26/10/2022 - The industry section of the gathering’s 63rd edition is kicking off a section dedicated to series and pressing on with its successful initiatives

Scriptwriter, director and actor Yorgos Kapoutzidis, who is this year's Agora ambassador

The 63^rd Thessaloniki International Film Festival is scheduled to run from 3-13 November, and Agora, its industry section, has now announced its complete selection for this edition. The Agora will take place from 4-12 November, and this year, the strand’s ambassador will be scriptwriter, director and actor Yorgos Kapoutzidis, who will promote the section's events and unveil the newly established Agora Series section. Furthermore, Angeliki Vergou is the new head of Thessaloniki’s Agora.

The Agora Video Library will be available through Cinando, and it will be accessible to accredited guests, offering them the chance to watch a selection of films from Agora and the festival's programme. At the 18^th Crossroads Co-Production Forum, a total of 14 projects have been selected (see the news), while another highlight of Agora is the Works in Progress session, which will present eight films currently in post-production (see the news).

Agora Series will run on 10 November, in collaboration with the Greek Film Centre, with the aim of setting up a network for communication with the professionals who create series for TV networks and platforms, but also to serve as a steady meeting point and springboard for future actions that can contribute to the further development of the field. This year’s kick-off includes networking actions and discussion panels that will give the floor to speakers, professionals and artists involved in series production, from both Greece and abroad.

In particular, Agora Series will feature representatives of Greek broadcasters, creators of some of the most successful local series from the past few years, and acclaimed professionals. The international guests include Italian content manager Veronica Vitali (Netflix), Sam Hoyle (Sky Studios), UK-based Julien Leroux (executive producer of the TV series Tehran), Boban Jevtić (Firefly Productions) and Peter Nadermann (from Germany’s Nadcon Production). In addition, the audience will have the chance to attend a master class on the creation and development of TV content delivered by renowned US scriptwriter and producer Victor Quinaz.

For the fourth consecutive year, the Meet the Future section is being organised, an initiative that, as the name suggests, aims to showcase the future talents of the industry. For this edition, seven actors and actresses who have already taken their first steps in Greek cinema will be showcasing their work. The selected participants include Klelia Andriolatou, Vangelis Evangelinos, Iosif Gavrielatos, Konstantinos Georgopoulos, Abigael Loma, Efthalia Papacosta and Niki Papandreou.

The other initiative for young professionals, the sixth edition of the Thessaloniki-Locarno Industry Academy (5-10 November), is set to welcome eight emerging professionals. They are Zuzana Černá, festival programmer, Prague IFF (Czech Republic); Anaïs Gagliardi, sales agent, Memento International (France); Manon Grodner, sales agent, Films Boutique (France); Tasos Mallios, festival programmer, Athens IFF and Aegean IFF (Greece); Senka Radivojević, sales agent, Film Republic (Serbia); Hugo Revello, sales agent, Kinology (France); and Ofelya Tovmasyan, sales agent, GoQuest Media (Armenia).

Furthermore, the second edition of the Agora Short Film Lab (6-9 November) is an initiative co-organised by the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival and the Drama International Short Film Festival. It comprises sessions, seminars and talks with experienced professionals about various areas of the industry. The directors eligible to take part are the three recipients of the most prestigious awards handed out in the Drama International Short Film Festival’s National Competition (the Golden Dionysus for Best Film, the Best Director Award and the Best Screenplay Award), Michalis Kimonas, Thanos Tokakis and Valentin Stejskal, as well as the three filmmakers who snatched the top awards at this year’s Clermont-Ferrand (the International Competition Grand Prize, the Lab Competition Grand Prize and the National Competition Grand Prize), Marion Harlez Citti, Théo Jollet, George-Alex Nagle.

On 5 November, a series of three hybrid Think Tanks take place, with their goals being to encourage active participation in a wider discussion, to trigger debate on related and relevant topics and issues, to enable the exchanging of views on impending challenges, and also to offer useful support to other European film markets – regardless of their size or impact – that are willing to seek answers to these questions of paramount importance: should film markets keep on operating in the same way? And what course of action would signal a meaningful change? Among the European film markets committed to taking part, other than Agora, are standout names such as the Cannes Marché du Film, the Berlinale Co-production Market, Venice Production Bridge, IFFR Pro, Karlovy Vary Eastern Promises, When East Meets West and more.