Greeks snag the majority of Agora awards at Thessaloniki
- Local projects win three out of six awards, but Aramisova’s Czech/Slovak co-produced project Kids from the East takes the top prize
Celebrating its ten-year-anniversary, the Thessaloniki International Film Festival’s industry activity, aptly titled Agora, gave out its annual awards to projects seeking a jumpstart or nearing completion, with three out of six gongs going to local works.
Aramisova’s upcoming project, Kids from the East (Czech/Slovak Republic), bagged the top prize at the Crossroads Co-Production Forum, winning full post-production services from the outfit Two Thirty Five, along with a free accreditation for the Cannes 2015 Producers’ Network for the project’s producer, Michal Kračmer, of Cinedix. The project also won the MFI’s Script 2 Film Workshops scholarship.
Sonia Liza Kenderman’s Greek feature debut, Tailor, produced by Blonde SA’s Fenia Cossovitsa, won the €7,000 CNC Development Award, also handed out by the Forum jury, comprising Ewa Puszczynska (producer, Opus Film, Poland), Elise Jalladeau (producer/audiovisual attachée of the French Embassy in Greece, France) and Thania Dimitrakopoulou (sales agent, The Match Factory, Germany).
Vatche Boulghourjian’s Lebanese film, Tramontane [+see also:
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Argyris Papadimitropoulos’ third feature, Suntan [+see also:
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film profile], won the Works in Progress Prize of up to €70,000 in post-production services, offered by Graal. “It’s great to win a prize before you’ve even finished the shoot,” said director Papadimitropoulos, with producer Phaedra Vokali, of Marni Films, adding: “Lacking the Greek Film Center’s support, it was a prize we dearly needed.”
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