The first international television festival “Zagori Fiction Days” took place in the picturesque village of Vitsa, Zagori, with the support of EKOME. The subject of the Festival was fiction books adaptation for film and television. The Festival also served as a meeting point between the audiovisual industry professionals and the public. 

Stelios Kraounakis, Head of the Department for the Development of Financial & European Programmes of EKOME, presented the investment incentives Cash Rebate/Tax Relief of EKOME that have contributed decisively to the restart of the national film production and to the attraction of popular foreign series production in Greece. He participated in a panel with Francois Sauvagnargues, President of the Commission director in the Department of Fiction of ARTE, on “European Politics in Television Fiction” and discussed the secrets of a successful book to TV-series adaptation with author and screenwriter Ingrid Desjours and author, director, and producer Vangelis Bekas.

During the seven-day Festival a TV pilot script contest was held, with Eva Kamchevska, from North Macedonia, winning the award for her script “Spare Life”. The book “The Night They Erased the Stars” of Vasilis Papatheodorou was deemed as highly adaptable for a TV adaptation.

Moreover, a series of workshops, masterclasses, professional workshops, and meetings were organized, along discussions and interviews to promote scripts for the development of series for television markets abroad. European experts François Sauvagnargues and Nebojsa Taraba presented the possibilities for international production for television fiction and shared their experiences in co-productions with Netflix and HBO.

EKOME supports the initiatives that make Greece an attractive location for international audiovisual productions and wishes the best to the team of “Zagori Fiction Days” renewing the appointment for May 2021.

Find the Zagori Fiction Days program here.