Twelve projects from nine countries have been earmarked for the 6th Balkan Fund, Thessaloniki International Film Festival's Script Development Fund. The 49th edition of the festival will take place from Nov. 14-23.

The fund provides seed money for script development and caters to feature film projects coming from the region. An international jury will grant four winning projects Euros 10,000 each.

The writers, directors and producers will pitch their projects at a Nov. 15-17 workshop attended by international fund directors, commissioning editors, producers, distributors and sales agents.

Previous projects that have benefited from the fund include:

  • Snow , written and directed by Aida Begic, winner of the Grand Prix of the 2008 Cannes Critics' Week;
  • California Dreamin' by the late Cristian Nemescu, winner of the Certain Regard Grand Prix at Cannes 2007; and
  • 2006 Berlinale Golden Bear winner Grbavica by Jasmila Zbanic.

The Balkan Fund forms part of the European Film Funds Coordination scheme. Funds for the awards are provided by the Greek Ministry of Culture and the French CNC. Countries involved include, Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, From, Greece, Montenegro, Rumania, Serbia, Slovenia and Turkey.

The nominated projects are:

  • Zincograph, written by Vladislav Todorov, directed by Javor Gardev, produced by Peripeteia LLC, (Bulgaria);
  • Fool Moon (Panselinos), writer/dir. Kyriakos Katzourakis, prod. Omada Technis (Greece);
  • Harisma, writer/dir. Christina Ioakeimidi, prod. Ekso Productions (Greece);
  • Outskirts, writers Cristian Mungiu & Ioana Uricaru, dir. Anatoli Reghintovschi, prod Saga Film (Romania/ Austria);
  • Elysium, writer/dir. Sandrina Andic, prod. Sabeo Films (Serbia);
  • The Last Flirtation of Ms. Dukic, writer/dir. Mladen Kovacevic, prod. Horopter d.o.o. (Serbia);
  • Midnight Sun, writer/dir. Dusan Ristic, prod. 72nd Str, Productions (Serbia/USA);
  • System D/ream, writer/dir. Yasna Zivanovic, prod. 4A4 Productions (Serbia/France);
  • Clemency, writer/dir. Cem Baseskioglu, prod. Makara Film (Turkey);
  • Number Zero, writer/dir. Sirri Sureyya Onder, prod. Besiktas Kultur Merkezi (Turkey);
  • Submission, writer Zeynep Özcan Akbal, dir. Emre Yalgin, prod. SFR Film and Advertisement Productions (Turkey); and
  • Tersakan, writer/dir. Baris Pirhasan, prod. Anka Film (Turkey/ Germany).

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