Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival, one of the first festivals in a worldwide scale to explore the affinities between podcasts and cinema, is hosting once again its Podcast section, which has been crowned with great success, having become an integral part of the Festival program. In this year’s edition, a total of 22 Greek-speaking and English-speaking podcasts are lining up at the Podcast Competition and the Nexus Section. The Podcast Competition includes 10 podcasts (nine Greek-speaking and one English-speaking), setting their eyes on the Best Podcast Award, accompanied by a 2,000-euro cash prize. The three-member Podcast Jury of the 27th TiDF is composed of: Marina Danezi (filmmaker-producer), Evi Karkiti (journalist-radio producer) and Katerina Poulopoulou (journalist-radio producer).
All podcasts of the 27th TiDF will be available for the entire duration of the Festival at www.filmfestival.gr, as well as in many locations within the Festival premises (Green Room, Warehouses A, C and D, among others) via QR code. Moreover, on Saturday March 15th (13:00), at the Green Room (Olympion, 1st floor), the Festival will host a special hearing of the podcast BiPolar Opposites by Valia Dimitrakopoulou, created with the support of the non-profit journalistic organization iMEdD. BiPolar Opposites takes a close look at the mental illness of bipolar disorder through a series of personal testimonies, aiming to debunk its social stigma.
Heart-wrenching testimonies on past traumas, historical documents that come to light, insights on iconic personalities of art and culture, issues related to women’s emancipation and gender-based oppression, tales and dreamlike roamings, podcasts of journalistic and sociological research, folklore traditions, customs and practices that resurface through unique audio journeys, are among the topics featured in the Podcast section of the 27th Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival.
In the 27th TiDF’s closing ceremony, the ENS Louis Lumière – French Institute of Greece Award for Upcoming Audio Documentary Creator, in collaboration with the ENS Louis Lumière and the French Institute of Greece, will be bestowed. All podcasters aged 25-35 years old, who took part in the 65th Thessaloniki International Film Festival (November 2024) and the 27th Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival are eligible for the award. The winner will have the chance to attend the six-week Sound Documentary International Summer Programme hosted by ENS Louis Lumière, addressed to young and upcoming professionals of the audiovisual field (creators of blogs, podcasts or any other audio project). The ENS Louis Lumière – French Institute of Greece Award for Upcoming Audio Documentary Creator Jury is composed of: Dimitris Koutsiabasakos (film director, screenwriter, Professor at the Film School – Faculty of Fine Arts AUTh, Greece) and Raïssa Lahcine (ENS Louis Lumière Director of International relations, France).
Let’s take a glance at the 27th Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival podcasts:
Podcast: Competition
A Personal Lightning
Podcaster: Spyros Skandalos. Production: Assumed Position Films, Spyros Skandalos. Script-Sound editing-Narration: Spyros Skandalos. Original music: Myrto Zavou. Consultant: Stratis Chatzielenoudas. Language: Greek. Greece, 2025, 30΄
A Personal Lightning narrates the podcaster’s experience with trigeminal neuralgia, a rare and extremely painful condition. It traces his journey, from the first attack to managing the pain, and seeking others who face the same challenge, focusing on the power of understanding and community.
Are You Ztuffed?
Podcasters: Gina Georgiadou, Anna Podara. Production: Gina Georgiadou, Anna Podara. Script: Anna Podara. Sound Engineering-Mastering: George Kalliris. Sound editing: Gina Georgiadou. Original music: Legacy of Rossini, Barber of Seville, Background music for video, White_Records, Countdown, Kaden Cook. Language: Greek. Greece, 2025, 20΄
As online content grows, so does the challenge of choice. Does it grant freedom or foster passivity? Anna Podara, a generation Z researcher, asks Aristotle University students Marianna, Christos, Elissavet, Manos, Yorgos, Elli, Paris, Konstantina, Aliki and Christina: What do you do when you’re stuffed?
