Thessaloniki

The Crossroads Co-production Forum, headed by former topper of the Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes IFF, Marie-Pierre Macia, was held for the 4th consecutive year in the framework of the 49th Thessaloniki International Film Festival and came to a close on Wednesday, November 19th, with the presentation of its ΝΟΚΙΑ N Series Award to a film project, accompanied by 10.000 euros.

The jury, consisting of Virginie Devesa (Umedia), Mira Staleva (Sofia Meetings) and Lilette Botassi (Inkas Film Productions), appointed the award ex aequo to the projects:

AMERICA SQUARE written and directed by Yannis Sakaridis and produced by Panos Papahadzis and Maria Tsigka, ARGONAUTS PRODUCTIONS S.A, Greece and FALSE WITNESS written and directed by Iglika Triffonova and produced by Rossitsa Valkanova KLAS FILM, Bulgaria
Festival director Despina Mouzaki has decided to raise the amount of the award to 16.000 euros, due to this year’s ex aequo decision and the high quality of the projects.
The Nokia N Series Award was first given to Pandora’s Box by Yesim Ustaoglu’s in 2006, winner of the Golden Shell and the Silver Shell for Best Film and Best Actress respectively, at this year’s San Sebastian Film Festival. Yesim Ustaoglu is a member of the 49th TIFF International Jury.
In 2007 the winning project was Nadav Lapid’s The Policeman, which afterwards was presented at l’Atelier du Cinéma, Cannes 2008.
“We are very happy that after the creation of Crossroads Co-production Forum four years ago, this is the first time that a Greek project has been awarded and we feel that Crossroads has contributed to the international recognition of Greek talent”, Despina Mouzaki, director of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, says.
CROSSROADS’ goal is to support the producers of feature-length film projects that share a link with the Mediterranean and Balkan regions. All 15 selected projects are either produced or co-produced by a country in the Balkan or Mediterranean area or are movies that contain story elements linked to these regions.
For more information please contact crossroads@filmfestival.gr

The Ministry of Culture, MEDIA Programme, NOKIA, ministry of Macedonia-Thrace and the Ministry of Development support Crossroads Co-Production Forum.