The acclaimed Thessaloniki International Film Festival has announced a raft of exciting films for this year’s 65th edition. The beloved festival will begin this year on October 31, and run through the 10th of November.
Greece’s largest film institution’s flagship event will feature a total of 22 full-length films and 24 short films this year, with 18 Greek films making their world premieres.
The festival will kick off with the latest work of renowned Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larraín–Maria starring Angelina Jolie. The eponymous Maria is none other than the renowned Maria Callas, the Greek–American soprano, who had captivated operas worldwide. The film follows the larger-than-life diva in her final days in Paris, reflecting on a life of tumult and success.
The finale of the festival will be concluded with song–The Academy-Award-nominated documentary director Joshua Oppenheimer will be in attendance to present his dystopian musical The End, which follows a family feigning normality in an opulent bunker after an apocalypse wipes out most of humanity. The film, starring Tilda Swinton and Michael Shannon will be screened at the closing ceremony of the festival on Sunday November 10th.
The End will hit the Greek theaters on December 12.
Joshua Oppenheimer, two-time nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film, stars Tilda Swinton and Michael Shannon.
The Thessaloniki International Film Festival will also be screening several films with audio descriptions for the blind and the visually impaired and with subtitles for the deaf or hard of hearing. Classic Greek films John the Violent (1973) by Tonia Marketaki and Robbery in Athens (1969) by Vangelis Serdaris will both be screened in universally accessible terms.
