Agora, the industrial department of Thessaloniki International Airport. The Documentary Film Festival selected 14 projects for its promotion forum. All projects are from Southeast Europe and the Mediterranean region, although filmmakers can be from elsewhere.
Agora, which runs from March 7 to 15, also revealed the projects that will appear in its new Agora XR Lab initiative.
Among the filmmakers linked to projects on the Pitching Forum is a Polish filmmaker Michal Marczakwhose film “All These Sleepless Nights” won an award at Sundance, and whose film “Fuck for Forest” premiered at SXSW.
Belgian film Volkan Üce, whose film All-In won awards at the Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival and the Istanbul Film Festival, was also selected; Hungarian Alexa Baconi, whose film “The Colors of Toby” won an award at the Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival; and Portuguese Ana Sofía Fonseca, whose novel “Cesária Évora” won prizes in Krakow and Indy Lisbon.
The projects, which include two series, one children’s documentary and one animated documentary, come from 15 countries. Projects are also being promoted by Lefteris Charitos from Greece, Anna Kvishidze from Georgia, Kinda Kurdi from the United Kingdom, Anthony Hristov from Bulgaria, and others.
The projects will compete for the IEFTA Award for Best Documentary Film in Development, with a cash prize of €10,000. Partners include the Onassis Foundation, which is offering an Onassis Film Award and €5,000 to a Greek filmmaker who has a Thessaloniki Pitching Forum or Agora Docs project in progress. Other partners are the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation, which is offering an ERT award of €2,000 to a Greek project; and the Mediterranean Film Institute Script2Film, which awards an MFI grant.
Other prizes include a Eurodoc prize of €1,000; Documentary Society. From Europe the DAE Consulting Award offers you a personalized consultation with an industry expert; Aylon Digital Services provides digital transfer of archival materials; The Leipzig International Documentary and Animation Film Festival offers the DOK Leipzig Prize, which includes two industry tickets and accommodation.
Selected projects can participate in a workshop with the following teachers: Uwe Jensen, Producer and Documentary Expert, Paradiddle Pictures (Denmark), Brigid O’Shea, Associate Director and International Consultant, DAE (Germany), Peter Jaeger, Consultant, Jaeger Creative (Austria), and Mila Turajlić, Director/Producer, Poppy Pictures (Serbia).
Agora XR Lab is a workshop dedicated to XR projects and new media projects in development. Producer and creative writer Vasiliki Khonsari is the main guide of this edition. Khonsari is the co-founder of iNK Stories, a New York-based studio.
Projects of Thessaloniki Promotional Forum
“Of horses, wives and weapons”
Directed by: Volkan Osei, Produced by: Emmy Ost – Cassette for Timescapes, Co-Produced by: Samuel Feller – Magellan Films, Belgium
“Born Greek – Made American” (working title)
Directed by: Lefteris Charitos, Produced by: Stelios Koutionis – Voss Productions, Co-Produced by: Alexis Varouksakis – Adrenaline Entertainment, Greece, USA
“Bogby”
Directed by: Lucas Paliokrasas, Produced by: Ria Apostolides – Anemon, Executive Produced by: Madeleine Avramosi, Co-Produced by: Maria Steffenback Westergren – Toolbox, Adam Leibovitz – Flash Film Productions, Greece, Denmark, France
“ending”
Directed by: Michal Marczak, Produced by: Monika Pride – Pridemade Films, Poland
“Ways of Hope”
Directed by: Alexa Baconi, Produced by: Gábor Osvat, Veronica Gal – Filmfabriq Ltd., Hungary
“last summer”
Director: Jan Jurczak and Eleanora Iadkowskia, Production: Frieder Schleich – Filmgalerie 451, Germany
“Life is on hold”
Directed by: Anthony Hristov, Produced by: Svetla Tornin – Documentary Media Foundation, Bulgaria
“Mama Chlorine”
Directed by: Dorida Shogo, Produced by: Mina Dreki – Marni Films, Greece
“Jerusalem Memoirs”
Directed by: Kinda Kurdi, Produced by: Kinda Kurdi – K² Visual Media, Co-Produced by: Brian Hill – Century Films Ltd, Jordan, United Kingdom
“Missing in action”
Directed by: Katerina Holovko, Marharita Melnychuk, Produced by: Alyona Kachkan – Tabor, Ukraine
“My aunts”
Directed by: Hazal Hanket, Produced by: Aslihan Altug, Anna Maria Aslanoglu – Estos Film, Türkiye
“Oh heart, don’t be afraid.”
Directed by: Anna Kvishidze, Produced by: Avtandil Khorava – Monbo Productions, Co-Produced by: – Natalia Imaz – Parabellum Films, Mariam Betsadze – 07/17 Productions, Niko Mikadze – Moorman Original Pictures, Georgia, Germany
“Population resistance”
Directed by: Nikos Bellos, Produced by: Daphne Kalafati – Filmiki Productions, Greece
“The white man took her.”
Directed by: Ana Sofía Fonseca, Produced by: Daniela Reis, Ana Sofía Fonseca – Carrossel Produções, Portugal
AGORA XR Laboratory Projects
“Bitxo”
Writer: Lau McQuedano, Production: Alberto Lopez Garrido – La Mola Studios, Valet Safe Manrique – Piragna Animacion and Lau McQuedano, Co-production: Natsu Carrasco – HD Studio, Ruben Coca – Artyc Content, Spain, Colombia
“Imagine a farewell station.”
Author: Aristotelis Marajkos, Production: Konstantinos Koukoulis – Πlankton Films, Co-writer: Dimitris Delinikolas, Co-production: Emptyfilm, Greece
“Killing is her hobby”
Creators: Emilie Valentin and Stella Jacob, Production: Arnaud Culinart and Oriani Hourard – Atlas V, Co-production: Clarence Grolmann – Factory K5, France, Germany
“Solimbia”
Creator: Christos Porantas, Greece
“Sourdough Tales”
Written by: Danai Beloussinov and Ilya Kalogianni, Greece, Netherlands
