04/12/2018 - The Greek pubcaster is backing 21 Greek and international co-productions in its second round of financing for this year

Director Araceli Lemos, who has received the ERT's support for her debut feature, Holy Emy

The Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT SA) has announced that it is supporting 21 Greek and international co-productions during its latest round of financing. It should be noted that this is the first slate of funding announced by the new board of directors, as the previous board, which lasted just over a year, resigned in November, just one day after the beginning of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival.

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The support granted amounts to €1,500,000, in accordance with the rule that broadcasters should allocate 1.5% of their gross income to Greek cinema. The selection comprises 15 feature-length fiction titles, four documentaries and two film projects by visual artists. It’s worth noting that during this year, taking into account both this and the previous slate (see the news), ERT has outlaid close to €2.5 million, and according to its announcement, it is expected to distribute another round of funding, totalling close to €1 million, before the end of the year.

Among the selected fiction projects are the already well-travelled directorial debuts The Dragon Has Come by actor Christos Passalis and Holy Emy [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Araceli Lemos
film profile] by Araceli Lemos; the third feature by Yorgos Gkikapeppas (Silent [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]), Un Peu De Chaos Inexplicable; Maria Douza’s (The Tree and the Swing [+see also:
trailer
interview: Maria Douza
film profile]) sophomore feature, A Bag of Hair; Middle Earth (Mesogia) by Alexis Alexiou (Wednesday 04:45 [+see also:
trailer
film profile]); and the debut features The Siege on Liperti Street by Cypriot scriptwriter Stavros Pamballis (Boy on the Bridge [+see also:
trailer
film profile]) and Meltem [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by French-Greek filmmaker Basile Doganis.

Apart from the eight aforementioned feature-length fiction projects, the rest of the titles that will share the total grant of €1,295,000 are 731 by Yiannis Stravolaimos, Dream Island by Sofia Papahristou, 40 Days by Penny Panagiotopoulou, The River by Haris Raftogiannis, Black Stone by Spyros Iakovidis, Comic In & Out by Manos Arvanitakis, Hameno Alogo by Minos Eustathiades and Stella Alisanoglou, and Sti Siopi tou Vythou - Y1 by Filippos Vardakas.

Documentaries are being supported to the tune of €105,000, and the feature-length projects are Behind the Wall by Nefeli Sarri, Markos by Nikos Skarentzos, To Deftero Spiti by Ioanna Tsoucala and Fos stis Lexis by Sokratis Spanos. Finally, the two projects by visual artists that will be funded with €90,000 are Kala azar [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Janis Rafa
film profile] by Janis Rafailidou and The Intercept by Stefanos Tsivopoulos.