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THE FIRST BALKAN FUND AWARDS
The first awards of the newly established Balkan
Fund of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival
were awarded yesterday following a three day workshop
during which Balkan FundŐs pre-selected directors and
producers had the chance to present their future projects
to the numerous professional decision makers who attended
the workshop, and furthermore to the FundŐs international
jury composed by Gunnar Bergdahl, director/ex head
of the Goteborg Film Festival, Leonard Crooks, head
of the Glasgow Film Fund, Georges Goldenstern, Cinefondation
Cannes Film Festival, Christina Kallas, writer-producer
and artistic director of the Balkan Fund, and Dunja
Klemenc, producer and head of the association of Slovenian
producers.
The four Balkan Fund awards went to the film projects:
The Journey by Artan Minarolli, Albania.
A tragicomedy set at the time when democracy finally
reaches Albania. The story of a yearlong prisoner who
has to become a cleancut citizen overnight. A story
reminding us of "Goodbye Lenin" in its historical
absurdity.
The Coat by Kutlug Ataman, Turkey, director of worldwide
released and critically acclaimed "Lola und Billydikid".
The Coat tells the story of a friendship between two
girls in Cyprus just after the separation. In the center
we find a young Turkish Cypriot girl who has moved
to someone elseŐs house in the former Greek part of
the island and is given the beautiful and oversized
coat of the girl who lived there before.
"
I feel present life imposed on people of Cyprus is
like that coatÉ",says Kutlug. "it is stolen,
it is imposed, and it does not fit."
Grbavica, by the young and Fipresci-awarded filmmaker
Jasmila Zbanich and co-produced by the well known Austrian
director Barbara Albert, tells a very special mother-daughter
story set in Grbavica, a section of Sarajevo which
was a concentration camp during the war. It is the
story of a single mother doomed by the fate of having
been raped and forced to deliver the daughter whom
she now needs to learn to love.
Small Crime, a co-production between Cyprus, Greece
and Serbia & Montenegro, is born out of the Balkan
synergy of writer-producers Christos Georgiou, director
of the Montreal-awarded "Under the Stars",
and Srdjan Koljevic, one of the most active and successful
screenwriters of former Yugoslavia. It is a charming
small intimate piece set on a Greek island, telling
the story of Leonidas, a small town police officer
who finally gets the chance to conduct a real life
murder case.
All the professionals attending the workshop evaluated
the Balkan Fund initiative as an extremely positive
one. The applicants appreciated especially the experience
transfer during the workshop, where they could also
benefit from individual meetings and thus enhance their
projectŐs international potential.
The deadline for the next session of the Balkan Fund
is June 30th 2004. Application form and regulations
can be found at the festivalŐs website www.filmfestival.gr
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