For ten days (March 5th-15th) Thessaloniki’s streets and cafés fill with Greek and international visitors talking of nothing but film – the 28th International Documentary Festival is the focus of the city. Over 250 documentaries will be screened – both feature- length works and shorts – from mid-day through evening.
Greece in focus
Fifty-seven full-length documentaries by Greek filmmakers are on this year’s program, many dealing with on Greek topics specifically. Highlights include:
‘Sacred Way, 21 km’
The “Sacred Way,” or Iera Odos, was the 21-kilometer pathway that pilgrims took from Athens to Eleusina to participate in the Eleusinian Mysteries. In modern Athens, the Iera Odos is a wide and chaotically traffic-ladened asphalt road, yet indelible traces of its spiritual energy remain. In “Sacred Way, 21 km” writer and director Nikoleta Paraschi takes us on a contemporary pilgrimage in the course of which we encounter the mundane and the divine in the lives of people along the Iera Odos today.
‘The Way Elsewhere’
In Eirini Vourloumis’ film “The Way Elsewhere,” Athens is seen through the lives of three taxi drivers – one a nightclub singer, another an actor from Nigeria, and the third a Greek cabbie with nearly half a century of experience. (World premiere)
‘… One Road the Sea’
For 30 years, the team of volunteers of the Omada Aigaiou has been serving the border islands, providing health care, social services, medical supplies, education, support for cultural activities, and more. Voula Kostakis’ ERT3 film “… One Road the Sea” is a moving story that follows 132 volunteers with 18 specialities to offer as they cover 450 nautical miles on their heroic route around this corner of the Aegean.
‘Once Upon a Time I Reached America’
Through the story of the rembetiko virtuoso Yorgos Katsaros, Angelos Kovotsos’ “Once Upon a Time I Reached America” looks at Greek folk musicians in 20th-century America and, more generally, the Greek diaspora. (World premiere)
A Tribute to Vouvoula Skoura
With a diverse background in graphic arts, art history, multimedia photographic techniques, and filmmaking, Vouvoula Skoura has navigated effortlessly between visual and graphic expression in work grounded in both history and human narratives. Two of her films on Giorgos Seferis are rich in photographic material: “Giorgos Seferis: Poet and Citizen. A Journey in Space” and “Time and Giorgos Seferis: Poet and Citizen. The Experience of Love + War and Decay.” Other works include “Water on Table – Homage to Odysseas Elytis,” as well as a video installation dedicated to the work of the Cypriot poet Niki Marangou – “Niki Marangou: Water Surfaces.” These join a visual exploration of the Renaissance and of the most interesting creators of the 20th century (“Sybils”), together with other groundbreaking experimental works; in all, 20 will be presented. Skoura will be awarded the Golden Alexander.
Innovations in accessibility
The TiDF, committed to a world of cinema without exclusion and discrimination, will be screening a fully accessible edition of the much-loved documentary “Heracles, Acheloos and My Granny (1997).” Audio description and subtitles will aid those with impaired vision or hearing, and the Festival is introducing pioneering technologies to enhance the experience for the neurodivergent by using film pictograms (FilmpiX) – graphic symbols to represent meanings and objects or meanings. A sensory-sensitive screening with a lower sound volume and lighting will also make the experience more accessible to viewers on the autism spectrum. The screening is free of charge, with a cost-free ticket.
The languages spoken in Vouvoula Skoura’s “Etel Adnan: Words in Exile” (2007) include English, French, Arabic and Greek. In addition to audio description for the visually impaired and subtitles for the Deaf or hard of hearing through the ADdub initiative, the film will be dubbed into a single language and added to the description channel, giving the visually impaired greater access to it.
Alpha Bank is the accessibility sponsor, and FILMPIX: IRIS ACCESS Social Coop is an accessibility partner.
