Need to know: Thanassis Karathanos could not have had a better start for his company Twenty Twenty Vision when its first project — Filippos Tsitos’s My Sweet Home — was selected for the Berlinale’s Competition in 2001. Since then, the Berlin-based outfit has become a regular partner on numerous arthouse festival successes, such as Yaron Shani and Scandar Copti’s Oscar-nominated Ajami, Naomi Kawase’s Sweet Bean (An) and Khadar Ayderus Ahmed’s The Gravedigger’s Wife. Karathanos’s twin company, Halle-based Pallas Film, has similarly built up an enviable track record as co-producer on titles as diverse as Olivier Assayas’ Clouds Of Sils Maria, Sergey Dvortsevoy’s Ayka and Elia Suleiman’s It Must Be Heaven. Twenty Twenty now has its co-production of Ali Cherri’s debut feature The Dam in this year’s Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, while Pallas Film is represented in Un Certain Regard with Maha Haj’s Mediterranean Fever.
Key personnel: Thanassis Karathanos, managing director; Martin Hampel, producer.
Incoming: Twenty Twenty and Pallas are currently in post on Michale Boganim’s Tel Aviv/Beirut and another collaboration with The Man Who Sold His Skin director Kaouther Ben Hania, Olfa’s Daughters. Meanwhile, principal photography began this spring on Pallas’s production of Penny Panagiotopoulou’s Wishbone and Sylvie Michel’s Car Sharing. Pallas will also serve as delegate producer on Gyorgy Palfi’s crime drama Hen.
Thanassis Karathanos says: “From my experience, a mutual vision, trust and respect for the people behind the film are essential elements for a successful collaboration, and that is what I am looking for in the projects I am involved in.”
Contact: office@twentytwentyvision.eu/office@pallasfilm.de
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