Thessaloniki's Agora selects 14 projects for Crossroads forum
Thessaloniki's Agora industry programme has selected 14 film projects from 15 countries for this year's Crossroads Co-production Forum, according to Variety. The slate draws on Southeastern Europe and the Mediterranean region.
The forum runs from 8 to 12 November. It is a market for films still in development. Directors and producers pitch early ideas to potential co-producers, financiers and sales specialists in search of money and partners.
Fourteen projects. Fifteen countries. The search for backing starts in Thessaloniki.
The jury brings together production and buying experience. It includes Ioanna Bolomyti, producer and founder of Atalante Productions in Greece; Fred Burle, producer at One Two Films in Germany; and Linda Mutawi, producer at Fikra in Sweden. The fourth member is Remi Burah, chief executive of Arte France Cinéma in France.
Agora has added a new prize to the mix, the Frenel Post Lab Post-production Award, as reported by Variety. It will provide post-production image services, the colour grading and finishing work done after shooting, to one winning project.
The selected titles stretch across the region. They include A Pair of Shoes in the Dark Corner of the Moon by Ayman El Amir from Egypt, The Arab of Your Dreams by Patrick Tass from Belgium and A Touch of Paradise by Houcem Slouli from Tunisia. Also named are Boys of Summer by Emilios Avraam from Cyprus and Fuoristagione by Isabella Rinaldi from Italy.
Greece fields three entries. They are Koukitsa by Christina Koutsospyrou and Aran Hughes, Lava Love by Steve Krikris, and Tettix by Stella Serefoglou from Greece and Germany. The list also includes In Those Darkest Nights by Gözde Kural from Turkey and Germany and Petroli by Gemma Blasco from Spain.
The remaining selection is Religion of Night Walks by Nikola Ležaić from Croatia and Serbia, The Last Angel of Beirut by Valentin Noujaïm from France and They Bloom at Dawn by Angela Dimeska from North Macedonia. This Is Not a Set by Yumna Marwan from Jordan completes the 14.
For viewers, this means patience. These are projects on paper, not finished films, and most will take years of financing, shooting and editing before they reach a screen.
