The 65th Thessaloniki International Film Festival will be held from Thursday October 31st to Sunday November 10th, 2024, both in physical spaces and online. A total of 252 full-length and short films in the renovated and equipped with new seats Olympion and Pavlos Zannas theaters, in the Port’s theaters Frida Liappa, Tonia Marketaki, John Cassavetes and Stavros Tornes, as well as in the Makedonikon theater. In addition, we’ll watch another 67 films online, through the Festival’s platform online.filmfestival.gr.
TOP-NOTCH NAMES WILL ATTEND THE FESTIVAL
POSTER & TRAILER
The poster of the 65th TIFF bears the signature of the visual artist Stella Kapezanou. This year, the Festival assigned its spots to two young and upcoming Greek film directors. The spots “Transformation” and “Vampires” were directed by Nikos Kolioukos, whereas the spot “Scared?” was directed by Meni Tsilianidou.
OPENING FILM – CLOSING FILM
GRAND TRIBUTE & EXHIBITION “WE, THE MONSTER”
Strange and mysterious cinema creatures, monsters that live next to us inside of us take center stage at the large-scale tribute of the 65th TIFF titled We, the Monster. The tribute’s guest curator is Carlo Chatrian, former artistic director of the Berlin and Locarno film festival. The Festival’s grand tribute includes:
⇨ 22 world cinema masterpieces
⇨ The titular exhibition featuring works by Malvina Panagiotidi and David Sampethai.
⇨ A special two-language edition featuring editorials and analyses by film theoreticians, sociologists and journalists.
TRIBUTE AND GOLDEN ALEXANDER TO PANOS H. KOUTRAS
The 65th TIFF is hosting a large-scale tribute to the unconventional, pioneering and daring Greek film director Panos H. Koutras, who will receive the Festival’s honorary Golden Alexander. The Festival, teaming up with the Department of Communication & Media Studies and the Department of Digital Arts & Cinema of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, will host an all-day colloquium dedicated to the work of Panos H. Koutras. Moreover, the Greek director will deliver a masterclass on the queer identity of his cinema, within the framework of the Iconic Talk powered by Mastercard. Last but not least, the Festival’s magazine First Shot will take the form of a funzine, entirely focused on Panos H. Koutras.
MEET THE FUTURE – MUSIC IN MOTION: THE ART OF FILM SCORING
The successful initiative Meet the Future, jointly hosted by the Festival’s Greek Program and Agora, foregrounds this year the art of film scoring, through the tribute “Music in Motion: The Art of Film Scoring”.
UN-FAMILY-AR TRIBUTE
The broadened notion of family in all its contemporary and alternative forms and expressions, as a part of an ever-changing world, takes center stage at the tribute Un-Family-ar held within the framework of the Survey Expanded sub-section of the Meet the Neighbors+ competition section. A total of 11 films representing 16 countries will be screened at the Un-Family-ar tribute.
TRIBUTE TO JESPER JUST
The Festival is hosting a tribute to the multifarious artist Jesper Just, who will attend the 65th TIFF to present his work, screening 18 short films directed by the Danish artist, among which his latest film Interfears, starring Matt Dillon.
SPOTLIGHT ON NIKI DE SAINT PHALLE
The 65th TIFF is hosting a spotlight on the bold, eccentric and uncompromised French artist Niki de Saint Phalle. Producer, film director and curator Arielle de Saint Phalle, the niece of Niki de Saint Phalle and responsible for the restoration of the film A Dream Longer than the Night that will be screened within the framework of the spotlight.
GREEK FILM FESTIVAL
We are welcoming 22 full-length and 24 short Greek films
– 18 films celebrating their premiere, at the sections “First Run” and “Crossing Borders”
– A special screening co-held by the Festival and Finos Film of the film Miss Director, featuring the music score by the legendary (and recently deceased) Greek composer Mimis Plessas.
– The Greek short films awarded at the recent Drama International Short Film Festival.
– The Greek films are contenders for a series of independent awards. Among them we encounter the newly established FOS Award powered by PPC. Actors and actresses making their film debut, in a lead or supporting role, in a Greek full-length film taking part in the Festival’s official lineup, are competing for the award. In the awards’ ceremony, two awards will be bestowed, to an actress and an actor respectively, both accompanied by a 3,000-euro cash prize.
INTERNATIONAL PROGRAM
The 65th Thessaloniki International Film Festival is hosting four international competition sections, accompanied by substantial cash prizes.
