The director of the Thessaloniki Film Festival for many years has passed away Michelle Dimopoulos.

During his tenure, he left his “stamp” on the International Film Festival of Thessaloniki, which managed to make it known outside the Greek borders.

As a critic he collaborated with “Avgi” from 1975 until 1981 and then with “Sychrono Kinematographo” as editor-in-chief and director from 1975 until 1982.

From 1982 until 1991 he was in charge of foreign programs at ERT, he was a programmer of the legendary “Film Club” together with Yiannis Bakogiannopoulos from 1982 until its end in 2010.

He participated in film project evaluation committees of ERT and the Hellenic Film Center, while he edited tributes for Greek cinema abroad, worked in production offices and was a founding member of the LUX awards of the European Parliament.

Michalis (Michel) Dimopoulos had studied cinema in France and started his career as a film critic in “Avgi” and in the magazine Synchronos Kinematografos, in the 70s.

He took over as the artistic director of the Thessaloniki Film Festival (1992-2004), while he also collaborated with Greek and foreign film organizations, in the context of organizing tributes to well-known filmmakers.

It is noted that Michel Dimopoulos was facing a health problem, which recently worsened.

The Film Festival post

“Michel will always be here. In Olympia and at the port, on the big screens and in the streets of Thessaloniki, in conversations, in books and magazines. He will be alive, straightforward, laughing, fair and always ready to revisit and show us the wonderful films he loved, to make us discover new and restless cinema at every step.”