Thessaloniki Industry Awards: Georgian Road Movie ‘The Crossroad,’ North Macedonian Drama ‘They Bloom at Dawn’ Take Top Prizes

Georgian filmmaker Mari Gulbiani’s politically charged road movie “The Crossroad” and North Macedonian director Angela Dimeska’s female-centered drama “They Bloom at Dawn” took home the top honors at the Thessaloniki Film Festival’s industry awards Wednesday night.

Produced by Kate Kalandarishvili for Georgia’s Midifilm, Gulbiani’s fiction debut won the Two Thirty-Five Award, the top prize in the Agora’s Works in Progress section. The Crossroads Co-Production Forum, meanwhile, gave its top honors — the Frenel Post-Lab Post-Production Award — to Dimeska’s first feature, which is produced by Ognen Anton for North Macedonia’s Dream Factory.

“The Crossroad” follows a young Muslim woman who, shortly after her wedding, learns that her husband has disappeared. Accompanied by her mother-in-law, she sets out on an emotionally charged journey to find him, only to discover that he’s travelled to Syria to join ISIS. The jury praised the film “for its ambition to craft a road movie across arid lands marked by hostility; for its documentary-inspired perspective on the resilience of those women left behind by men, war and religion; and for its embrace of imagination as their most powerful weapon.”

The top prize in the Crossroads Co-Production Forum went to “They Bloom at Dawn,” which follows a lost young woman seeking refuge in her grandparents’ lakeside village who must help her widowed grandmother save their threatened lake, forcing three generations of women to heal their fractured relationships and rediscover a sense of purpose.

“Life is full of surprises. It’s sad, it’s traumatic, but it’s also beautiful. Like the nature it portrays, these characters will also renew themselves and find ways to support each other, even when they can’t find the words for it,” the jury said in its citation. “This is a project that has a strong visual potential and a story that will resonate across borders. In fact, it’s a project that wants to break walls both in front of and behind the cameras, led by a director and a producer in sync, who moved us with their perfect pitch.”

The winner of the Onassis Film Award, which offers a cash prize of €10,000 ($11,100) to a Greek project participating in the Agora Works in Progress strand, went to the psychological thriller “Mignon,” by Sofia Georgovassili. Praising the “compelling, sharp story about the end of innocence,” the jury wrote: “A bold film with a suffocating atmosphere, exploring the limits of human endurance, the abuse that fuels closed social systems, the intensity of teenage friendship, the impulse to take risks and the inner strength of the powerless.” The film, which also won the €3,000 ($3,300) Agora Works in Progress Award from EKKOMED, is a ’90s-set story of moral decay told from the perspective of two teenage girls on a visit to the titular Athens department store.

Other Works in Progress winners included “The Law of the Flies,” a story of young love and new horizons from Turkish filmmaker Tunahan Kurt, which won the 119 Marvila Studios Award offering sound mixing services.

In the Crossroads Co-production Forum, Egyptian filmmaker Ayman El Amir won an €8,000 ($8,900) award for script development from France’s CNC for his dark comedy “A Pair of Shoes in the Dark Corner of the Moon.” The ArteKino International Award, which offered a cash prize of €6,000 ($6,700), went to Turkish filmmaker Gözde Kural for “In Those Darkest Nights.” The Finos Film Award in the amount of €3,000 ($3,300) went to “Koukitsa,” from directing duo Christina Koutsospyrou and Aran Hughe. Lebanese actress and director Yumna Marwan also scooped a pair of prizes for her feature “This Is Not a Set.”

Here’s the complete list of winners of the Thessaloniki Film Festival’s Agora awards:

Agora Works in Progress Awards

Two Thirty-Five Award: “The Crossroad,” Mari Gulbiani

119 Marvila Studios Award: “The Law of the Flies,” Tunahan Kurt

Agora Works in Progress Award by EKKOMED: “Mignon,” Sofia Georgovassili

ERT Agora Works in Progress Award: “Avanos,” Panagiotis Charamis

Neaniko Plano Subtitling Award: “Río Masacre,” Sylvie Weber

Onassis Film Award: “Mignon,” Sofia Georgovassili

Crossroads Co-Production Forum Awards

Frenel Post-Lab Post-Production Award: “They Bloom at Dawn,” Angela Dimeska

CNC Award: “A Pair of Shoes in the Dark Corner of the Moon,” Ayman El Amir

ArteKino International Award: “In Those Darkest Nights,” Gözde Kural

Finos Film Award: “Koukitsa,” Christina Koutsospyrou, Aran Hughes

Producers’ Network – Marché du Film Award: Sarra Ben Hassen, “A Touch of Paradise”

Midpoint Consulting Award: “The Arab of Your Dreams,” Patrick Tass

Greener Screen Consultancy Award: “This Is Not a Set,” Yumna Marwan

Sofia Meetings of the Sofia IFF Award: “This Is Not a Set,” Yumna Marwan

Mediterranean Film Institute Award: “In Those Darkest Nights,” Gözde Kural; “Fuoristagione,” Isabella Rinaldi

EAVE Thessaloniki Marketing Scholarship Award: Nada Riyadh, “A Pair of Shoes in the Dark Corner of the Moon”