Dimitri Eipides (photo courtesy of Thessaloniki International Film Festival)
The Thessaloniki International Film Festival announced March 2 a new co-operation with Berlinale Talents in the form of a new development award to a documentary project participating in Berlin Doc Station.
A jury comprising producer and sales doyenne Philippa Kowarsky (Cinephil, Israel), director Marianna Economou (Greece) and Michael Stütz, Head of Panorama, will award the development grant of 5,000 euros March 4 to a non-fiction script or concept participating in Doc Station.
“The grant, an initiative of Thessaloniki Documentary Festival and embraced by Berlinale Talents, aims to support upcoming filmmakers, in whom Dimitri Eipides believed,” says the Greek festival.
Berlinale Talents is a talent development platform that look to brings together exceptional and aspiring talents from all over the world so that they can network and present/work on their upcoming projects. Doc Station is its documentary arm.
Post-Berlin, Thessaloniki will be further honouring Dimitri Eipides with a series of initiatives, describing him as “the man who faithfully served the cinematic medium, the founder of the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival and for many years the director of Thessaloniki Film Festival organization, a visionary who introduced a new kind of cinema and discovered great filmmakers.”
The festival is preparing a book about Eipidis in both Greek and English. Among others, the award-winning Iranian director Jafar Panahi, renowned Hungarian filmmaker Béla Tarr, the former CEO of the Toronto Film Festival Piers Handling, the co-founder of the Festival du nouveau cinéma in Montreal Claude Chamberlan and founder and former director of the IDFA Ally Derks, will remember Dimitri Eipides and his contribution to world cinema.
“The Festival is also in contact with [other] top filmmakers who knew Dimitri Eipides and his work, and soon will announce more names,” say organisers.
The book will be published this summer, as part of the hybrid 23rd Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, which will take place from June 24 to July 4 both physically and online.
In addition, the Festival will rename the grand prize of the Newcomers section as the Dimitri Eipides Newcomers Award and will up the cash winnings to €10,000 euros. This Newcomers competitive section is dedicated to debut or sophomore films.