Blind Fascination
Podcasters: Michail Agrafiotis, Stella Kantartzi, Eleftheria Avgerinou. Production: Public School of Advanced Vocational Training for the Disabled, Michail Agrafiotis. Script: Michail Agrafiotis, Stella Kantartzi. Sound engineering: Thanos Papathanasiou. Sound editing: Michail Agrafiotis. Original music: Johnny Funk, Stefanos Andritsoudis. Language: Greek. Greece, 2025, 24΄
Eight people of different ages, genders and minds. What do they have in common? Visual impairment. What are they discussing? Social relationships. Through words, reactions and even silence, each reveals their own aspect, the true colors of the spectrum called “blindness”, as well as stereotypes and our common fascination with seemingness.
Frida Liappa, Filming The Soul As Matter
Podcasters: WIFT GR – Liza Themeli, Maria Chatzigianni. Production: WIFT GR, Maria Chatzigianni. Script-Narration: Liza Themeli. Sound engineering-Sound editing: Maria Chatzigianni. Speakers: Nikos Smaragdis (DoP), Takis Giannopoulos (editor), Kyriakos Angelakos (film director, partner in life of Frida Liappa), Yannis Bakogiannopoulos (film critic), Mirka Papakonstantinou (actress), Pemi Zouni (actress), Nena Menti (actress), Sofia Seirli (actress). Language: Greek. Greece, 2025, 25΄
The podcast delves into the life and work of the renowned director Frida Liappa, a pivotal figure in Greek cinema. Highlighting her unique directorial vision, it showcases her contribution to women’s creativity and cultural heritage. Discussions and analyses illuminate the timelessness of her work through a contemporary lens.
Give Voice!
Podcaster: Yorgia Karidi. Production: Yorgia Karidi. Script-Sound engineering-Sound editing-Narration: Yorgia Karidi. Language: English. Greece, 2024, 30΄
How shall a voice be when it wants to reach others? Can our voice, the most unique musical instrument, bring us closer? A sound project on proximity and the ways we share music together. The podcast negotiates the voice in performance art through the works and personal stories of artist Yorgia Karydi in an experiential audio essay of four chapters.
If I Was Born Today…
Podcasters: Afroditi Kerameos, Sofia Vafeiadou. Production: mousoutou productions by Dream On-Line. Script: Afroditi Kerameos, Faidra Stylianou. Sound engineering: Sofia Vafeiadou, Afroditi Kerameos, Vassiliki Parisi, Faidra Stylianou. Sound editing: Sofia Vafeiadou. Original music: Γιώργος Σαλτσίδης. Narration: Faidra Stylianou, Afroditi Kerameos. Graphic design: Daphne Mesochoriti. Language: Greek. Greece, 2025, 22΄
The women in this podcast are our grandmothers.They talk about their origins, their memories, the life they lived, and all the lives they wish they had lived. What do our grandmothers dream of? What would they do differently if they were born today?
The Lotus Eaters
Podcaster: Maria Apostolakea. Production: Maria Apostolakea. Script-Sound engineering-Narration: Maria Apostolakea. Sound editing Alexandra Verykokkou. Language: Greek. Greece, 2025, 21΄
When space acquires uniqueness, history and meaning, place is created. Is a place that no longer exists, as it once was, still a place? A person who was in our life, but is no longer in it, is still a person? What is the sound of a damaged place? Does it have sound?
The Trauma Between Us
Podcaster: Despina Sotiropoulou. Production: DS Productions – Despina Sotiropoulou. Script-Narration: Despina Sotiropoulou, Renia Kouvelioti. Sound engineering-Sound editing: Antonis Gasparinatos. Original music: Eva Loukatou, Eleni Lagou. Other participants: Sotiria Sousani (song performance), Stella Panou (song lyrics), Dimitris Papadimitriadis (interviewee, psychotherapist & psychiatrist). Language: Greek. Greece, 2025, 21΄
The diagnosis of early memory loss of journalist Rena Kouvelioti and the reaction of her brotherly friend and journalist Despina Sotiropoulou, which became the trauma between them. An experiential narrative that describes denial, conflict and reconciliation with an immeasurable future, experiencing it even before it comes…
Voices of Vindication
Podcaster: Andreas Vagias. Production: Frenel. Script-Narration: Andreas Vagias. Sound engineering-Sound editing: Kostas Tsiolis. Original music: Kostas Grountas. Illustration: Martha Kolokotroni. Language: Greek. Greece, 2025, 30΄
For about a decade, a Taekwondo coach from Ilioupoli sexually assaulted underage female athletes as young as 12. He was sentenced in July 2024. The victims – women deceived, abused and vindicated are speaking out publicly for the first time. An audio documentary about the trauma, struggle and redemption of the victims.