Rewind
A program of rare and significant footage includes Katerina Paxinou onstage at Epidaurus (1938), the first aerial cinematic footage of Athens and the Acropolis (1918), and conductor Dimitris Mitropoulos wandering through the Acropolis, as captured by Nellys in “Documentaries Through the Passage of Time” by Lakis Papastathis (2009), from the ERT Archive, as well as a number of newsreels from the British Pathé archive that feature 20th-century Greece. The footage totals about an hour and will be shown on a constant loop for a duration of two hours (mornings) or three hours (evenings), with a nine- hour screening on the closing day of the festival. (At the Takis Kanellopoulos, no tickets required)
March 7th: 11 a.m. (2hrs)
March 8th: 11 a.m. (2hrs)
March 9th: 10th, 11th, 12th, & 13th: 11 a.m. (2 hrs) and 5 p.m. (3 hrs)
March 14th: 5 p.m. (3hrs)
March 15th: 11 a.m. (9hrs)
How to schedule
Visit the full screening schedule here to strategize. For the most part, you won’t need much time to get from one screening to the next. Four of the screening rooms are at the warehouses of the harbor, with another two at the Olympion, not ten minutes away. Another screening room – at the classic cinema Makedonikon – is further east. Many showings are followed by a Q&A, but there’s always opportunity to exit discreetly as the session begins should you prefer. In the center of Aristolelous Square in front of the Olympion is a glass box where you can obtain both information and tickets, but getting tickets online that download to your phone is a breeze, too, although there is a small surcharge involved.
Many films are can also be viewed online from the date of their premiere through to the end of the festival.
While you’re in town
There are three good shows on at the MoMus Contemporary right now:
“Martial Raysse. Sinéma.” For most, Martian Raysse is best known for works that helped define Pop Art. This is a rare opportunity to experience his lesser-known experimental cinema works, looking at the same social and consumer realities of the 1960s: pop culture, mass production, and advertising. The artist’s characteristic “Martialcolor,” his mix of the dynamic palette of Technicolor and the intensity of pop art, is used in some of the works. The exhibition spans over four decades of work, from 1966 to 2008, and might serve as an interesting counterpoint to your festival viewing. (Through April 12, 2026)
“European Pop. The Battle of Realisms and Narratives.” This exhibition features works by key Greek artists such as Chryssa Romanos, Nikos Kessanlis and Pavlos (Dionysopoulos), as well as those of other European artists elsewhere (Jean Tinguely, Eduardo Arroyo, Arman, and others) engaged in the movements of Nouveau Réalisme and Nouvelle Figuration or informed by them. (Through April 4, 2026)
“Pete Marifoglou: The Warhol Years XXX.” Born in Thessaloniki, Pete Marifoglou spent decades in New York City and Europe working in a variety of modes of expression – visual arts, music, theater and poetry. This is the first time his largely unpublished works are being shown in Greece. The show includes his analogue black-and-white photography focusing largely on people from the world of the adult films produced by Andy Warhol’s Factory, capturing a fragment of the avant-garde of New York City of the 1960s and 1970s. Some works may be unsuitable for young viewers. (Through April 12, 2026)
All three exhibitions are curated by Thouli Misirloglou.
Dining out
Places to eat around the port get very crowded during the festival. If you’re short on time, it’s hard to do better than a slice of pizza on the go from The Last Slice, 1 Proxenou Koromila, (+30) 231.128.1206, Tue-Sun 1 p.m.-2 p.m. (to 3 p.m. Fri & Sat), Monday 6 p.m.-2 a.m. Ergon’s Tzeneral Zacharoplasteio, 44 Pavlou Mela (08.00-00.00 daily) has fantastic homestyle pies and plenty of other treats, including their own chocolate milk. If you have a little time between screenings, it’s worth waiting for a table at Stou Mitsou, 11 Vlali, in the Kapani Market (Mon-Sat 12.30 p.m.-12 a.m.). All the festival venues have snack bars for coffees and snacks, and the 5th floor of the Olympion has the “Domatio me Thea” (Room with a View), a really nice self-service café.
This article first appeared in Greece Is (www.greece-is.com), a Kathimerini publishing initiative.
