Yianna Sarri: Celebs Rumors

Christopher Vourlias For the first edition of the Evia Film Project, a new initiative launched by the organizers of the Thessaloniki Film Festival, the festival’s industry arm, Agora, hosted a series of events looking to bring both environmentally focused films and sustainable film production to the fore. The program was designed to help revitalize Greece’s second-largest island, which was hit by a devastating series of wildfires last summer.Speaking to Variety ahead of the festival, Agora head Yianna Sarri stressed the importance of getting the global film community to rethink its ways of doing business in order to make the industry more environmentally friendly.

Christopher Vourlias Thessaloniki Film Festival director Orestis Andreadakis was on summer vacation last August when he got a call from Stavros Benos, the head of the newly appointed National Reconstruction Committee, which was tasked with responding to a series of devastating wildfires that had recently swept across the island of Evia.Just weeks before, Greece’s second-largest island had been a densely wooded paradise famous for its production of honey and resin. But nearly a third of Evia was reduced to ash and cinders during a scorching summer that saw an estimated 300,000 acres of forest and bushland incinerated by wildfires across Greece, as soaring temperatures hit a record high of 115.3 degrees.Benos was calling the festival topper with a plea.

Christopher Vourlias Since its inaugural edition at the 60th Thessaloniki Film Festival in 2019, the Meet the Future program has offered a look ahead to the next generation of emerging film talents set to make waves in Greece, the wider Mediterranean region and beyond.After training the spotlight on up-and-coming documentary filmmakers from Serbia, who presented five projects in post-production to industry guests at last year’s Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, the focus shifts this year to Georgia, a country that’s seen its cinema profile rise in recent years on the strength of directors including acclaimed docmaker Salomé Jashi, whose arresting feature “Taming the Garden” (pictured) played in the Sundance World Cinema Documentary Competition.Yianna Sarri, the head of the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival’s industry arm, Agora, considers herself “one of the biggest fans of Georgian cinema for many years now.” “They make beautiful cinema,” she said, adding that she had “this [Georgian focus] in mind for a very long time.”In collaboration with the Georgian Film Center, Thessaloniki presents five up-and-coming Georgian documentary filmmakers who will present their next projects during a special Meet the Future showcase on March 15.Here are this year’s participants:

Christopher Vourlias For the second time in its past three editions, the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival has faced a sudden disruption in the face of an unprecedented global crisis. Two years ago, the festival was among the first to be forced online as the coronavirus pandemic swept across Europe.

Christopher Vourlias Nearly two years into a pandemic that has forced much of the movie industry to conduct its business online, the Thessaloniki Film Festival and its industry arm, Agora, will roll out a full slate of in-person events during the festival’s 62nd edition, which runs Nov. 4-14.For Agora head Yianna Sarri, the return to face-to-face meetings is a welcome reminder of pre-pandemic times.

Christopher Vourlias Now in its 17th year, the Thessaloniki Film Festival’s Crossroads Co-Production Forum has become a de rigueur stop on the fall circuit for producers, distributors, festival programmers and sales agents from across Europe – and increasingly the rest of the world – as they look to spot promising projects in development from Southeast Europe, the Black Sea, and the wider Mediterranean region.For Yianna Sarri, who heads Thessaloniki’s industry arm, Agora, the reason is obvious.

Christopher Vourlias Four Greek fiction features and two documentaries have been selected for this year’s edition of Thessaloniki Goes to Cannes, the Cannes Film Market’s pix-in-post industry showcase. The projects will be presented to potential sales agents, distributors and festival programmers during a presentation at the Palais des Festivals on July 12.The event is a collaboration between the Thessaloniki Film Festival, the Greek Film Center, and the Cannes Film Market.

Christopher Vourlias The coronavirus pandemic might have shut down film and television production across the globe, with many industries still struggling to relaunch with the latest health and safety protocols, but Yianna Sarri, who heads the Thessaloniki Film Festival’s industry arm, Agora, knew there would be an upside for the annual Crossroads Co-Production Forum.“During the lockdown everywhere, people had the opportunity to stay at home and write scripts,” she said.

Christopher Vourlias With their Athens offices shuttered by the pandemic in the weeks leading up to this year’s Thessaloniki Intl. Film Festival, industry head Yianna Sarri and her brain trust began holding weekly meetings at cafés in the Greek capital, social-distancing and trying to make the most of an increasingly fluid and unpredictable situation.Despite the uncertainty about whether or not the festival would move forward with a physical edition—a plan that was ultimately scrapped just days before the opening night on Nov.