65th Thessaloniki International Film Festival [31/10-10/11/2024]
Submit your projects to the Agora’s Crossroads Co-production Forum of the 65th Thessaloniki International Film Festival
Agora, the industry section of the Thessaloniki Film Festival announces its Open Call for the 20th Crossroads Co-production Forum for projects in development that will take place during the 65th Thessaloniki International Film Festival. Agora (November 1-9, 2024) has established itself as the brewing ground of new talents and new voices of audiovisual works and film professionals, coming from Greece, Southeastern Europe and the Mediterranean region. The ever-evolving Agora, introduces new initiatives and collaborations and cultivates new synergies, exchange and networking, as well as co-financing and distribution opportunities.
CROSSROADS CO-PRODUCTION FORUM
November 3-7, 2024
Applications will be available from April 23, 2024
Submission deadline: June 21, 2024
Crossroads Co-production Forum specializes in discovering emerging talents from Southeastern Europe and the Mediterranean regions. The application is open to experienced directors and producers as well as first-timers. The projects should be either produced or co-produced by a country within these regions or contain elements in the story that link them to these regions.
Countries that are eligible to submit are: Albania, Algeria, Armenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Egypt, France, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Kosovo*, Lebanon, Libya, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Morocco, North Macedonia, Palestine, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine.
The Bridge to the North country of focus will be announced soon.
Films that have been presented as projects in Crossroads Co-production Forum include: Kyuka - Before Summer's End - Kostis Charamoundanis (Cannes FF - ACID Cannes 2024), The Summer With Carmen - Zacharias Mavroeidis (Venice FF - Giornate degli Autori 2023), Blaga’s Lessons - Stephan Komandarev (Karlovy Vary IFF 2023), Medium - Christina Ioakeimidi (Sarajevo FF 2023), Inshallah a Boy - Amjad Al Rasheed (Cannes FF - Semaine de la Critique 2023), Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry - Elene Naveriani (Cannes FF - Quinzaine des Cinéastes 2023), The Sea and its Waves - Liana & Renaud (Cannes FF - ACID Cannes 2023), 20.000 Species of Bees - Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren (73rd Berlinale International Competition 2023 - Silver Berlin Bear/Best Leading Performance), Nightsiren - Tereza Nvotová (Locarno FF, Cineasti del Presente 2022 - Golden Leopard), How is Katia? - Christina Tynkevych (Locarno FF, Cineasti del Presente 2022 - Special Jury Prize, Best Actress), The Land Within - Fisnik Maxville (Black Nights Tallinn FF- Best Film - Best First Feature) Luzzu - Alex Camilleri (Sundance - World Cinema Dramatic Competition 2021 - Best Actor), Zuhal - Nazlı Elif Durlu (Black Nights Tallinn FF - International Competition 2021), 200 Meters - Ameen Nayfeh (Venice Days 2020 - People’s Choice Award), as well as award-winning films Mustang - Deniz Gamze Ergüven (Cannes FF - Directors' Fortnight 2015), When I Saw You - Annemarie Jacir (Toronto International Film Festival 2012), As I Open my Eyes - Leyla Bouzid (Venice FF - Giornate degli Autori 2015), Park - Sofia Exarchou (San Sebastián International Film Festival - New Directors Award 2016), September - Penny Panagiotopoulou (Karlovy Vary IFF 2013), Still River - Angelos Frantzis (Thessaloniki IFF 2018, Black Nights Tallinn FF), The Cakemaker - Ofir Raul Graizer (Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2017), Secret Ingredient - Gjorce Stavreski (Thessaloniki IFF - Audience Award).
Crossroads Co-production Forum Awards include:
Jury Awards
Independent Awards
For more information please visit our website.
In addition Agora continues the successful industry activities Agora Works in Progress, Agora Film Market, Thessaloniki Locarno Industry Academy, Meet the Future, Agora Short Film Lab, Agora Talks, and its most recent initiatives Agora Series and Bridge to the North.
AGORA WORKS IN PROGRESS
November 3 – 7, 2024
Applications will be available from May 29, 2024
Submission deadline: September 6, 2024
The Agora Works in Progress hosts sessions reserved only for the industry accredited guests. Participating projects will be presented to sales agents, distributors, producers and festival programmers. In this way, the professionals have access to films from the countries of the Mediterranean and Southeastern European regions just before completion.
AGORA FILM MARKET
November 3-December 31, 2024
Applications will be available from July 22, 2024
Submission deadline: October 14, 2024
The Agora Film Market promotes the majority of the feature films participating in the official sections of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival. The Film Market includes additional titles from the countries that Agora focuses on giving them the opportunity to find their way to other international film festivals, sales agents and distributors. Also, the Film Market includes a selection of Greek films produced within the past two years.
THESSALONIKI LOCARNO INDUSTRY ACADEMY
November 2-7, 2024
Applications will be available from July 15, 2024
Application deadline: August 16, 2024
The Locarno Film Festival and the Thessaloniki International Film Festival are organizing the Industry Academy, a joint initiative aiming to give a significant boost to the careers of new film professionals. It is a training program created to help young professionals of the cinema industry –sales agents, distributors and new media professionals– to extend their experience and networking in the fields of international sales, marketing, distribution and programming.
AGORA SERIES
November 2-3, 2024
Agora Series, one of ΤIFF Agora’s most recent initiatives, returns once again with a two full-day programme, on Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd of November 2024. The successful new initiative, which was launched in 2022, includes masterclasses by industry experts, insightful talks on the trend topics of the audiovisual industry, such as AI, IP and social impact as well as co-production case study project presentations. This year, the Agora Series through its programming and sessions sets the focus in series co-production for television and streaming platforms.
AGORA SHORT FILM LAB
November 3-7, 2024
Agora Short Film Lab is an initiative co-organized with the Clermont-Ferrand International Short FF and the Drama International Short FF. Taking place across three days and comprising sessions, seminars and talks with experienced professionals about various parts of the industry, the Agora Short Film Lab brings together directors of award-winning short films from the two festivals.
MEET THE FUTURE
Every year we present to the international industry professionals up-and-coming talents of the Greek film industry. In previous events, the Festival focused on film directors, directors of photography, film editors, young actors and scriptwriters. Soon we will be announcing the participants of this year’s Meet the Future.
BRIDGE TO THE NORTH
Agora’s most recent initiative, Bridge to the North, is a new collaborative bridge between the South and the North οf Europe by hosting each year a different guest country from the Baltic and Scandinavian region. Bridge to the North is exploring new opportunities in financing and artistic collaborations and is creating fertile ground for co-productions, synergies and cultural exchange.
AGORA TALKS
Each year, Agora organizes Agora Talks, industry-focused open discussions and presentations aiming to offer best practices and practical information to Agora and Festival accredited guests in collaboration with our partners. Subjects are diverse and can touch upon co-production opportunities, film case studies, mental health in our industry, green film production, film marketing, distribution (alternative, digital etc.), inclusivity, representativeness and more.
For more information on this year’s AGORA please visit https://www.filmfestival.gr/en/professionals/tiff-agora or contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
*This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244/1999 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.
