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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...

Festival ran November 2-12.

Sofia Exarchou’s Animal has won the €10,000 Golden Alexander-Theo Angelopoulos prize for best film at the 64th Thessaloniki International Film Festival, the first time in 30 years a Greek production has won the top prize.

The film’s lead actress Dimitra Vlagopoulou also won the best actress award ex aequo with Joanna Arnow for US production The Feeling That The Time For Doing Something Has Passed, which she also directed.

Vlagopoulou had previously won best actress at Locarno where the film had its world premiere.

The Greek, Austrian, Romanian, Cypriot, Bulgarian co-production follows a group of women...

Sofia Exarchou’s “Animal” won the Golden Alexander at the 64th Thessaloniki Film Festival on Sunday, marking the first time in 30 years that a Greek film took home the top honors at the country’s longest-running film event.

Exarchou’s sophomore feature, which premiered at the Locarno Film Festival, was praised by Variety’s Jessica Kiang as “a poignant portrait of life amid the sequins and the seediness of a Greek resort.” The film follows a group of entertainers at an all-inclusive island resort preparing for the busy tourist season who are forced to wrestle with the dark reality that the show must go on as the sultry Mediterranean nights turn violent.

Lead actor Dimitra Vlagopoulou, who won the acting award at the prestigious Swiss fest for what Kiang called a “riveting” performance, also shared the award for best actress in Thessaloniki. The awards were handed out by a jury comprised of producer Diana Elbaum,...

Five of the 19 films selected are world premieres.

Films from Álvaro Longoria, Itsaso Arana and Gerardo Herrero are among the 19 features selected for the Made In Spain strand of San Sebastian International Film Festival, the non-competitive showcase of Spanish talent.

Longoria will close the strand with the world premiere of La Vida De Brianeitor about a teenager with a physical disability who becomes an elite gamer.

Also world premiering is Mercedes Moncada Rodríguez’s documentary Perplexed Ants exploring workers trying to prevent the collapse of their industry.

The other world premieres include Juanma Betancort’s documentary Seed Of Son about...

Patra Spanou Film has international rights to the debut film by Diego Llorente.

Germany’s Déjà-Vu Film has picked up Spanish director Diego Llorente’s Notes On A Summer from Patra Spanou Film ahead of the film’s German premiere in the International Independents section at this week’s Filmfest München.

Patra Spanou previously sold North American and Mexican rights respectively to Indiecan Entertainment and Alfhaville Cinema at Cannes last month.

Surtsey Films is releasing in Spain on September 1.

Presented as a work in progress at the Málaga Film Festival in 2022, Notes On A Summer (Notas Sobre Un Verano) follows...

The film is the directorial debut of Spanish filmaker Diego Llorente.

Germany-based Patra Spanou Film has acquired international rights to Notes On A Summer, the debut feature from Spanish director Diego Llorente that is screening in competition at International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) later this month.

Presented as a work in progress at the Málaga Film Festival in 2022, Notes On A Summer (Notas Sobre Un Verano) follows young academic who leaves routines, obligations and her boyfriend back in Madrid for a carefree summer in her hometown on the Atlantic coast. She meets her first love and starts a passionate affair with him.

Following the lineups from Slamdance and Sundance, an early look at 2023 in cinema has come into further focus with the announcement of the competition lineup for the International Film Festival Rotterdam. Taking place January 25 through February 5, the festival will open with Henrik Martin Dahlsbakken’s Munch, an experimental biopic of Norwegian painter Edvard Munch. Along with the Tiger and Big Screen competition, seen below, the festival will also Steve McQueen’s latest artwork Sunshine State, a two-channel video projection.

Check out the lineup below via THR.

Opening Film

Munch, dir. Henrik Martin Dahlsbakken

Tiger Competition

100 Seasons, dir. Giovanni Bucchieri

Gagaland, dir. Teng Yuhan

Geology of Separation, dirs. Yosr Gasmi, Mauro Mazzocchi

Indivision, dir. Leïla Kilani

Letzter Abend, dir. Lukas Nathrath

Mannvirki, dir. Gústav Geir Bollason

Munnel, dir. Visakesa Chandrasekaram

New Strains, dir. Artemis Shaw, Prashanth Kamalakanthan

Notas sobre un verano, dir. Diego Llorente

Numb, dir. Amir Toodehroosta

Nummer achttien, dir.

Munch.International Film Festival Rotterdam have announced the lineup for their 52nd edition, which will take place between January 25 through February 5. The festival will be held in-person for the first time since 2020.Opening FILMMunch (Henrik Martin Dahlsbakken)Tiger COMPETITION100 årstider (Giovanni Bucchieri)Gagaland (Teng Yuhan)Geology of SeparationIndivision (Leïla Kilani)Letzter Abend (Lukas Nathrath)Mannvirki (Gústav Geir Bollason)Munnel (Visakesa Chandrasekaram)New StrainsNotas sobre un verano (Diego Llorente)Numb (Amir Toodehroosta)Nummer achttien (Guido van der Werve)La Palisiada (Philip Sotnychenko)Playland (Georden West)Le spectre de Boko Haram (Cyrielle Raingou)Thiiird (Karim Kassem)three sparks (Naomi Uman)Big Screen COMPETITIONAvant l’effondrementBefore the Buzzards Arrive (Jonás N. Díaz)Copenhagen Does Not Exist (Martin Skovbjerg)Drawing LotsEndless Borders (Abbas Amini)Le formiche di Mida (Edgar Honetschläger)Four Little Adults (Selma Vilhunen)La hembrita (Laura Amelia Guzmán Conde)Joram (Devashish Makhija)Luka (Jessica Woodworth)My Little Nighttime Secret (Natalya Meshchaninova...

