister, Director: Svetla Tsotsorkova, Production: Svetoslav Ovcharov - Omega Films, Co-producer: Svetla Tsotsorkova, Bulgaria
  7. Snowing!, Director: Kristina Nedvědová, Production: Jitka Kotrlová - Frame Films, Co-producer: Barrandov Studio, Frame100r, Bystrouška, i/o post, Czech Republic
  8. Speak So I Can See You, Director: Marija Stojnic, Producer: Marija Stojnic, Milos Ivanovic – Bilboke, Co-producer: Tibor Keser, Vanja Jambrovic - Restart, Serbia-Croatia
  9. Trot, Director: Xacio Baño, Producer: Luisa Romeo - Frida Films, Co-producer: Marija Razgute - Ciobreliai Films, Spain-Lithuania
  10. Unpleasant, Director: Giorgos Georgopoulos, Producer: Giorgos Georgopoulos – Multivision, Co-producer: Antonis Kotzias, Yafka, Greece
  11. The Waiter, Director: Steve Krikris, Producer: Steve Krikris – Filmiki Productions, Co-producer: Nikolas Alavanos, Greece
  12. Zizotek, Director: Vardis Marinakis, Producer: Konstantinos Vassilaros – StudioBauhaus, Co-production: Red Carpet Films, Greece-Bulgaria - The film was presented as a project in Crossroads 2016

 

For more information please contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Too Much Info Clouding over my Head by Vassilis Christofilakis

“A black-and-white, innovative smart comedy with a Woody Allen attitude that never fails to be funny, even when dealing with concepts of great depth; its humor is sharp and fast-paced”.

Blue Queen by Alex Sipsidis

“The film deals with trust in human relationships. A contemporary Greek film noir with countless twists and a unique atmosphere”.

Everything is Wonderful by Pia Mechler

“This film will charm you, it will make you laugh a lot and, maybe, once or twice, it will make you wonder if everything is, indeed, wonderful”.

Life and Nothing More by Antonio Mendez Εsparza

“The film is a testimony, a testament. The expression of a time point, a place and the people living in it”.

The Spanish film The Invisible Hand by David Macián, an allegory on work uncertainty in modern societies, was screened on Monday 6 November 2017, in Frida Liappa theater, as part of the 58th Thessaloniki International Film Festival.

The film is part of the 58th TIFF’s tribute entitled “Invisible Hands”, whose title it inspired. The tribute explores the various angles of unemployment, showcasing five films that will have their premiere in Greece, with free admission (zero value ticket is required).

The Invisible Hand unfolds in an industrial warehouse. Eleven people from different professions perform their tasks there: a bricklayer builds a wall he intends to knock down, a young girl works on the production belt, not knowing which product she assembles, a boy moves boxes from one place to another, a mechanic repairs a car. In the meantime, the audience is watching the procedure in the dark. Is it a work of art, reality, or a psychological experiment? 

The screening was followed by a Q&A session, during which the filmmaker spoke with the audience.

As to his source of inspiration, David Macián explained that the film was based on the book with the same name by the Spanish novelist Isaac Rosa. “Not everything that is happening in the film is pure fiction”, he explained. “There are various common elements with facts that took place in my life and the lives of several people I know. I combined these facts with the novel to end up to the final script”.

It is the first feature film by the Spanish film director, who made a lot of short films in the past. It was a cooperative project which tried to find alternatives to the traditional production model. “We created a co-operative”, explained David Macián, and added: “We could not afford shootings in the style of TV or commercials. I made the most important choices and decisions together with at least 50 persons, actors and members of the crew. We made the film with minimum funding. It has already been screened in Spain, at festivals such as the Seville European Film Festival, with positive reception. Here in Thessaloniki, representatives of Port workers asked me the permission to screen the film at their union. People express interest, they empathize with the film”.

Asked from a member of the audience whether the film is pessimistic as to the workers’ ability to react in the oppression at work, the filmmaker said: “Problems occur when workers cannot work as a team and make decisions in common. Maybe because of unemployment in general we are afraid to react, we are forced to do jobs we don’t want, we are not willing to say no. After all, I believe that this film goes along with real life. We are angry, unsatisfied, but we have to work. Unfortunately people, under conditions of oppression and fear, make mistakes, e.g. vote for Trump and Le Pen, just like the audience who watches the workers in the film”.

Speaking about the film’s title, David Macián explained that it is allegorical and has double meaning: “One the one hand it demonstrates the lack of reason that brought people to this work environment, and on the other workers end up being invisible, they lose their dignity, their status in society”.

Asked if the film has hints of feminism, since the workers’ attempt to react is ignited by the female members of the team, the Spanish filmmaker said that he actually did want to give a feminist hue. “Similar uprisings are ignited by men in other films. We wanted to differentiate ourselves”, he explained. 

All venues that host the screenings of the tribute “Invisible Hands” are accessible to people with disabilities.

The tribute “Invisible Hands” is implemented through the Operational Program "Human Resources Development, Education and Lifelong Learning" and is co-financed by the European Union (European Social Fund) and Greek national funds. Its co-funded projects deal mostly with the improvement of education and employment in Greece.  Its main targets relate to:

  • The development and promotion of human resources skills,
  • The improvement of the quality of education & lifelong learning, awareness on environmental education,
  • Linking education with the labor market, and
  • Strengthening social cohesion and social inclusion of vulnerable social groups.

The tribute  “Invisible Hands” is implemented as part of the anniversary events for the 60 years of the European Social Fund.

This is the second tribute of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival funded by the Operational Program "Human Resources Development, Education and Lifelong Learning". 

 

On Sunday 5 November 2017, a press conference of the film director Alexandros Avranas took place at the Thessaloniki Museum of Photography, on occasion of the screening of his new film Love me Not in the 58th Thessaloniki International Film Festival.

The first to speak was TIFF director Orestis Andreadakis, who gave a warm welcome to Alexandros Avranas, noting that the screening of Love me Not at Olympion theatre on Saturday night triggered an explosion of feelings and conversations on behalf of the audience.

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4 Days by Michalis Giagkounidis

“It is a film on how we risk suddenly getting lost without anyone noticing. Or on how fleeing can trigger change. A film on cinema itself”.

 

Do it yourself by Dimitris Tsilifonis

“A film in which technology plays a leading role in the lives and decisions of its protagonists, one that approaches the positive and negative features of technology with an amusing attitude”.

 

Love me not by Alexandros Avranas

“An allegory on the absence of true love. On two people who are brought together only by their need for a big life. On the end of morality”.

 

To R' by Filmmakers Group “To R'”

“We will be delighted to share our experience and the reconceptualization of the film through the eyes of the audience; this will allow “R'” to move on to its ontological phase”.

 

Family Life by Alicia Scherson & Cristián Jiménez

"Either you have security and you fantasize about freedom, or you have freedom and you fantasize about security".

 

Tripoli Cancelled by Naeem Mohaiemen

"There is no guaranteed safe space or refuge. Each one of us has to seek its own peace, wherever we are. And we have to build it with others, never alone.”

 

The Miner by Hanna Slak

"Our collective subconscious must be free of buried secrets".

 

A Brief Excursion by Igor Bezinović

"The journey and the loss of destination are the utmost existential allegory".  

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