The International Jury of the 53^d Thessaloniki International Film Festival comprised of:  

Thomas Elsaesser, Film theorist and academic, Germany, Jury President

Laufrey Gudjonsdottir, Programmer, consultant, founding director of the Icelandic Film Center, Iceland

Ole Christian Madsen, Director, Denmark

Joao Pedro Rodrigues, Director, Portugal

Thymios Bakatakis, Cinematographer, Greece

THE AWARDS

Best Feature Film Award - Golden Alexander – Theo Angelopoulos

KAPRINGEN (A HIJACKING)

By

TOBIAS LINDHOLM, Producers René Ezra, Tomas Radoor, Screenwriter Tobias Lindholm, Denmark, 2012

Special Jury Award - Silver Alexander

KÜF (MOLD)

By

ALI AYDIN, Producers Gökçe Işıl Tuna, Cengiz Keten, Sevil Demirci, Ali Aydın, Screenwriter Ali Aydın, Turkey-Germany, 2012

Special Jury Award for Originality and Innovation - Bronze Alexander

EPILOGUE

By

AMIR MANOR, Producer Assaf Amir, Screenwriter Amir Manor, Israel, 2012

Best Director Award

ANTONIO MENDEZ ESPARZA

For

AQUI Y ALLA, Producers Ori Dov Gratch, Tim Hobbs, Pedro Hernández Santos, Diana Wade, Antonio Méndez Esparza, Screenwriter Antonio Méndez Esparza, Spain-USA-Mexico, 2012

Best Screenplay Award

AMIR MANOR

For

EPILOGUE, Director AMIR MANOR, Producer Assaf Amir, Israel, 2012

Best Actress Award

JULIA KIJOWSKA

For

LOVING, Director Slawomir Fabicki, Producers Leszek Rybarczyk, Marek Rudnicki, Screenwriters Marek Pruchniewski, Sławomir Fabicki, Poland, 2012

Best Actor Award

YANNIS PAPADOPOULOS

For

BOY EATING THE BIRD’S FOOD (TO AGORI TROI TO FAGITO TOU POULIOU), Director Ektoras Ligizos, Producers Giorgos Karnavas, Ektoras Ligizos, Elina Psykou, Argyris Papargyropoulos, Screenwriter Ektoras Ligizos, Greece, 2012

Artistic Achievement Award

ZHIT (LIVING)

By

VASILY SIGAREV, Producers Roman Borisevich, Alexander Kushaev, Screenwriter Vasily Sigarev, Russia, 2012

First Special Mention

TABOOR

By

VAHID VAKILIFAR, Producer, Screenwriter Vahid Vakilifar, Iran, 2012

Second Special Mention

TSVETAT NA HAMELEONA (THE COLOR OF THE CHAMELEON)

By

Emil Christov, Producers Bouriana Zakharieva, Vladislav Todorov, Screenwriter Vladislav Todorov, Bulgaria, 2012

FIPRESCI AWARDS

The 53^d Thessaloniki International Film Festival FIPRESCI (International Federation of Film Critics) jury comprised of:

Samir Farid, Egypt, Jury President

Andreas Günther, Germany

Michal Oleszczyk, Poland

Tonci Valentic, Croatia

Nikos Aletras, Greece

Bestows the FIPRESCI awards:

For a film in the International Competition Section 2012 to

KAPRINGEN (A HIJACKING)

By

TOBIAS LINDHOLM, Producers René Ezra, Tomas Radoor, Screenwriter Tobias Lindholm, Denmark, 2012

For a film in the Greek Films 2012 section to

BOY EATING THE BIRD’S FOOD (TO AGORI TROI TO FAGITO TOU POULIOU)

By  Ektoras Ligizos, Producers Giorgos Karnavas, Ektoras Ligizos, Elina Psykou, Argyris Papargyropoulos, Screenwriter Ektoras Ligizos, Greece, 2012

HUMAN VALUES AWARD

The Hellenic Parliament TV Channel bestows the award to the film:

EPILOGUE

By

AMIR MANOR, Producer Assaf Amir, Screenwriter Amir Manor, Israel, 2012

FISCHER AUDIENCE AWARDS

For a film in the International Competition section

EPILOGUE

By

AMIR MANOR, Producer Assaf Amir, Screenwriter Amir Manor, Israel, 2012

For a film in the Greek Films section – MICHAEL CACOYANNIS AWARD

PAPADOPOULOS AND SONS

By

MARCUS MARKOU, Producer, Screenwriter Marcus Markou, UK-Greece, 2012

For a film in the Balkan Survey section

DUPĂ DEALURI (BEYOND THE HILLS)

By

CRISTIAN MUNGIU Producers Cristian Mungiu, Pascal Caucheteux, Grégoire Sorlat,Vincent Maraval, Bobby Păunescu, Jean Labadi, Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne Screenplay Cristian Mungiu, based on the non-fiction novels of Tatiana Niculescu Bran, Romania-France-Belgium, 2012

For a film in the Open Horizons section

NO

By

PABLO LARRAIN Producers Juan de Dios Larraín, Daniel Dreifuss, Screenplay Pedro Peirano, based on the play The Referendum by Antonio Skármeta, Chile-USA-Mexico, 2012

AGORA awards

CROSSROADS CO-PRODUCTION FORUM

The jury of the 8^th Crossroads Co-production Forum, comprised of

Maria Hatzakou (Haos Film – Producer, Greece)

Anthony Muir (Film i Väst – Senior Executive for International Co-productions, Sweden)

Holger Stern, (ZDF/ ARTE – commissioning editor, Germany)

grants the Two Thirty Five co-production award  (full post production image and sound) to the project:

MOTHERLAND, Directed by: Senem Tüzen, Produced by: Olena Yershova, Tato Film, Yeni Sinemacilar Turkey

The producer of the winning project will also be granted a free accreditation for the PRODUCER’S NETWORK, Cannes Film Festival 2013 session.

The jury also grants the French CNC (CENTRE NATIONAL DU CINEMA ET DE L’ IMAGE ANIMÉE) Development award of 7.000 euro to the project:

PARK, Directed by: Sofia Exarchou, Produced by: Amanda Livanou, Guanaco, Greece

The jury also awards a Special Mention to the project ALGIERS BY NIGHT, Directed by: Yanis Koussim, Produced by: Claire Mazeau-Karoum, Une Chambre á Soi Productions, Algeria

The French development and consulting company INITIATIVE FILM headed by Isabelle Fauvel offers its services to the film project: PARK, Directed by: Sofia Exarchou, Produced by: Amanda Livanou, Guanaco, Greece and will follow its development for the next 6 months.

SCRIPT 2 FILM WORKSHOPS of the Mediterranean Film Institute (MFI) awards a scholarship to the film project RAW AND COOKED, Director/Producer: Gabriel Achim, Co-producer: Dan Burlac, Green Film, Romania

WORKS IN PROGRESS

GRAAL S.A & CINELABS GREECE awards for the third year one of the Agora Works in Progress films presented in the Agora Industry with in kind services and material in image post-production up to 70.000 euro

The jury comprised of

Rémi Bonhomme, program manager of Semaine de la Critique, France

Irini Souganidou President and Managing Director of Feelgoodentertainment, Greece

Michael Weber, Managing Director, Match Factory, Germany

award the film:

SEABURNERS, Directed by Melisa Önel, Produced by Yamac Okur, Asli Erdem, Bulut Film, Turkey

The film was presented in Crossroads Co-production Forum 2011

The jury also gives an Honorable mention to:

MY DOG KILLER, Directed by Mira Fornay, Produced by Juraj Buzalka, Mirafox,  Slovak Republic/ Czech Republic