Catalin Mitulescu's project A Heart Shaped Balloon has been selected for the Cannes section "L'Atelier". The Romanian director is one of the four winners at last year's 4th edition of the Balkan Fund, having participated at the workshop with his project and having received one of the 10.000 Euro prizes for further script development.

The 2004 Balkan Fund-nominated California Dreaming by award-winning writer/director Cristian Nemescu will be screened at this year's Cannes official program section "Un Certain Regard". The film was already in post-production when Cristian Nemescu died tragically in a car accident after completing the shoot.

The Balkan Fund, the Thessaloniki Film Festival's script development fund, supports projects from the Balkan region since 2003, promoting and nurturing new screenwriters and directors, as well as original trends in contemporary filmmaking. Each year it awards 4 prizes of 10.000 euros each.

Grbavica, the first completed film to emerge from the Balkan Fund, was awarded the Golden Bear at the 2006 Berlin Film Festival. Other successful Balkan Fund projects are The Tuning, which received the main prize at the Mannheim Film Festival and the Best Feature Film award at the Napoli Film Festival and Gucha - Distant Trumpet, which competed in the 2007 Berlinale Panorama section.

Future projects coming to fruition with the contribution of the Balkan Fund are:  Hidden Faces (written and directed by Handan Ipekci, Turkey), Welcome Aboard  (written and directed by Costantine Giannaris, Greece), The Coat (written and directed by Kutlug Ataman, Turkey), Small Crime (written and directed by Christos Georgiou, Cyprus), Kingdom Cum (written by Dimitrije Vojnov and directed by Srdjan Dragojevic, Serbia) and Principles of Life (written by Razvan Radulescu and directed by Radu Jude, Romania). 

 "The Balkan area, and that of South Eastern Europe generally, is very important to TIFF and is therefore at the centre of our activities, strengthening TIFF' s role in the wider area, as well as the role of Thessaloniki as a centre for culture and development", says the director of TIFF, Despina Mouzaki. She continues: "For this reason we have developed a wide range of activities, at the centre of which is the Balkan Fund, the script development fund for this area, which in turn is developing in an exceedingly creative and effective manner. Our policy for Balkan cinema is also supported by the Balkan Survey section of the programme, with the presentation of recent productions from the Balkans, as well as with the Balkan Works in Progress, by which works in progress from the area searching for collaborators are presented to the international market. Balkan cinema has great potential and prospects, and the TIFF is here to give it a chance in the international market!"

Celebrating its fifth year, the Balkan Fund event is due to take place during the 48th edition of the Thessaloniki Film Festival in November 2007, 17th to 19th inclusive.

The deadline for the submission of applications is May 25, 2007. All relevant information can be downloaded from our website:

http://www.filmfestival.gr/balkan_fund/index_uk.html