03/11/2020 - The important Greek film gathering is back in (online) business, showcasing more than 170 films to its local audience

The 61^st Thessaloniki International Film Festival (TIFF) will unspool entirely online from 5-15 November, screening a total of 177 films available to local audiences, who can purchase their tickets on the festival’s website. TIFF’s artistic director, Orestis Andreadakis, underlines: “As we wheel out the Festival’s online version, we don’t cease to seek new theoretical tools to interpret not only cinema and the arts, but also the very reality that surrounds us. We set up visual art events in Thessaloniki’s public space; we plan alternative solutions for all our Festival’s upcoming actions. Our motto ‘Cinema, no matter what’ is a means for love and understanding, a way for us to lay down some rules of our own, over the ones imposed by the new coronavirus, a reaction against the reversed world we have immersed in”.

The 61^st TIFF will open with Philipp Yuryev’s feature debut and Giornate degli Autori winner, The Whaler Boy [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Philipp Yuryev
film profile] (Poland/Russia/Belgium), and will wrap with another Venice title and Poland’s submission to the Oscars, Never Gonna Snow Again [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Małgorzata Szumowska and Mi…
film profile] by Małgorzata Szumowska and Michał Englert (Poland/Germany).

For the fourth consecutive year, the TIFF selection follows an artistic concept. This time, it is “Intimacy, a Modern Tyranny”, inspired by the book “The Fall of Public Man” by American sociologist Richard Sennett. The 12 films selected in the international competition, three of them Greek, are feature debuts or sophomore films and will be setting their sights on the Golden Alexander. The selection includes: After Love [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Aleem Khan
film profile] by Aleem Khan (UK), Apples [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Christos Nikou
film profile] by Christos Nikou (Greece/Poland/Slovenia), Digger [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Georgis Grigorakis
film profile] by Georgis Grigorakis (Greece/France), Gaza mon amour [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Arab Nasser and Tarzan Nasser (Palestine/France/Germany/Portugal/Qatar), Ghosts [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Azra Deniz Okyay (Turkey/France/Qatar), Identifying Features [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Fernanda Valadez (Mexico/Spain), Kala azar [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Janis Rafa
film profile] by Janis Rafa (Netherlands/Greece), My Heart Can't Beat Unless You Tell It To by Jonathan Cuartas (USA), Night of the Kings [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Philippe Lacôte
film profile] by Philippe Lacôte (France/Côte d'Ivoire/Canada/Senegal), Preparations To Be Together For An Unknown Period of Time [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lili Horvat
interview: Natasa Stork
film profile] by Lili Horvát (Hungary), Shorta [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Anders Ølholm and Frederik …
film profile] by Anders Ølholm and Frederik Louis Hviid (Denmark), and Sow the Wind [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Danilo Caputo
film profile] by Danilo Caputo (Italy/France/Greece).

For the second consecutive year, the Meet the Neighbours competition is welcoming ten films from Southeast Europe, the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East, with three of them hailing from Greece. The films of this edition are 200 Meters [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ameen Nayfeh
film profile] by Ameen Nayfeh (Palestine/Jordan/Italy/Qatar/Sweden), All the Pretty Little Horses [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Michalis Konstantatos
film profile] by Michalis Konstantatos (Greece/Belgium/Germany), Amercement [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Fokion Bogris (Greece), Daniel ’16 [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Dimitris Koutsiabasakos (Greece), The Death of Cinema and My Father Too [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Dani Rosenberg (France/Israel), Luxor [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Zeina Durra
film profile] by Zeina Durra (UK/Egypt/UAE), Oasis [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ivan Ikic
film profile] by Ivan Ikić (Serbia/Netherlands/Slovenia/Bosnia and Herzegovina/France), Should the Wind Drop [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Nora Martirosyan
film profile] by Nora Martirosyan (France/Belgium/Armenia), Spiral [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Cecília Felméri (Hungary), and Unidentified [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Bogdan George Apetri (Romania/Latvia/Czech Republic).

For the Greek Film Festival of the 61^st TIFF, 15 established and first-time filmmakers will be competing in the First Run and Crossing Borders sections. In addition to six titles which are also in the International Competition or in Meet the Neighbors, First Run comprises A Simple Man by Tassos Gerakinis (Greece/France/Serbia), Green Sea by Angeliki Antoniou (Greece/Germany), Gym by Alexandros Voulgaris (The Boy) (Greece), Sarmako – A Tale of the North by Marco Papadopoulos (Greece), Senior Citizen by Marinos Kartikkis (Cyprus), Tailor [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sonia Liza Kenterman
film profile] by Sonia Liza Kenterman (Greece/Germany/Belgium), and Who Will Be Eaten by Elpiniki Voutsa-Rentzepopoulou (Greece). Meanwhile, the Crossing Borders section includes Sisters Apart [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Daphne Charizani (Germany/Greece) and Vasy’s Odyssey by Vasilis Papatheocharis (Spain).

As for the Balkan Survey, which every year focuses on the most important works from the region, seven feature-length films and five shorts are included: Accidental Luxuriance of the Translucent Watery Rebus [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dalibor Baric
film profile] by Dalibor Barić (Croatia), Exile [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Visar Morina
film profile] by Visar Morina (Germany/Belgium/Kosovo), Father [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Srdan Golubović
film profile] by Srdan Golubović (Serbia/France/Germany/Croatia), February [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Kamen Kalev (Bulgaria/France), Malmkrog [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Cristi Puiu
film profile] by Cristi Puiu (Romania/Serbia/Switzerland/Sweden/Bosnia and Herzegovina/North Macedonia), Mare [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Andrea Staka
film profile] by Andrea Štaka (Switzerland/Croatia), and Uppercase Print [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Radu Jude (Romania).

Finally, three special tributes are being organised: a special focus on science fiction films in the section “Prophecies from another world: Sci-fi and Cli-fi (1950-1990)”, as well as retrospectives about two prominent voices of European cinema, Anja Breien and Vĕra Chytilová (read the news).