Balkanfund Thessaloniki Int.Filmfest preselected „Stormywind” by Sergej Stanojkovski/Miodrag Lukic

September 18, 2005 -- Twelve new projects were short-listed and will be presented by their writers, directors and producers during this year’s 3-day event at the 46th edition of the Festival, from November 19 to 21. The projects will be presented to an international five (5) member jury, who after the 3-day workshop and “open” discussion with each applicant, will grant 4 out of the 12 projects with a 10.000€ ticket each, thus contributing to the development of their scripts. In the meantime, the applicants will have the opportunity to meet and discuss individually with a selected number of film professionals such as fund directors, producers, distributors and sales agents who are specifically invited to Thessaloniki to follow the proceedings of the Balkan Fund. This year the Balkan Fund meets with a substantial increase of interest as it has now established its position as an important and most inspiring event in the development and collaboration of new filmmaking in the Balkans, ensuring the market’s trust regarding the quality of the projects selected.

The international interest in the Balkan Fund is demonstrated by the participation of co-funding French CNC and German Goethe Film Institut. Besides, the Balkan Fund is a member of the European Film Funds Association, along with other prominent programmes such as the Hubert Bals Fund, the World Film Fund and the Goeteborg Film Fund, representatives of which will be also attending the proceedings of the 3-day Workshop.

This year’s 12 pre-selected projects are hereby presented in alphabetical order:

1. _ Conversation with Serafim, writer/director Silviu Purcarete, producer Tudor Giurgiu (Romania)
2. Asphyxiation, writer/director Asli Özge, producer Deniz Kunkut (Turkey)
3. Chinatown – The three shelters, writer/director Aliki Danezi -Knutsen, producer Anna Tsiarta (Cyprus)
4. Cum in the Rye, writer Dimitrije Vojnov, director/producer Srdjan Dragojevic (Serbia & Montenegro)
5. J.A.C.E. – Just Another Confused Elephant, writer/director/ producer Menelaos Karamaghiolis, co-producer Marco Müller (Greece)
6. Paloma Negra, writer/director Miha Mazzini (Slovenia)
7. Queen Victoria, writer/director Maya Ivanova Vitkova (Bulgaria)
8. Steppe Winds, writer/director Semih Kaplanoglu (Turkey)
9. Stormy Wind, writer/director/producer Sergei Stanojkovski, writer Miodrag Lukic, (Croatia/ Bosnia & Herzegovina)
10. The Rescued, writer Ivan Jovanovi_, director/producer Srdjan Sarenac (Serbia & Montenegro)
11. Try it!, writer/director Andreas Siadimas, producer Panos Papadopoulos (Greece)
12. Welcome Aboard, writer/directror Costantine Giannaris, producer George Lykiardopoulos (Greece)

Last year’s four awarded projects (Hidden Faces, by writer/director Handan Ipekci, Turkey, Snow, by writer/director Aida Begic and producer Elma Tataragic, Bosnia & Herzegovina, The Only Love Affair Hemingway Did Not Write About, by writer/director Svetloslav Ovcharov and producer Assen Vladimirov, Bulgaria, and The Hedgehog, by writer/director Nikos Grammatikos and co-writer Nikos Panayotopoulos, Greece) have already concluded with the development of their scripts and are in different stages of pre-production. The project Snow in particular was invited, after the Balkan Fund Workshop, to Cinefondation at the Cannes Film Festival by director of Cinefondation and last year’s jury member, Georges Goldenstern.

Among the projects selected in the two previous editions of the Balkan Fund Workshop, one can find the next films of filmmakers such as Christian Mungiu, (Romania), known from his feature film Occident, Sophia Zornitsa, (Bulgaria), who impressed with last year’s festival success Mila from Mars, of Serbian director Dusan Milic, known from the hit film Jagoda in the Supermarket, Igor Sterk (Slovenia) and Ludmil Todorov (Bulgaria), but also Greek director Fotini Siskopoulou who was awarded last year at the National Greek Awards for her latest film Rakushka.

Finally, the first results from the previously awarded projects of the programme are already showing: The project Grbavica, from the young and Fipresci awarded director Jasmila Zbanich, which was co-produced by well known Austrian director Barbara Albert, has finished shooting and has already attracted the attention of the A-Festival programmers. The project The Journey, by Albanian director Artan Minarolli, has received, after the Balkan Fund, additional funding by the Hubert Bals Fund and is now in search of further production financing. The Coat, a project from well-known Turkish director _utlug Ataman, to whom the Balkan Survey section of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival is dedicating a tribute, is already in pre-production, along with UK based Scala Productions and German Heimat Produktion. Small Crime, a script collaboration between writers from Greece and Serbia & Montenegro, was also funded by SEE and Media Plus, after receiving the Balkan Fund grant, while Twenty-Twenty Vision from Germany, the producers of which were present at the Balkan Fund, joined the co-production team.

The success of the Balkan Fund lies partly in the “open” discussion/presentation meetings with the international jury, which are followed by most fruitful individual co-development and co-production meetings, scheduled for every participant with the representatives of production and distribution companies who are participating in the workshop. Having said that, one of the main goals of the Balkan Fund is for all selected projects to benefit from their participation at the workshop, regardless of the jury’s decision on the awards, giving them the opportunity to communicate and present their ideas in the presence of international film professionals who can thus evaluate and eventually participate in the conclusion of their film projects.

With programmes such as the Balkan Fund the city of Thessaloniki becomes one of the most important cultural centers of Southeastern Europe, at least as far as cinematography and the important issue of script development is concerned. Furthermore, the Balkan Fund contributes to the reconstitution of the Balkans, a fact that is confirmed by the presence of several representatives from political institutions. After the success of the first two years and the positive response from the international film industry, the Balkan Fund workshop is undoubtedly one of the most important events of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival.The Balkan Fund is run by Christina Kallas, artistic director, Lucia Rikaki, coordinator, and Angeliki Vergou, assistant.For more information please contact website www.filmfestival.gr or write to: balkanfund@filmfestival.gr


Contact Info
Press @ Stanojkovski Sergej

P.O.Box 140310
45443 Muelheim
Germany

Phone: +491791438210

Web site: http://www.sergejstanojkovski.com



***
Source: theopenpress.com

This release was published on openPR.