Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival Sets 2024 Pitching Forum And ‘In Progress’ Sidebar With Projects From Palestine, Italy & Denmark

Zac Ntim
·5 min read

EXCLUSIVE: The Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival’s industry-focused AGORA section has selected 12 projects from 11 countries for this year’s Thessaloniki Pitching Forum and 11 films from 16 countries for the AGORA Docs in Progress sidebar. Scroll down for the full list of projects.

All selected projects are from Southeastern Europe and the Mediterranean region.

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The re-shaped Thessaloniki Pitching Forum is the festival’s co-financing and co-production forum for documentaries in development. Recent projects that have passed through the program include Boylesque (Poland, Czechia), which premiered at Hot DOCS 2022, Dead Sea Guardians (Israel, USA), which premiered at Haifa IFF (2021) and was screened in Thessaloniki (2022), Karaoke Nation (Finland, Sweden, Germany) premiered at CPH: DOX (2022), A Steady Job (Italy, France) premiered at Visions du Reel (2022), We Will Not Fade Away premiered at Berlinale 2023 and Mighty Afrin (Greece) premiered at Thessaloniki IDF 2023 and won the WWF Award.

This year, the Thessaloniki Pitching Forum has secured three new awards for its participants. The IEFTA Award for Best Documentary in Development comes with a €10,000 cash prize, the Eurodoc Award of €1,000, and the Sunny Side of the Doc Prize, which comes with 2 industry passes and €500 towards travel expenses.

Long-term festival partnerships include the Onassis Foundation, who present Greek filmmakers with a project at either Thessaloniki Pitching Forum or the Agora Docs in Progress, the Onassis Film Award of €5,000, and the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT), which presents the ERT Award of €2,000 for a Greek project.

The 2024 Thessaloniki Pitching Forum jury includes Mario Adamson, Producer, Sisyfos Films – Sweden, Sophie Duncan, Marketplace & Talent Programmes Producer, Sheffield DocFest – UK, and Suzanne Nodale, Sales Agent, Cinephil – Israel.

The Agora Docs in Progress showcases films just before completion through industry screening of selected excerpts. Recent titles that have been previously discovered at the Agora Docs in Progress include Diaries from Lebanon (Lebanon, France, Qatar, Saudi Arabia) which is set for Berlinale Panorama Dokumente 2024,  Greek film Queen of Deuce (2022), which premiered at DOC NYC, and Notes on Displacement (Palestine, Germany, Qatar – 2022), which premiered at IDFA 2022.

The participants are mentored by Anna Glogowski. The films are eligible for the following awards: The Two Thirty-Five (2|35) Post-Production Main Award, the 119 Marvila Studios Award for sound mixing services, the Greek Film Centre Award of €3,000 and the Neaniko Plano Subtitling Award. The 2024 Agora Docs in Progress jury includes Hanne Biermann, Festivals & Marketing Manager, Film Harbour – The Netherlands, Pierre-Alexis Chevit, Head of Cannes Docs, Marché du Film – Festival de Cannes – France, and Kumjana Novakova, filmmaker, film curator, Pravo Ljudski & Medea – North Macedonia, Bosnia & Herzegovina.

Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival runs March 7 – 17.

Thessaloniki Pitching Forum Projects:

DARK BLUE RIVER

Director: Sergej Kreso, Producer: Harmen Jalvingh – Doxy Films

Netherlands

IF THESE STONES COULD TALK

Director: Hana Elias, Producer: Asmahan Bkerat

Palestine

KAFKA IN BELGRADE

Director: Maša Nešković, Producers: Maja Medić, Ena Bajraktarević – Marienbad film

Serbia

In collaboration with CIRCLE Doc Women Accelerator

LAKE

Director: Nikos Ziogas, Producers: Konstantina Stavrianou & Rena Vougioukalou – Graal Films, Antigoni Papantoni – rawDOCS

Greece

MOUNTAIN CRIES

Director: Lavinia Xausa, Producer: Sam Godfried – Yalla Docs

Netherlands

OPERATION “CHAMPION”

Director: Mariam Nikolaishvili, Producer: Irina Gelashvili – Radium Films

Georgia

SURVIVORS

Directors: Nina-Maria Paschalidou, Maria Louka, Producers: Mina Dreki, Iro Aidoni – Marni Films

Greece

THE SECRET HAND

Director: Valerio Valente, Producer:  Paolo Maria Spina – Revolver, Co-producers: Enrico Cannizzo – Filmine, Boris Despodov – Arthouse Blockbusters, Wojciech Karubin – Movie Mates

Italy, Germany, Bulgaria, Poland

WHILE OUR SUN BURNS

Director: David Krøyer, Producer: Anna Marina Skouros – Onomamono, Co-producer: Rea Apostolides – Anemon Productions

Denmark, Greece

WHY THE F*** AM I SO SAD?

Director: Nela Märki, Producer: Martin Rattini – Helios Sustainable Films

Italy

WOMEN OF 1922 (working title)

Directors: Aris Kaplanidis, Elias Roumeliotis, Producer: Ioanna Soultani – Soul Productions, Co-producer: Tonia Mishiali – Bark Like A Cat

Greece, Cyprus

WOMEN WALK HOME

Director: Stephanie Andreou, Producer: Adrián Gutiérrez – Astarte Films

Cyprus

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The Agora Docs in Progress films:

DARK WATERS

Director: Marianna Economou, Producer: Rea Apostolides – Anemon Productions
Greece

DON’T WORRY SARI!
Director: Sari Haragonics, Producers: Sara Laszlo, Inez Matis, Marcell Gero – Campfilm Ltd, Co-producer: Boris Despodov – Arthouse Blockbusters
Hungary, Bulgaria

DREAM COLLECTOR
Director/Producer: Sonja Djekic – KEVA, Co-producers: Tamara Babun, Matija Drnikovic – Wolfgang&Dolly
Serbia, Croatia

EDUARD
Director: Sophie Shevardnadze, Producer: Archil Gelovani, Sergei Yahontov – Independent Film Project
Georgia

HAPPY YOU’RE HERE

Director: Lucas Habte, Producer: Isidore Bethel – Alice Films, Co-producers: Lucas Habte, Juan Carlos Malavé
France, United States, Puerto Rico, Ethiopia

LO
Director: Thanassis Vassiliou, Producer: Orlane Dumas – Les Films de l’AubeSauvage, Co-producer: Konstantinos Vassilaros – StudioBauhaus
France, Greece

MAILIN

Director/Producer: María Silvia Esteve – HANA Films, Co-producers: Alejandra López – IKKI Films, Radu Stancu,Cristina Haneș – deFilm
Argentina, France, Romania

Ms. PRESIDENT

Director: Marek Šulík, Producer: Barbara Janišová Feglová – HITCHHIKER Cinema, Co-producers: Ivo Andrle – Aerofilms, Alena Müllerová – Czech Television, Tibor Horváth – Radio and Television Slovakia, Marek Šulík – Filmotras

Slovakia, Czech Republic

SUPER PARADISE
Director: Steve Krikris, Producers: Dafni Kalafati, Paul Typaldos – Filmiki S.A, Co-producer: Titus Kreyenberg – unafilm
Greece, Germany

THE FIRST LADY

Directors: Udi Nir, Sagi Bornstein, Producer: Udi Nir – udiVsagi production, Co-producer: Georg Tschurtschenthaler – Beetz Brothers Film Production
Israel, Germany

THE SECRETS OF THE OWL
Director: Eirini Vourloumis, Producer: Leonidas Liambeys – Long Run Productions, Co-producer: Eirini Vourloumis – Boulis Films
Greece

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