In all, 18 of the 22 feature-length Greek films that will be screened at this year’s Thessaloniki Film Festival (31 October – 10 October) will be premieres, while nine will be included in the Festival’s international competition sections. The Greek program has been announced about a week before the time-honored press conference at which the organization will put all its cards on the table.

The International Competition will include the films She Loved Blossoms More by Yannis Veslemes, Arcadia by Yorgos Zois (which played at this year’s Berlin Film Festival) and Meat by Dimitris Nakos (which recently received its premiere at the Toronto Film Festival).

She Loved Blossoms More by Yannis Veslemes.

“Arcadia” by Yorgos Zois.

The “Meet the Neighbors+” competition section also includes three Greek entries: Hunt by Christos Pitharas, Riviera by Orfeas Peretzis, and Killerwood by Christos Massalas.

Hunt by Christos Pitharas.

“>>Film Forward” also has a competition section, and three Greek films will be screened in it: Kiouka before the Summer’s End by Kostis Charamountanis, Maldives by Daniel Bolda, and CAFE 404 by Alexandros Tsilifonis.

In addition, the following films will receive their official premieres in Thessaloniki this year: The Philosopher (I Have Something to Say) by Stratos Tzitzis, The Sock by Kyros Papavassiliou, Murky Depths by Eleni Alexandraki, Lula LeBlanc by Stergios Paschos, Fauna by Stratoula Theodoratou, The River by Haris Raftogiannis, Magic Trap by Nikos Vergitsis, and Wishbone by Penny Panagiotopoulou.

The “Crossing Borders” section, in which films related to Greece which or may or may not have been shot in Greece, are premiered will feature Utopolis by Vladimir Subotić, while the “A Second Look” section will include Brando with a Glass Eye by Antonis Tsonis.

It is worth noting that the Thessaloniki Film Festival and Finos Film are organizing a special screening of Dinos Dimopoulos’ 1964 comedy Miss Director, whose music was written by the great composer Mimis Plessas, who passed away this year.

It is also noteworthy that the Festival will this year give its audiences the opportunity to enjoy two historic Greek films: John the Violent by Tonia Marketaki and Robbery in Athens by Vangelis Serdaris, in a universally accessible form.

Apart from the feature films, as they are every year, all the award-winning Greek films from the domestic and international competition programs of the recent 47th Drama Short Film Festival will be shown. There are 24 in total. The award-winning short films will also be screened in a special section at the Film Market, which sales agents and representatives of foreign short film festivals will have access to.

One more award

A new prize will be added this year to the many independent awards that are presented at the Festival: the “FOS powered by the DEH” award (‘FOS’ means ‘light’ in Greece, and the DEH is the Greek PPC), which will go to first-time actors, male and female, in a lead or supporting role in a Greek feature-length film which is included in the Festival’s official program. Two awards will be bestowed, one on an actor and one on an actress, each accompanied by a 3,000-euro cash prize. The jury consists of the actors Katerina Didaskalou and Giannis Tsortekis and the director and actor Renos Haralambidis.

For those who would like to watch some of the featured films but can’t attend in person, the 65th Thessaloniki International Film Festival has made most of its selection available through an online platform. For more information, check here.