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Exclusive: The Thessaloniki International Film Festival’s industry-focused Agora section has selected 15 projects from 17 countries for this year’s Crossroads Co-production Forum. Scroll down for the full list of projects.

Hailing from across southeastern Europe and the Mediterranean region, the projects are in various stages of development. The selection features debut and sophomore feature films alongside more experienced directors.

Among the notable projects is the latest feature film by prolific Romanian director Adrian Sitaru. There are also sophomore film projects from Yorgos Goussis, Kaltrina Krasniqi, Diego Llorente, Nikola Mijović, Ahu Ozturk, Sonia Liza Kenterman, and Ahmad Ghossein. Debut feature filmmakers are Neritan Zinxhiria and Thelyia Petraki.

The selected projects hail from countries including the Czech Republic, Slovakia, France, Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, Jordan, Kosovo*, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Serbia, North Macedonia, Palestine, Romania, Spain, and Turkey. This year’s selection was co-curated by an advisory committee featuring industry consultant Thibaut Bracq...

This year’s Filmart was definitely bigger and busier than last year, which was the first physical edition following the reopening of Hong Kong and mainland China’s borders after the pandemic. According to Filmart organizers, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (Hktdc), more than 750 exhibitors and 7,500 visitors attended this year’s Filmart, compared to around 700 exhibitors and 7,300 visitors in 2023.

But despite frenetic meeting activity, the market did little to dispel fears that international sales business in the region, already in decline before the pandemic, is not yet recovering.

International sales agents under the IFTA and European Film Promotion (Efp) umbrellas had packed meeting schedules. “It’s been good. Much busier than last year, which was right after lockdown in China and Hong Kong. And it’s a good time to connect with Chinese and Asian colleagues who rarely travel,” said Pinnacle Peak Pictures’ Ron Gell.

Premiere Entertainment Group’s...

German sales company Pluto Film is under new ownership following its sale by founders and former CEOs Heino Deckert and Torsten Frehse to Daniela and Benjamin Cölle.

Deckert and Frehse, who established the Berlin-based shingle in 2015, are stepping down to focus on the activities of their respective companies, the Leipzig-based production shingle Maja.de and Berlin film distributor Neue Visionen.

The new husband and wife team will head Pluto Film as co-CEOs, with Daniela Cölle also serving as head of acquisitions. Cölle has worked at the company since its launch, initially as festival manager.

“We are very thankful to Torsten and Heino for trusting in us as new owners and CEOs,” she said. “We believe in engaging global cinema by emerging talents, both arthouse and cross-over. We are devoted to bringing quality feature films to the international market and worldwide audiences.”

Benjamin Cölle previously worked as a creative producer and...

The Belgian comedy drama now hopes to secure an Italian distributor.

Raphaël Balboni and Ann Sirot’s feature debut Madly In Life won the top prize of the international competition at Italy’s Bergamo Film Meeting (Bfm), which ran online this year from April 24 - May 2. The award, chosen by the festival audience, is worth €5,000.

The Belgian comedy-drama revolves around a couple played by Jean Le Peltier and Lucie Debay, who put their plans for a family on hold to care for Alex’s monther who is diagnosed with dementia. It was produced by Helicotronc and had its international premiere at Tallinn in 2020.

Furthermore,...

The Italian event showcases European arthouse fare to potential local distributors.

Italy’s Bergamo Film Meeting (Bfm) opens on Saturday April 24, a month later than usual as organisers had hoped to run it as a physical edition. Although it is now running entirely online, festival director Angelo Signorelli is undiminished in his enthusiasm for the edition which will showcase the first and second films of international directors in its feature narrative and documentary competitions.

The festival has made a name for itself by hosting the Italian premieres of European arthouse films (and sometimes European premieres) with the purpose of helping them find Italian distribution.

Exploring wide-ranging global themes, from poverty, migration, political strife and fascism to art and romance, German sales companies are presenting an eclectic offering of local and international cinematic works at this year’s AFM.

Social dramas and political thrillers reflect both the current zeitgeist and historical parallels of similarly troubled times.

In Marcus Lenz’s “Rival,” a 9-year-old Ukrainian boy travels to Germany to be with his mother, who has been forced to leave her country to work as an undocumented caretaker for an old man.

Producers Gunter Hanfgarn and Andrea Ufer of Berlin-based Hanfgarn & Ufer say they were intrigued by Lenz’s story from the start, noting that it is “set against the backdrop of two problems we see in a lot of Western countries — the nursing crisis and poverty emigration.” Sold internationally by Pluto Film, “Rival” is screening at AFM following its world premiere at this year’s Busan Film Festival.

Three out of competition titles also added to programme.

Estonian film festival Tallinn Black Nights has selected 15 titles for the First Feature Competition at its hybrid 24th edition which runs November 13-29.

The festival has also added three out of competition debut films to the programme; the 18 titles in total include 10 world premieres, seven international, and one European.

Scroll down for the full list of titles

World premieres include The Translator, from Syrian filmmakers Rana Kazkaz and Anas Khalaf. Set during the 2011 Syrian revolution, it follows a political refugee living in Australia who makes the journey back to his native country,...

Three out of competition titles also added to programme.

Estonian film festival Tallinn Black Nights has selected 15 titles for the First Feature Competition at its hybrid 24th edition which runs November 13-29.

The festival has also added three out of competition debut films to the programme; the 18 titles in total include 10 world premieres, seven international, and one European.

Scroll down for the full list of titles

World premieres include The Translator, from Syrian filmmakers Rana Kazkaz and Anas Khalaf. Set during the 2011 Syrian revolution, it follows a political refugee living in Australia who makes the journey back to his native country,...

João Paulo Miranda Maria's Memory House, Eri Mizutani's Grace and Sonia Liza Kenterman’s Tailor have received €10,000 each. The second edition of European Work in Progress Cologne, an event aimed at creating opportunities for carefully selected arthouse projects to meet appropriate distributors, co-producers, world sales agents and festival representatives, unveiled its winners during an awards ceremony that took place on 15 October at Kunsthaus Rhenania in Cologne. Considering that many of the projects selected last year went on to be awarded at prestigious film festivals, much is to be expected of this edition’s laureates. “We are delighted about the high quality and the diversity of the projects presented. Additionally, it is exciting to see that Ewip has continued to enjoy enormous popularity during its second run. We obviously struck a chord with this event. We wish all of the projects the best of luck and congratulate the...

Industry professionals get first look at new work.

Works in progress from Brazil, Poland, Mexico, Greece and Russia have won awards for the best pitches at the second edition of European Work in Progress during Film Festival Cologne.

The five winners were chosen on Tuesday (15) by an international jury consisting of Locarno Film Festival’s new artistic director Lili Hinstin, Zdf Enterprises’ director of acquisitions for feature films Margrit Stärk, Albanian producer Sabina Kodra, whose Erafilm was behind Robert Budina’s A Shelter Among The Clouds), and Yohann Comte, co-founder of French sales company Charades.

The awards were presented at...