The Thessaloniki International Film Festival, venerable and well loved by all was not covered at all this year by Variety due to extreme cuts internally. Screen International's Dan Fainaru was there but may not be there next year as they are also cutting back 30% which is less than Variety. The festival was quite separate from the market and Agora, the market component of the festival, seems to be making more inroads internationally than the festival itself. Now in its fourth year the market hosted Balkans Works in Progress a selection of 14 films which reveal such current concerns as racism, immigration, post Communist violence, the Ottomon legacy, some notably professional and others fledgling. I would tell you my favorites except that some clients are already pursuing them and I promised not to give them away. CoProduction one on one meetings and industry screenings of the official festival selection as well as other Greek, south eastern European, south eastern Mediterranean and Balkan productions complemented one another. Sadly Theo Angelopoulos' newest film 'The Dust of Time' which premiered at the festival was not allowed to be screened in the market itself as Angelopoulos wants to wait for its premiere in Berlin. New Cyprus film initiatives were highlighted and their production outpput will grow from one film in 2008 to seven new films in 2009. And of course a selection of Greek films now shooting or in post was also offered in the market, most notably 'Athens, Istanbul' a moodily beautiful road romance between a sophisticated recently separated attorney and a free spirited woman for whom life on the road is a solution to unnamed issues. FilmFinders was invited to attend Agora run by Margarita Eliopoulou. Distributors and sales agents attending included The Little Film Company (USA), Bankside (UK), The Global Film Initiative (USA), Cineplex Development (Taiwan), Film House (Mexico), First Distributors (Hong Kong), Cineplex (Colombia), Soda Pictures (UK), Daisy Entertainment (Korea), Rezo Films (France), Trust Film Sales (Denmark), Mdc International (Germany), Kinowelt Medien (Germany), Wide Management (France), Fortissimo (UK, The Netherlands, Hong Kong), The Coproduction Office (France), FilmSharks (Argentina), Joint Entertainment International[/link]Joint Entertainment International (Taiwan and US), Contraplana (Spain), Spentzos (Greece), Visit Films (US), Anolis (Germany), iArthouse (US), Vanguard (US), Memento Films (France), as well as representatives of such festivals as New York, Rotterdam, Locarno, Tribeca, San Francisco, Berlin (Forum), Cannes (Quinzaine des Realisateurs), Karlovy Vary. Claudia Landsberger, President of the European Film Promotion (EFP) is also participating in one-on-one meetings with international marketing consultants for producers of films participating in the official selection of the festival and for "works in progress" produced in the Balkans. Participating consultants include Clay Epstein (Little Film Company, USA), Peter Belsito (Withoutabox- IMDB, USA) and Gerry Moraitis (CinemaVault, Canada). Also in attendance were Eurimage's new director, Roberto Olla, and a representative from MEDIA Programme as well. Last year 36 films from South Eastern Europe obtained distribution in 18 different world territories. 283 films were granted backing towards distribution, 73 of which were from Greece (an increase of 45,5%), and 80 from South Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean (an increase of 93%).
- 11/18/2008
- Sydney's Buzz
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