With the physical presence of a star of enormous scope in Thessaloniki, it will take place from November 2 to 12 in 64th Film Festival. Her name Monica Bellucci caused… a disturbance at the press conference for the announcement of the program of this year’s event, while the journalists are waiting for the press conference that the famous Italian actress herself will give at Warehouse 3 of the Port.

The 64th Thessaloniki Film Festival, in addition to glamorous personalities, will this year host 270 films, 194 feature-length and 71 short, in the Olympian and Pavlos Zannas theaters, in the Limanio theaters, Frida Liappa, Tonia Marketakis, John Cassavetes, Stavros Tornes, as well as in the Macedonian cinema. At the same time, 79 films will also be broadcast online, through the Festival’s digital platform.

The press conference was held simultaneously and live broadcast both in Thessaloniki, in the Pavlos Zannas hall of the Olympian, with the presence of the general director of the Festival Elise Zalandos and the program manager Giorgos Krassakopoulos, and in Athens at the French Institute, where the artistic director of the Orestis Andreadakis Festival and the manager of the Market, Aggeliki Vergou.

“Malena” in Thessaloniki shines the spotlight on the 64th FKTH – The stars of this year’s event

Monica Bellucci will be in Thessaloniki on November 8 and 9 and will be awarded an honorary Golden Alexander, one of the two of the event. “The Italian actress will be at the Festival to present the film “Maria Callas: Letters and Memories”, the screening of which is part of the Maria Callas year celebrations, but also “Malena”, the film that made her famous throughout the world”, announced Mrs. Zalando.

The first Golden Alexander will be received for his contribution, the director of great hits Nikos Perakis. “Nikos Perakis, whom we adored through the unforgettable sharp comedies, is also an important set designer, who has signed the production design in films such as the Oscar-winning and Golden Palm “Tambourlo” by Volker Schlendorf. For this reason, the great German director will come to Thessaloniki to award him, on behalf of the Festival, the Golden Alexander”, emphasized Mr. Andreadakis.

In addition, the Festival will welcome one of his staunchest and dearest friends, two-time Oscar-winning Greek-American producer Alexander Payne, who will be in town to present his highly anticipated new film, Children of Winter, a film that has received rave reviews and has already set a bow for the next Oscars.

An exciting masterclass will be given by the director of the great worldwide television hits (Six Feet Under, Game of Thrones, True Detective, etc.), Jeremy Pontesois, while the ambassador of the Festival Market is the great performer Haris Alexiou.

Opening and closing films

The opening film of the Festival will be “The pot-au-feu” by Trần Anh Hùng, a film that won the Director prize at the Cannes Film Festival, starring Juliette Binoche and Benoit Massimiliano.

Accordingly, the closing film will feature an old acquaintance of the Festival, Aki Kaurismaki with his “Fallen leaves”, which won the Grand Jury Prize in Cannes

Movies, series and podcasts, but also many parallel events

In addition to the films, the Festival will introduce to the public five separate television series by Greek and foreign creators. Also, ten Greek- and English-language podcasts participate in the Festival’s Podcast Competition, while another 19 podcasts participate in the Nexus section. The public will have the opportunity to listen to them all, in the specially designed area of ​​the Podcast Room, at the Cinema Museum of Thessaloniki, with free admission.

Four important tributes, two exhibitions, editions of books and the free press “Primo Plano”, a wide range of discussions and panels, two awards of honors and the Festival’s favorite parties, frame this year’s event.

A total of 37 prizes will be awarded, one of which is the prize of the smart seven competition – accompanied by a cash prize of 5000 euros, which includes films selected by seven European festivals, among them Thessaloniki.

Greek Film Festival

Thirty-five feature-length and 22 short-length Greek films are participating in the 64th FKTH. Twenty-three of them are presented in the first screening, in “Official First” and “Crossing Borders”. A special screening is organized by the Festival and Finos Film in memory of Mary Chronopoulou. Finally, the award-winning short films from the 46th International Drama Short Film Festival will be screened.

International program

This year, the 64th Festival hosts four international competition sections, which are accompanied by significant cash prizes.

A total of 11 films participate in the International Competition, among them three Greek films. The films are vying for: the Golden Alexander “Theodoros Angelopoulos” which comes with a cash prize of 10,000 euros, the Silver Alexander – Directing Award, supported by a cash prize of 5,000 euros from COSMOTE TV, Male and Female Performance Awards, Screenplay or Artistic Achievement Award.

In the Meet the Neighbors+ competition section, 11 films are presented, among them two Greek ones. The films compete for the Golden Alexander “Michel Dimopoulos”, an award that comes with a cash prize of 10,000 euros, for the Silver Alexander – Directing Award that comes with a cash prize of 5,000 euros, Best Actor and Best Actress awards and the Screenplay or Artistic Achievement Award.

The >>Film Forward competition section consists of 11 films, among them two Greek ones. The films compete for the Golden Alexander with a cash prize of 8,000 euros and the Silver Alexander – Special Prize of the Jury, which comes with a cash prize of 4,000 euros.

The Festival honors the memory of Michel Dimopoulos

The Golden Alexander of the strengthened and expanded Meet the Neighbors+ section of the Festival was renamed to “Golden Alexander – Michel Dimopoulos”, as one of the actions and initiatives to honor the memory of Michel Dimopoulos, who was the director of the Festival from 1991 to 2005 , gave new life and expanded the international horizons of the institution, making the internationalization of the Festival a reality.

In fact, there will be a special screening of the film The spirit of the bee, by Victor Erithe, a favorite creator of Michel Dimopoulos, on Saturday November 4, at 18:00, in the Pavlos Zannas hall, while for Michel and his legacy in cinema there will be journalists Vena Georgakopoulou and Maria Katsounaki and film critic Christos Mitsis will speak with the Festival team.

For a more sustainable festival…

The Thessaloniki Film Festival aims to become more sustainable every year, reducing its environmental footprint and raising public awareness of the goal of sustainability. This year, in a period of intense climate changes and unprecedented phenomena that affect the lives of all of us, and with the aim of intensifying its efforts to become as “green” as possible, the Festival is introducing a green fee of 10 euros for the accredited ones and undertakes to channel the amount that will be collected into sustainability actions that it is already implementing. Even the smallest steps can bring big changes.