Balkan Fund
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THE BALKAN FUND
THESSALONIKI INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL SCRIPT DEVELOPMENT FUND
THE DEADLINE FOR THE 8th BALKAN FUND IS JUNE 1st 2010
Why script development?
The importance of the screenplay to the artistic and commercial success of a film project is a now long acknowledged fact. Script development is an area, which although much less costly than production itself, lacks substantial support, especially in the Balkans. The International Thessaloniki Film Festival has therefore initiated and operates the BALKAN FUND since 2003.
Why the Balkans?
The Thessaloniki Film Festival Script Development Fund addresses a geographical area which is not fully covered by any other festival fund: the Balkans or South-Eastern Europe, specifically Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, FYROM, Greece, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia and Turkey. The BALKAN FUND, from historically multicultural Thessaloniki, supports filmmakers from this region in their efforts to develop their projects as professionally as possible and thus supports the filmmaking process in what has historically been one of the most explosive regions of modern day Europe, a region full of stories waiting to be told.
What are the selection criteria?
The main concern is to evaluate the artistic and storytelling content of the projects. Each project is judged on its own merits. However, there are some basic criteria, which need to be met:
• The BALKAN FUND only supports feature-length fiction projects with a potential for theatrical release.
• The development and production country must belong to the above mentioned group of countries.
• The project has to be original, authentic and directly connected to the history and culture of its country of origin. It should contribute to the development of the local film industry and of local filmmaking skills.
• The BALKAN FUND only supports projects, which have a realistic and complete development and production plan.
What is the exact procedure?
All applications have to be submitted in English. The applications, which fulfil the selection criteria will be first evaluated by a group of experienced readers, while each project will receive two reports by two different readers, in order to avoid selection on the basis of personal artistic preference alone. The first round will lead to the nomination of 8 -10 projects, which will be then forwarded to the international jury. The international jury is composed each year of active and development-experienced film professionals.
The nominated projects will be eventually presented in the workshop during the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, held annually in November. During the workshop the nominated filmmakers/ groups will present and discuss their projects with the international jury. The announcement of each year’s awards is made during the International Thessaloniki Film Festival in November.
BALKAN FUND Projects
Films such as Snow written/ directed by Aida Begic, California Dreamin’ (endless) written/ directed by Cristian Nemescu, Grbavica written/ directed by Jasmila Zbanic, The Happiest Girl in the World written by Radu Jude and Augustina Stanciu, directed by Radu Jude, First of All, Felicia written/ directed by Razvan Radulescu and Melissa de Raaf, Small Crime written/ directed by Christos Georgiou and Here & There written/ directed by Darko Lungulov emerged from the BALKAN FUND. Other highly anticipated projects in the pipeline are: A Heart Shaped Balloon written by Bogdan Mustata and Catalin Mitulescu, directed by Catalin Mitulescu, Welcome Aboard by Constantine Giannaris, Zincograph written by Vladislav Todorov and directed by Javor Gardev, Mother of Asphalt written/directed by Dalibor Matanic and Romanian Spring written/ directed by Anca Lazarescu.
THE MAXIMUM POSSIBLE CONTRIBUTION FOR SCRIPT DEVELOPMENT IS UP TO 10.000 PER PROJECT
For more information please contact balkanfund@filmfestival.gr
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