The first -and ideal- scenario is the Festival’s return to its natural home, the movie theaters. In this case, the Festival will present a smaller number of films, with more screenings per film, from November 5 to November 15, 2020. The films will be presented in the international competition sections, the tributes and the main program. At the same time, the 61st TIFF will present the Greek productions of the year.

At the same time, the Festival’s team is preparing for two alternative scenarios in case the Festival has to take place digitally. 

The Festival’s main goal, especially in these difficult times, is to support the Greek production with specific actions. With this in mind, the 61st TIFF presents a series of actions that will be implemented in all forms of the Festival. Among others, the 61st TIFF:

• Creates an educational hub for Greek directors who want to make the transition from short film to feature film, assisting them from the starting point of the idea/ concept in finding collaborations and completing their films. 
• Presents two new awards for Greek projects in the development sections of Agora, Crossroads and Works in Progress.
• Starts Agora Lab, a development workshop for Greek projects. There, internationally acclaimed film experts will offer free guidance to Greek filmmakers with projects at the editing stage. 
• Continues its successful program Meet the Future focusing on the future of cinema, presenting every year young professionals from different fields of filmmaking. This year, the program will focus on up-and-coming Greek directors of photography. During the 60th TIFF, the program was a collaboration between TIFF and the Onassis Foundation.
• Brings back the Thessaloniki Locarno Industry Academy International, which from this year on will be more open to Greek film professionals. 
• Strengthens its collaboration with the Drama International Short Film Festival. The award-winning short films will be screened during the 61st TIFF (as in previous years) and the Festival will also offer the directors the chance to meet and connect with top film professionals. 
• Increases the percentage of Greek projects that will be selected in the Agora sections.

At the same time, the Festival is working on a plan to create a pioneering, interactive and dynamic platform for the promotion, diffusion and rescue and for archiving Greek cinema in Greece and internationally. It is a past project of the Festival that had the working title Octopus Films. Under the current circumstances, the Festival feels that it is imperative and necessary to complete it.  

Call for entries — International Program

Film submissions for the international program of the 61st TIFF opened on Tuesday, June 16, 2020. The deadline for submissions is the 27th of July.

The festival requires an entry fee of €25 Euros for each submission. The fee is not applicable for Greek films.

The submissions also concern VR / Virtual Reality films (no entry fee).

The entry form and the regulations are available here: https://www.filmfestival.gr/en/festivals-en/tiff-en

For any further questions: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Call for entries — Agora

Agora, the Thessaloniki International Film Festival’s Industry section, supported by the European Program Creative Europe, is now accepting submissions for its programs, i.e. the Agora Film Market, the Crossroads Co-production Forum and the Agora Works in Progress of the upcoming 61st Thessaloniki International Film Festival that will take place November 5th - November 15th, 2020. 

Countries that are eligible to submit in the Agora 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, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey and Ukraine.

More on Agora’s sections and deadlines:

AGORA FILM MARKET

November 7-14, 2020

***Submission deadline: October 15, 2020***

The Agora Film Market promotes the majority of the feature films participating in the TIFF official sections, as well as additional titles from countries that the Agora focuses on which may be not included in the official selection – thus offering an opportunity so that more films can find their way to other international film festivals, sales agents and distributors. Furthermore, the Agora Film Market includes the previous films of Crossroads participants and a selection of Greek films produced within the past two years. Agora Film Market’s goal is to bring together filmmakers and industry professionals for future collaborations.

16th CROSSROADS Co-production Forum

November 10-14, 2020

*** Submission Deadline: July 20, 2020***

The Crossroads team’s goal is to support the producers of feature-length fiction film projects that originate from and/or deal with the Mediterranean, Central and South-eastern European regions. Qualifying features should be produced or co-produced by a country in this area or contain story elements from the aforementioned regions.

Projects should have a producer attached and could be in all stages of pre-production. Our main focus in the selection procedure will be on projects that present a high possibility of being realized, combining this quality with artistic elements. Crossroads introduces producers and directors to a variety of industry professionals from all over the world. The program is varied and provides the opportunity to meet with distributors, broadcasters, sales agents and consultants.