Zanana
Podcaster: Konstantinos Vrettos. Script: Konstantinos Vrettos. Sound engineering-Sound editing: Leandros Ntounis. Narration: Martha Frintzila. Poster: Drinkdamilk. Language: Greek. Greece, 2025, 20΄
Zanana, this incessant sound that tears through the night of Gaza, is not just noise, but a fear that never fades. Two journalists broadcasting live from the frontlines and two Palestinians who escaped just before the chaos erupted, share their stories, while a voice fades into the echo of war.
Podcast: Nexus
Nine Greek-speaking and three English-speaking podcasts are lining up at the Nexus subsection of the Festival’s Podcast Section. All podcasts taking part in the Nexus subsection are available for hearing at the Festival’s website throughout the entire duration of the 27th Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival (6-16 March, 2025).
allouterra
Podcaster: Andriana Minou. Script-Sound engineering-Sound editing-Original music-Narration: Andriana Minou. Language: Greek. Greece-UK, 2025, 29΄
allouterra: a place with no coordinates or time frames. It has no History; it’s a world full of stories waiting for me to dream of them. Upon awakening, I record them in words and sounds; that’s how this podcast/documentary of journeys around entirely real dreams was created.
Behind the Lens: A Story of Three Photographers
Podcaster: Christos Korovilas. Production: Prodromos Tarasis. Script: Christos Korovilas. Sound Engineering: Prodromos Tarasis, Angelos Kontaxis. Sound Editing: Prodromos Tarasis. Original music: Giannis Dellis. Narration: Athena Androutsopoulou, Christos Korovilas, Prodromos Tarasis. Actors: Yiannis Zafeiris, Georgia Tsagkaraki, Melissa Kostaki, Amalia Ninou, Research group of the Psychobiography Club of the Logo Psychis Institute. Language: Greek. Greece, 2025, 28΄
What is the secret hidden behind Nelly’s, Vivian Maier’s and Francesca Woodman’s photographic lens? A special tribute that will explore the parallel lives of three important female photographers, from different eras and countries, searching for the invisible thread that unites them through their art.
Black Silence
Podcaster: Michail Efthymiou. Production: Michail Efthymiou. Script-Sound engineering-Sound editing-Original music: Michail Efthymiou. Language: English. Greece, 2025, 21΄
A journey of growing up, etched in the details of everyday life, captured in fleeting moments that leave indelible marks on the soul and shape the essence of existence.
Dear Grandma
Podcasters: Stelios Zachariou, Thanasis Kapetanios. Production: Stelios Zachariou. Script-Narration: Stelios Zachariou. Sound engineering-Sound editing: Thanasis Kapetanios. Language: Greek. Greece, 2025, 30΄
Every afternoon, my grandmother Pitsa, now 83 years old, enjoys her little cup of coffee; just half a teaspoon. As part of our project The Journal, which explores portraits and stories of the people around us, I joined her for a coffee. We talked about her life, listening to her sweet, heartfelt story.
Don’t Call Us, We’ll Call You
Podcaster: Sofia Mpletsou. Script: Sofia Mpletsou. Sound editing: Paul Pavlidis. Narration: Sofia Mpletsou, Giannis Varvaresos, Thanos Poumakis, Giota Kouitzoglou, Fotini Timotheou, Mary Andreou, Alexandros Zafiriadis, Haris Mpairaktaridis, Victoria Papadopoulou Siskopoulou, Andreas Paraschos, Giorgos-Zisis Mpilionis, Maria Tzelepi. Graphic design: Kalliopi Kanteraki. Language: Greek. Greece, 2025, 27΄
Audition is seen as an opportunity to find work and at the same time an everlasting assessment. During a fictional audition, ten actors and an amateur one, share their thoughts and concerns about their profession and recount incidents of their professional lives.
