20/05/2020 - The Greek pubcaster is backing 12 national and international co-productions with a total of over €700,000

Director Panos H Koutras, who has received ERT support for his latest feature, Dodo (© Takis Tsantilis)

The Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT SA) has announced that it is supporting 12 Greek and international co-productions during its latest round of financing. This is the first slate of funding announced by the new commission for cinema support, which was appointed in February and whose decisions were approved by the end of April. The total amount of €714,000, which is in accordance with the rule that broadcasters should allocate 1.5% of their gross income to Greek cinema, and the selection of just 12 projects – four fiction features, one feature with a limited budget, two international co-productions and five documentaries – are rather limited compared to the broadcaster’s previous slates of funding.

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Starting with the four selected fiction projects, which have received total support of €410,000, they are Panos H Koutras’ (Xenia [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Panos H. Koutras
film profile]) new feature Dodo [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Pános H Koútras
film profile] (producer: 100% Synthetic Films Ltd), Gourlomena Matia by debutant writer-director Haris Vafeiadis (Konstantinos D Antonopoulos), Christos Dimas’ (The Island) latest project, Mnimosyni (Argonauts SA), and seasoned writer-director Dimos Avdeliodis, who is returning to the film set 20 years after The Spring Gathering, with The Satiric Drama of Athens, which he is also producing. Furthermore, the only project with a limited budget is Vasilis Christofilakis’ (Too Much Info Clouding Over My Head [+see also:
trailer
film profile]) sophomore project, Guest Star [+see also:
film review
film profile] (Atmosphere People).

Two international co-productions with a Greek producer on board will be funded with €60,000 by ERT SA, and they are the sophomore feature by Dutch director Margot Schaap (12 Months in 1 Day [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), Quicksand (Greek production company: Homemade Films; also involving Dutch outfit PRPL and Estonia's Homeless Bob), which was also presented as a work in progress at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival’s Agora last November, and the San Sebastián-premiered Window to the Sea [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Miguel Ángel Jiménez
film profile] by Madrid-based filmmaker Miguel Ángel Jiménez (Greek production company: Heretic; also involving Spain's Kinoskopik sl and Gariza Films), which was shot on the Aegean island of Nisyros.

Finally, five documentaries are being supported to the tune of €175,000, and the feature-length titles are the latest project by director-producer Angelos Rallis (Shingal, Where Are You? [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), Mighty Afrin (AR Productions), which also won an award at the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival’s Agora (see the news); Sundays by Alethea Avramis (Heretic), which will have its premiere at the 22^nd Thessaloniki Documentary Festival (see the news); Queen of the Deuce [+see also:
interview: Valerie Kontakos
film profile] by Valerie Kontakos (Exile Films); To Vrady Ypochorei by Timon Koulmasis (KaBel); and Cucina Povera by Alexandros Merkouris (Anemon Productions).