The constant goal of the project is to scout for new talent in the aforementioned countries and to provide producers with opportunities to make their work known in a wider market. Through the actions of the Forum, the selected producers are aided in their efforts to promote their projects outside their countries and to network with potential partners. 

In its previous editions, Crossroads included projects by filmmakers such as Deniz Gamze Ergüven (Mustang), Annemarie Jacir (When I Saw You), Angelos Frantzis (Still River), Leila Bouzid (As I Open my Eyes), Sofia Exarchou (Park), Ofir Raul Graizer (The Cakemaker), Gjorce Stavreski (Secret Ingredient) among others.

CROSSROADS awards include:

• The Greek post-production house Two Thirty Five (2|35 Inc) offers the main prize of a co-production award (image and sound) to the winning project.
• The Centre nationaldu cinéma etde l’ image animée (CNC) offers 8.000 euro for script development.
• The Producers Network of the Cannes Film Festival offers a free accreditation for the upcoming edition.
• Sofia Meetings of the Sofia IFF will select one project to be presented in March at the Sofia Meetings 2021.
• The Mediterranean Film Institute Script 2 Film Workshops offers a scholarship to one of the projects.
• The French film development consultancy company Initiative Film will offer its services to a Greek project.
• CINEMED will include at least one Greek project in the Development Grant selection according to its state of development and follow the films from Crossroads and Works in Progress in regards to its program selection.
• The Asterisk* award provides services in development and packaging.
• The THESSALONIKI EAVE Marketing Workshop Scholarship will select one producer for its Marketing Workshop. 

Crossroads also collaborates with MIDPOINT - A Training and Networking Platform for Film and TV Development.

AGORA WORKS IN PROGRESS

November 12, 2020

*** Submission Deadline: September 14, 2020***

The Agora Works in Progress hosts sessions reserved only for the invited industry professionals in Thessaloniki. They will be presented to our invited sales agents, distributors, producers and festival programmers. In this way, the professionals have access to films from the countries of the Balkan, Mediterranean and Central European regions just before completion. 

The Lab Project Award for unconventional projects bestowed by EURIMAGES – European Cinema Support Fund will be presented during the 61st TIFF to a film project that participates in the TIFF’s Agora Work in Progress section. The award amounts up to €50,000.

Apart from the EURIMAGES’ Lab Project Award, long-time partner Graal post-production house will be offering again, an award in post-production services to a film project that participates in the Works in Progress section. The MuSou AWARD provides composition and production for an original film score, music supervision and assistance in licensing of commercial music for use in the film, as well as audio post production services.

Films that have participated in previous editions of the Agora Works in Progress include: Papicha by Mounia Meddour (Un Certain Regard – Cannes FF 2019),  Rêves de jeunesse by Alain Raoust (ACID – Cannes FF 2019), Spell Reel by Filipa César (Forum-Berlin FF 2017), Occidental by Neil Beloufa (Forum-Berlin FF 2017), Suntan by Argyris Papadimitropoulos (Rotterdam IFF and SXSW 2016), Stratos by Yannis Economidis (Official Competition-Berlin FF 2014), Next to Her by Asaf Korman (Quinzaine des Réalisateurs–Cannes 2014, Silver Alexander–Thessaloniki IFF 2014), At Home by Athanassios Karanikolas (Forum-Berlin FF 2014), My Dog Killer by Mira Fornay (Tiger Award–Rotterdam IFF 2014), When I Saw You by Annemarie Jacir (Toronto FF 2012), Luton by Michalis Konstantatos (San Sebastian FF 2013), Boy Eating the Bird’s Food by Ektoras Lygizos (Competition-Karlovy Vary IFF 2012), Man at Sea by Costantine Giannaris (Panorama-Berlin FF 2011).

For more information regarding the submissions please visit our website www.filmfestival.gr or contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and +30 210 8706000.