Jiri Menzel will preside over Thessaloniki Festival

With less than ten days to go before the start of the event, we have the pleasure to contact you again with the latest news from this year’s 48th Thessaloniki International Film Festival, which kicks off Friday November 16th.

A number of two hundred and thirty films (features and shorts), representing 40 nations, compose this year’s festival program. A complete list of this year’s line up is attached at the end of this press release. Nearly one thousand guests are expected to be present, including the creative teams from the films presented in the various sections of the event, as well as 90 foreign film critics and journalists plus their local counterparts.

My Blueberry Nights by Wong Kar-Wai will be the opening film on Friday, November 16th at 21.30.

The Darjeeling Limited by Wes Anderson will be the closing film during the awards gala on Sunday, November 25th at 20.30.


INTERNATIONAL JURY

The seven-member International Jury called to judge the films of the International Competition section and to award the Golden and Silver Alexanders, (Euros 37,000 and 22,000 respectively) plus a number of additional awards backed by Euros 25,000 in cash, is composed of:


Jiri Menzel, Director (Czech Republic), President

Lucrecia Martel, Director (Argentina)

Yasmin Ahmad, Director / Producer / Actress (Malaysia)

Michael Fitzgerald, Producer (USA)

Nae Caranfil, Director (Romania)

Fred Roos, Producer (USA)

Olga Broumas, Poet / Professor (Greece)



The press conference of the jury will be held on November 18th at 14.00 in WAREHOUSE C.


FIPRESCI JURY

The five-member Fipresci Jury called to judge films in the International Competition and the Greek Films 2007 sections is composed of:

Alin Tasciyan, President (Turkey)

Pablo Utin (Israel)

Shahla Nahid (France)

Raghavendra Mirle (India)

Dimitris Babas (Greece)


THE PROGRAMME

We have sent you numerous press releases during the past months informing you about the sections, retrospectives, spotlights and special events which form, together with the Official sections (International Competition, Out of Competition, Special Screenings) the program of this year’s festival (John Sayles Retrospective, Tribute to New Spanish Cinema, Tribute to William Klein, Independence Days, Tribute to Mikio Naruse, Greek Films 2007, Balkan Survey + Tribute to Nae Caranfil, Focus: Contemporary Wars, Balkan Fund, Greek Tributes, Guests). The International Competition section programmed by festival director Despina Mouzaki is composed of 14 first or second films by new and emerging directors. The official programme also features 3 films presented Out of Competition and another 12 in the Special Screenings section.

Below you will find some additional information on the 48th TIFF event.


INDUSTRY CENTER

The umbrella Industry Center includes the Film Market, the five years old regional script development Balkan Fund, the Salonica Studio/Film Students workshop, as well as the Crossroads co-production initiative. Crossroads, headed by former Cannes Fortnight topper French producer Marie-Pierre Macia, has selected 14 co-production projects coming from 6 countries of the Balkan region and Eastern Mediterranean. One project chosen by an international jury after a series of one to one meetings during the festival will be awarded 10.000 Euros offered by Nokia N series.
Crossroads will introduce a new section with a special Focus on Turkey and young Turkish producers will present their projects and follow the presentation with an open discussion.
The prestigious “Club des Producteurs” (European Producers Club) will again this year collaborate with Crossroads, co-organizing a conference on film piracy. Representatives from top sales and distribution companies, among them Time Warner and Warner Bros Entertainment Europe, will be participating in the event.

48th TIFF CROSSROADS PROJECTS

1. Housewife, director: Athina Rachel Tsangari, producer: Anne Walker- McBay, Greece / USA

2. The Policeman, director: Nadav Lapid, producer: Geraldine Michelot, Edgard Tenembaum, France / Israel


3. Hannibal ante portas, director: Elissavet Chronopoulou, producer: Costas Lambropoulos, Greece

4. Chinatown, the Three Shelters, director: Aliki Danezi-Knutsen, producer: Anna Tsiarta & George Lykiardopoulos, Cyprus / Greece

5. Fade, director: Alexis Alexiou, producer: Maria Drandaki, Greece

6. In the Name of Death, I Will Love You Forever, producer: Carlo D’Ursi, Italy

7. Brahim…the Last of the Storytellers, director: Zaneddine Chadi, producer: Samuel Chauvin, Lebanon

8. The Kino Karavan, director: Titus Muntean, producer: Oana Giurgiu, Romania

9. Wedding in Bessarabia, director: Napoleon Helmis, producer: Dan Ratiu, Romania

10. Autumn’s Lament, director: Özcan Alper, producer: Serkan Acar, Turkey

11. In My Shoes, director: Mehmet Eryilmaz, producer: Rosset Gülay, Turkey

12. Lodos, director: Didem Erayda, producer: Munire Armstrong, Turkey

13. My Only Sunshine, director: Reha Erdem, producer: Ömer Atay & Gülin Üstün, Turkey

14. Swell, director: George Panoussopoulos, producer: Vassilis Katsoufis (based on the book Swell by Ioanna Karystiani), Greece