Agora Docs, the industry arm of the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival taking place March 11-19 2022, has invited documentary filmmakers to submit their films for the Agora Doc Market (deadline, Feb 28), as well as projects for the Docs in Progress and the Thessaloniki Pitching Forum sections (deadline for both, January 14).
Describing itself as ‘the most dynamic and vibrant documentary industry event in Southeast Europe,’ Agora Docs has put out the call to filmmakers with a documentary in post-production or looking for a distributor, festival premiere or completion funds, to submit their films for Agora Docs in Progress (deadline for entries: January 14, 2022).
“For the eleventh consecutive year, the Docs in Progress segment remains the main meeting event for documentary films that have entered the last stage prior to their completion. Directors and producers have the chance to present their documentary films to buyers, co-producers, festival representatives and sales agents, and attract their interest,” says the festival statement.
The projects will compete for a series of awards: the 2|35 Post-Production Main Award, the MuSou Music and Sound Award, the Neaniko Plano Subtitling Award, as well as the award of free accreditation and accommodation at the Visions du Réel Documentary Festival.
Agora Docs will also present the Agora Lab initiative, a 3-day development workshop (16-19 March) during which experienced editors and doc professionals both from Greece and abroad guide filmmakers of Greek documentaries towards their final cut. Up to five projects will be selected from the Docs in Progress pool of submissions.
In addition, Agora hosts Thessaloniki Pitching Forum (deadline for entries: January 14, 2022), an initiative focused on developing documentaries. The Thessaloniki Pitching Forum explores the limits of documentary by inviting TV and creative documentaries, documentary series, documentaries for children and new media projects (Virtual Reality or/and Augmented Reality etc).
The participants will have the opportunity to discuss their project and get feedback on their content during a two-day online workshop in February. They will work on their material and gear up for their pitch preparation at the Pitching Forum, before a panel of experts. At the same time, the participants will have one-on-one meetings with industry professionals interested in their project. The final selection will include a total of 14 projects.
Thessaloniki Pitching Forum and Docs in Progress are inviting projects coming from: Albania, Algeria, Armenia, Bosnia and 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, Ukraine.
Agora Docs will also present Meet the Future scheduled to be held March 11-19, 2022, and designed to discover and introduce up-and-coming filmmakers from the wider region of the Balkans, Southeast Europe and the Mediterranean. More details to follow.
Doc Counselling is another initiative within the framework of the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival during which leading professionals provide will guidance to filmmakers taking part in the Festival’s program and the Agora, offering one-on-one consultancy sessions on topics such as festival strategy, documentary funding, distribution, Media desk help, educational programs, marketing etc.
The Agora Doc Market is fully digitalized, with 30 screening booths, operated through the professional digital platform Cinando, showcasing documentaries produced over the last two years and giving the opportunity to filmmakers to present their films to the accredited movie industry professionals (producers, sales agents, distributors, festival representatives, etc) in attendance.
Each year the Agora Doc Market hosts around 400 films and invites more than 100 buyers and industry professionals who visit Thessaloniki to promote or acquire documentary films. Deadline: February 28, 2022.