* A total of 12 films take part in the International Competition, among which three Greek films. The IC films have their eyes set on the Golden Alexander “Theo Angelopoulos”, accompanied by a 10,000-euro cash prize, the Silver Alexander – Best Direction Award, backed by a 5,000-euro cash prize granted by COSMOTE TV, the Festival’s Grand Sponsor, the Best Actor Award, the Best Actress Award, as well as the Best Screenplay or Artistic Achievement Award.
* A total of 12 films participate in the Meet the Neighbors+ competition section, among which three Greek films. The MtN+ films are competing for the Golden Alexander “Michel Dimopoulos”, accompanied by a 10,000-euro cash prize, the Silver Alexander – Best Direction Award, accompanied by a 5,000-euro cash prize, the Best Actor Award, the Best Actress Award, as well as the Best Screenplay or Artistic Achievement Award.
* A total of 12 films are in the starting line of the >>Film Forward competition section, among which three Greek films. The >>FF films are contenders for the Golden Alexander, accompanied by a 8,000-euro cash prize and the Silver Alexander – Special Jury Award, accompanied by a 4,000-euro cash prize.
*Συνεχίζοντας την επιτυχημένη συνεργασία με το Φεστιβάλ, η Mastercard υποστηρίζει και φέτος με χρηματικό έπαθλο ύψους 3.000 το Βραβείο Mermaid.
* The Immersive competition section is back in action with style, featuring 8 films, competing for the section’s Golden Alexander, accompanied by a 2,000-euro cash prize. The installation Intangible by Danish artist and designer Carl Emil Carlsen will be showcased out of competition.
* We discover the most avant-garde voices of today’s cinema in the Open Horizons section
* We catch up with our beloved filmmakers in the Special Screenings section.
* We meet up after hours in the ‘Round Midnight zone.
* The 65th TIFF is catching the youth vibe through the NextGen section. The Festival will host educational screenings for schools, at Stavros Tornes theater (Warehouse 1, Post), as well as in the regions of Stavroupoli and Sykies, in collaboration with the Municipalities of Pavlos Melas and Neapoli-Sykies, respectively.
* For yet another year, within the framework of the film festivals alliance Smart7, the Festival will host a competition section, featuring seven films (one from each country) that compete for the Smart7 Award, accompanied by a 5,000-euro cash prize.
AGORA
PODCAST SECTION
A total of 10 Greek-speaking and English-speaking podcasts take part in the Festival’s Podcast Competition, whereas another 17 podcasts are included in the Nexus Section. The podcasts of the Competition section are competing for the Best Podcast Award, accompanied by a 2,000-euro cash prize. In addition, all podcasters aged 25-35 years old, taking part in the Festival, both in the Podcast Competition and the Nexus Section, are eligible for the ENS Louis Lumière – French Institute of Greece Award for Upcoming Audio Documentary Creator. All podcasts, as always, will be available for hearing, through the Festival’s website www.filmfestival.gr.
ACCESSIBILITY
The Accessibility Award, granted by Alpha Bank, the Festival’s Accessibility Sponsor, will be bestowed for the third year in a row, to either a personality or a film that brings forth issues of unhindered access to the arts. Within the framework of the 65th TIFF two benchmark Greek films will be screened in universally accessible terms: John the Violent by Tonia Marketaki and Robbery in Athens by Vangelis Serdaris.
FOR A MORE SUSTAINABLE FESTIVAL
The Thessaloniki International Film Festival, capitalizing on the Evia Film Project experience, has outlined its tailor-made environmental strategy and action plan with regard to the entire scope of its activities, available at the Festival’s website (www.filmfestival.gr). Within this framework, the Festival undertakes a series of new initiatives in every Festival, intiving and urging the guests and the audience to take active part. One of the fundamental goals for the 65th TIFF is to drastically reduce the number of single-use plastic water bottles.
SPECIAL EDITIONS
The Festival presents this year’s two special editions:
The 65th Thessaloniki Film Festival is held with the support of the Ministry of Culture, the Partnership Agreement of the Central Macedonia Regional Operational Program 2021-2027 and the MEDIA program. Valuable is the support of ERT (Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation), official communication sponsor of the Festival, COSMOTE TV, Grand Sponsor of the Festival, PPC, the Festival’s Strategic Partner, Alpha Bank, the Festival’s accessibility sponsor, MasterCard, the Festival’s official payment card, Fischer, the Audience Awards sponsor, Aegean, the Festival’s official air-carrier, and Jameson.
The actions aiming at the reinforcement of Greek cinema’s extroversion and promotion to the international scene are carried out within the framework of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan “Greece 2.0”, funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU.
The Festival’s programme, as well as more info on the films, will be soon available at www.filmfestival.gr.
The tickets’ presale kicks off on Tuesday October 29τη. A lovely festival to you all!