It will be artistic director Vanja Kaludjercic’s first full physical event since being appointed three years ago.

Norwegian director Henrik Martin Dahlsbakken’s Munch will open the 2023 International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), taking place from January 25-February 5 in the Netherlands. It is the first in-person festival following two online pandemic events and the first physical one for festival director Vanja Kaludjercic since taking over from Bero Beyer after the 2020 event.

Munch, which will screen out of competition, explores the life of the tortured Norwegian artist, celebrated for his painting of ‘The Scream’, and who endured mental turmoil throughout his life.

This year’s International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) has unveiled the 16 films selected for its flagship Tiger Competition. Scroll down for the full list.

As always, the competition selection is a global affair, with features from Sweeden to Sri Lanka. The 2023 jury will grant three prizes: the Tiger Award, plus two special jury awards. On the jury are: Alonso Díaz de la Vega, Anisia Uzeyman, Christine Vachon, Lav Diaz, and Sabrina Baracetti.

Running from January 25 to February 5, the fest is set to return for its first full-scale physical edition since the pandemic. The event will open with Munch, an experimental feature biopic of the Norwegian expressionist painter Edvard Munch by Henrik Martin Dahlsbakken (Returning Home).

The honorary Robby Müller Award will go to French cinematographer Hélène Louvart. Louvart is best known for her work with Claire Denis, including the 1999 classic Beau Travail. Louvart has also worked with directors such as Wim Wenders,...

Madrid (Spain), Sep 17 (Ians) Spain coach Luis Enrique brought in two new faces when he named his squad for the forthcoming UEFA Nations League matches against Switzerland and Portugal on Friday.

Betis striker Borja Iglesias and Athletic Club Bilbao winger Nico Williams were both included in the 25-man squad, which is also the last squad Enrique will give before naming his final group to the World Cup finals in Qatar.

“This would be the list if the World Cup was to start tomorrow, no doubt about it. I always take the players that I consider to be the best,” Enrique told a press conference.

Iglesias gets his call-up after scoring 19 goals last season for Betis and starting this season with four goals in five appearances, while 20-year-old Williams is a surprise call-up but has impressed with his pace and ability to open up the pitch in the year and a...

Buzzy titles such as “Guián,” “Rhinoceros” and “Of Books and Women I Sing” are among the 14 titles at Málaga’s extensive Wip showcase, a springboard in the past for the discovery of titles such as Spanish horror thriller “The Platform” which, winning the Latido Films Prize at Wip, has gone on to become the second most-watched non-English language movie ever on Netflix.

Awarded the biggest plaudit at last year’s Malaga Wip, Adrián Silvestre’s “My Emptiness and I” made a splash at February’s Rotterdam Festival and now competes at Málaga.

In a 2022 spread of titles presented over March 22-25, six hail from Spain and eight from Latin-America

In addition to the Málaga Film Festival award, private-sector prizes from Aracne Digital Cinema, Damita Joe, Latamcinema.com, Latido Films, Music Library, Yagán Films– are also at stake.

The Spanish section’s jury comprises Madrid Film School’s Luis Ferrón, Quatre Films...

Madrid, May 24 (Ians) Spain captain Sergio Ramos has not been included in Luis Enrique's Euro 2020 squad named on Monday after an injury-troubled 2020-21 season.

Aymeric Laporte, who only this month switched his allegiance from France to Spain, is among the centre back options to have been preferred to the Real Madrid veteran.

Ramos was part of the national team that won three consecutive major tournaments between 2008 and 2012 and has remained a key man for his club and country ever since, breaking Italy great Gianluigi Buffon's all-time international appearances mark of 176 earlier this season, reports Dpa.

The 35-year-old has had the armband for Spain under Luis Enrique but played only 50 minutes of the March World Cup qualifiers against Greece and Kosovo before returning to Madrid injured.

Ramos was limited to 21 appearances in all competitions for Madrid this term, missing 31 matches.

Former Barcelona coach Luis Enrique did not name a single...

Tiflis (Georgia) March 29 (Ians) Dani Olmo's 92nd-minute goal gave Spain a 2-1 away win over Georgia after it had looked as if their stuttering start to their World Cup qualifying campaign was going to be another poor performance.

The Rb Leipzig forward, who came on as a halftime substitute, scored the winning goal from around 30 meters, although Georgia keeper, Giorgi Loria should have kept his shot out after getting both hands on the ball.

Spain coach Luis Enrique made seven changes to the side that drew 1-1 at home to Greece on Thursday night with the only goalkeeper, Unai Simon, Eric Garcia, Ferran Torres and Alvaro Morata repeating in the starting 11. In contrast, Bryan Gil and Pedri made their first starts after coming on as second-half subs during the week.

Spain looked disjointed in the first half after so many changes and Unai Simon produced an excellent save to...