The 2026 Thessaloniki Film Festival has announced the eleven titles selected for its Agora Works in Progress sessions, a program dedicated to supporting films in post-production that have ties to the Mediterranean region and Southeastern Europe. Running from November 8 to 12, the initiative presents these projects to key industry players—including sales agents, distributors, producers, streaming platforms, and festival programmers—with the goal of securing finishing funds, attracting sales representation, booking festival premieres, and forging essential partnerships. The selection highlights a diverse slate of emerging cinematic voices from across the region, spanning countries such as Greece, Serbia, Georgia, Türkiye, Kosovo, Albania, North Macedonia, Austria, Spain, and Cyprus.
Among the most anticipated titles is *Swell*, the new film by Alexandros Voulgaris (known for *The Boy*), which will screen as a sneak preview during the AGORA WiP presentations. The film is adapted from the multi-award-winning novel of the same name by celebrated author Ioanna Karystiani and is produced by Tanweer Productions and Black Orange, with backing from the Hellenic Film & Audiovisual Center, ERT, and Onassis Culture. This year’s Works in Progress Jury features producer Maria Drandaki, founder of Greece’s Homemade Films; Wouter Jansen, founder and head of sales and acquisitions at Austria’s Square Eyes; and Gabriela Trujillo, programmer at Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight—a trio well-positioned to evaluate the commercial and artistic potential of the selected projects.
The 2026 lineup reflects a broad geographic and thematic range, including Darko Lungulov’s *1970* (Serbia, Luxembourg, Hungary, Croatia), Panagiotis Charamis’s *Avanos* (Greece), Mari Gulbiani’s *The Crossroad* (Georgia), Diego Llorente’s *How the Light Gets In* (Spain, Uruguay), Tunahan Kurt’s *The Law of the Flies* (Türkiye), Ismet Sijarina’s *The Longest Night* (Kosovo, Albania, North Macedonia), Sofia Georgovassili’s *Mignon* (Greece, Romania), Sylvie Weber’s *Río Masacre* (Austria), Dimitris Koutsiabasakos’s *Winter Semester* (Greece), and Kyros Papavassiliou’s *Yiannis* (Cyprus, Greece). Several projects arrive with institutional backing, including support from the Kosovo Cinematography Center, the Albanian National Cinematography Center, the North Macedonia Film Agency, and eQuinoxe Europe.
The Agora Works in Progress program has established a strong track record of launching films onto the international festival circuit. Previous participants include Tonia Mishiali’s *The Lion At My Back*, which competed at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival and earned the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury; Ivan Marković’s *Promised Spaces*, showcased at Cannes’ ACID section; and Thanasis Neofotistos’s *The Boy With The Light-Blue Eyes*, which screened at SXSW London. With its combination of industry access, jury expertise, and a proven pipeline to major festivals, the 2026 edition of Agora Works in Progress continues to serve as a vital launching pad for filmmakers from Southeastern Europe and the Mediterranean.
Ez a cikk a Neural News AI (V1) verziójával készült.
Forrás: http://deadline.com/2026/10/thessaloniki-2026-agora-works-in-progress-ioanna-karystiani-1237157892/.