Farewell
Podcaster: Yiannis Kaisaridis. Production: Yiannis Kaisaridis. Script-Narration: Yiannis Kaisaridis. Language: Greek. Greece, 2024, 23΄
The last meeting of two friends, the Commissioner and the Officer, on the (death) bed of the latter. The latter, a drunkard for years, dies of grief for his lost only son. They drink the last retsina together and remember the old times…
Like Birds in the Sky
Podcaster: Sofia Eirini Sopiadou. Interviewees: Kira Csenge Farkas, Luis Alvarez, Deni Todorova, Achilleas Prasidis. Photography: Asimoula Moisidou. Language: English. Malta, 2024, 20΄
Like birds in the sky we fly away, we migrate from one place to the other in order to find a place that we can call home. A lifelong search for a safe place, for a permanent home. But what if home is not a place? The stories of this podcast are filled with excitement for a new life and sadness for what is left behind.
Metametheus
Podcasters: Alexandros Fassois. Production: Ideogramma Amargi. Script-Sound engineering-Sound editing-Original music-Narration: Alexandros Fassois. Language: Greek. Greece, 2025, 30΄
The search for the “subject” through its three “mythological” ages: A. Prometheus Rock – B. Body, Language, Xerolithia – the legacy of Epimetheus – G. Being is in the making – the age of the Metametheus. Audio documents by: Antonin Artaud, Samuel Beckett and Giorgos Heimonas.
Phoenix
Podcaster: Tasos Theofilatos. Script-Sound engineering-Sound editing-Original music-Narration: Tasos Theofilatos. Language: Greek. Greece, 2025, 20΄
The poetic escape of a soul that tries to redefine itself.
Speech Pitch: Say It with SayIt Labs
Podcasters: Spyretta Leivaditi, Pascal Hecker, Kalliopi Kakamouka. Production: Spyretta Leivaditi. Script: Spyretta Leivaditi, Snigdha Banik, Priyanshi Pal, Kalliopi Kakamouka. Sound editing: Pascal Hecker, Snigdha Banik, Spyretta Leivaditi, Kalliopi Kakamouka, Orchid Chetia Phukan, Sarthak Jain, Vishakha Choudhary. Other participants: Wenxi Fei, Paige Tuttösí, Janice Huang, Wei Xue, Sarthak Jain, Orchid Chetia Phukan, Priyanshi Pal, Zhengjun Yue, Kay Berkling. Language: English. France, 2025, 29΄
In this episode we meet Lukas Latacz and Erich Reiter, founders of Sayit labs, and discuss their career, the founding process of their company, and their contribution to pathological speech using their Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications.
Thess Stories: The First Feminists of Thessaloniki
Podcasters: Giannis Lekas, Anna Stamatopoulou. Production: Apostolos Papageorgiou, Giannis Lekas, Anna Stamatopoulou. Script-Narration: Giannis Lekas, Anna Stamatopoulou. Sound engineering-Sound editing: Apostolos Papageorgiou. Language: Greek. Greece, 2024, 20΄
The first feminists of Thessaloniki: Historical documents about the pioneer women of the city who, despite the fact that their struggle was met with fierce attacks by the press of the city, vigorously claimed the equality of the sexes and laid the foundations for the future conquests of women.
What Story Will You Have to Tell
Podcaster: Athanasios Gioumpasis. Production: Athanasios Gioumpasis. Sound engineering-Sound editing: Athanasios Gioumpasis. Original music: Taylor Nathan Rhys Soundscapes. Language: Greek. Greece, 2024, 26΄
From Rizokarpaso in occupied Cyprus, Dimitris describes his life as an enclave. He describes isolation, the strength to persevere despite difficulties, the struggle for social integration, and the consequences of educational inequality, asking for equality and respect for the students of Rizokarpaso.
Special Hearing
BiPolar Opposites
Saturday March 15th, 13.00, Green Room
A mental illness that remains a taboo unfolds through personal testimonies and interviews with experts and patients, aiming to demystify and destigmatize the condition. The BiPolar Opposites podcast was created in the context of the open call issued by the non-profit journalistic organization iMEdD and the Thessaloniki Film Festival, for the development and implementation of an original podcast based on journalistic research and documentation. After the completion of the special hearing, a discussion with the podcast’s creators will follow.
Research-Script-Narration: Valia Dimitrakopoulou
Sound Mixing & Design: Dafni Tsiouni
