25/09/2006

A lot of things can make or break an international festival. Sometimes it is not the quality of films in the line-up but the side events that focus on things to come.

Such is the case with the Thessaloniki International Film Festival (November 17-26) which has managed to put itself on the map of European cinema by paying a close attention to an area full of talent and promise and, conveniently, very close to home – the Balkans.

Jasmila Zbanic’s Golden Bear in Berlin for Esma’s Secret [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Barbara Albert
interview: Jasmila Zbanic
film profile] last winter offered proof that TIFF’s vision through its Balkan Fund initiative is effective. Long before Berlin, Zbanic’s was one of four films selected to receive financing from the 2003 Fund.

The Fund is back for the fourth time this year, with 12 films from the Balkan region that will presented in a three-day workshop, four of which will be awarded €10,000 in financial backing.

The Fund will also play host to a conference on European Screenwriting in collaboration with the Federation of Scriptwriters in Europe and in association with the Robert Bosch Stiftung and the European Film Academy. The conference, to be attended by screenwriters and guilds from both Western and Eastern Europe, is expected to discuss the state of European screenwriting at times of change, such as now, when digitalization and globalisation issues are taking a front seat.

Along with the Balkan Fund the Market, Agora, and the Crossroads Co-production Forum will take place for the second year running.

German filmmaker Wim Wenders and Brazil’s Walter Salles will be the festival’s main guests this year, bringing along some of their best known works. Thessaloniki has yet to announce the program for its International Competition Section, the panorama of Greek films, the Independence Days, the Balkan Survey, and the numerous retrospectives and tributes to leading figures in the world of film, as well as Master Classes.