Agora Market Manual 2010

51st Thessaloniki IFF-2010 - Agora/Market ManualIt was Groucho Marx that once said “ It isn’t so much that hard times are coming,the change observed is mostly soft times going”. This is so true regarding Greece.But hard times have come and they have struck firmly on us and on Culture ofevery form. We are struggling to keep up with what we have built and refuse togive up.Funny enough, history repeats itself and in times of crisis a group of Greek film directorshave emerged to give hope and shed a light on modern Greece, so wellhidden behind its theatrical masks and exaggerated gestures.Everybody knows the stories of film directors that in times of economic crisis theymanaged to make their masterpieces just because they did not have money topressure them. Well, we are counting on it.Agora / Market is a place that, you could say, in a traditional Balkan and Mediterraneanway is a family business. Our family are the creators and the everlastingsearchers (i.e producers, sales agents, distributors, festival representatives) of importantfilms and as a loving mother we want to make sure they succeed.Since the first industry activity back in 2003 with the launch of the Balkan Funduntil this year’s total reform of the Agora / Market we strive to support and putour efforts into the service of making and promoting important, entertaining andmeaningful films through our development activities such as the Crossroads CoproductionForum, the Woks in Progress, the Film Market in addition to the FilmStudent program Salonica Studio.Films that have a link to Greece, South- Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean areour focus due to our perfectly symmetric location.In these times of crisis we had to cut down on every aspect but we trust that thequality of our services remains the same and that our guests will benefit fromtheir vote of faith to Thessaloniki International Film Festival.We wish you a pleasant stay and welcome to Thessaloniki!Dimitris Eipides Thessaloniki Festival Director,Marie-Pierre Macia Head of Agora / Marketand the Agora / Market team3