The price “Golden Alexander”accompanied by prize money of 12,000 euros, won by Farahnaz Sharifi, who participated in the International Competition section of the 26th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival. Her documentary entitled “My Stolen Planet”, in fact, after this distinction, is automatically included in the pre-selection list for the Oscar for Best Documentary.

With this announcement, the awards ceremony of the 26th event was completed, which took place at noon in the packed Warehouse 3 of the port, while at 7 pm the Festival will close with the closing film “Yiannis Spanos: Behind the Marquee”, which will be shown at the Olympian Hall.

The award-winning film “My Stolen Planet”, is a story of tender inner departure and at the same time an attempt at an (autobiographical) hymn to freedom, a documentary – “handiwork”, which has Farah’s memories embroidered on a fragile film. A woman capturing the beauty of her daily life in Iran during the Islamic Revolution collects super8 scraps from strangers while learning what it means to love from a distance and dream within four walls. The connection she develops with Leila, a teacher who fled the country during that turbulent time, but also her mother’s battle with Alzheimer’s disease, will forever illuminate the dark parts of her memory.

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According to the rationale of the Festival’s jury, this particular German/Iranian documentary is a well-crafted and moving first-person treatise, which confirms that every political reality has a sub-reality behind it, and that resistance can take many forms, especially in the private sphere.

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Silver Alexander, accompanied by money prize of 5,000 euroswas awarded in the documentary “Forest” by Lydia Duda. Finally, a special mention in the category of the International Competition, where a total of twelve films over 70 minutes participated, was awarded to the documentary “Stray Bodies” by Elina Psykou.

The prizes of the remaining competition sections of the 26th FNTH

In the category where new directors try with their first or second documentary to capture reality with their own unique tools, the international Newcomers competition, the “Golden Alexandros – Dimitris Eipidis” prize, accompanied by a cash prize of 10,000 euros, was awarded to the documentary “Glass Half Full Life” by Rohier Capers. Accordingly, the “Silver Alexander”, accompanied by a cash prize of 4,000 euros, was awarded to the documentary “Dragons vs. Demons” by Camila Magid, while finally a special mention was given to “Tack” by Vania Turner.

From the Film Forward competition section, which presents the work of young, daring directors who challenge the conventions of film genres, expanding the boundaries of the cinematic language, “Golden Alexander” accompanied by the prize money of 6,000 euros was received by Lola’s film “Rees” Arias. The Silver Alexander, which comes with a cash prize of 3,000 euros, was awarded to the documentary “Lines of Desire” by Jules Roskam, while a special mention went to the documentary “Avant-drag!” by Phil Ieropoulos.

The competition section Immersive: All Around Cinema embraces creations that make use of the latest new technologies and present different aspects of an extended reality. The jury of the department awarded the Golden Alexander, accompanied by 2,000 euros, to the film “Emperor” by Marion Bourget and Ilan J. Cohen, as well as a special mention in the documentary “Fresh Memories: The Look” by Volodomir Kolbasa and Audrey Moravec.

Awards, honors and …scholarships for the best Podcasts

In the Podcast Competition Section, which explores the eclectic affinities of podcasts with cinema, the Podcast Prize, accompanied by a cash prize of 2,000 euros, was awarded to “There Never Was a Phaethon”, by Maya Filipopoulou and Efrosony Kyriazis, while a special Mention received “Hear the river” by Natassa Blatsiou.

This year, the collaboration of the FNTH with the Louis Lumière Graduate School and the French Institute of Greece, which offer the award-scholarship for an Emerging Audio Documentary Maker, continued. This is what Konstantina Stavropoulou received for the podcast “Sounds and Whispers, Human Roots”, which was presented in the Nexus Section of the Podcast Department of the 64th FKTH. A special mention was awarded to Haris Pagonidou for the podcast “Amorgos: Looking for my place”.

The Podcast in development in collaboration with the non-profit journalism organization iMEdD award, which is awarded to an idea that will win an award for the realization of an original podcast, with the support of iMEdD, went to “The End” by Nadia Mehdi.

The rest of the awards of the 26th FNTH

The Mermaid Award of the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival is awarded to the best LGBTQI+ themed film of the official program and is accompanied by a cash prize of 3,000 euros. It was awarded to the documentary “Rees” by Lola Arias, while “Lesbia” by Tzelis Hatzidimitriou received a special mention.

For the first time at the Documentary Festival, Alpha Bank is awarding the Accessibility Award to a personality or a film that highlights accessibility issues in the arts. It is accompanied by a cash prize of 3,000 euros and received in half by Loxandra, the heroine of the documentary “Loxi” and the two directors of the film, Dimitris Zachos and Thanasis Cafetzis.

ERT awards its first prize, accompanied by a cash prize of 3,000 euros, to the Greek production that won the prize of the International Federation of Film Critics FIPRESCI, which is “Tack” by Vania Turner. The ERT – Thessaloniki Pitching Forum Award, accompanied by a cash prize of 2,000 euros, was awarded to the documentary “Survivors” directed by: Nina-Maria Paschalidou, Maria Louka.

The Hellenic Film Center (EKK) awards an award to a documentary by a first-time director of the Greek program, which premieres at the 26th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival. The prize, which comes with a cash sum of 3,000 euros, was awarded in half to the documentaries “Panellinion” by Spyros Mantzavinou and Kostas Atarachas and “Lesbia” by Tzelis Hatzidimitriou. In addition, the Greek Cycladic Society is again this year granting a monetary prize, worth 3,000 euros, to a documentary film that participated in the Docs in Progress section and was won by “The Secrets of the Owl”, directed by Irini Vourloumis.

The Amnesty International award is given to a work that promotes and highlights human rights and denounces their violation and was awarded to the documentary “What We Left Behind” by Macek Hamela. Amnesty International’s Special Mention was given to the documentary “Stray Bodies” by Elina Psykou.

The International Association of Film Critics FIPRESCI awarded the film “My Stolen Planet” by Farahnaz Sharifi as the Best Documentary of the International Long Documentary Competition, while “Tack” was judged as the best Greek film included in the festival’s official program by Vania Turner.

The Panhellenic Film Critics Association (PEKK) singled out as the best Greek film of the Official Program “Panhellenion” by Spyros Mantzavinos and Kostas Atarachas.

The WIFT GR Award is awarded by the Greek branch of WIFT (Women in Film & Television) to a female filmmaker. This year the award was given to the documentary “Tack” by Vania Turner.

The best film of environmental interest is awarded by the environmental organization WWF Greece, which singled out the documentary “Nights” by Anirban Dutta and Anupama Srinivasan

The Youth Award Committee, which is made up of students from the Film Department of AUTH, awarded the Best Film Award to the documentary “Tack” by Vania Turner and the Special Committee Award to the documentary “Panellion” by Spyros Mantzavinos and Kostas Ataracha.

Finally, five Audience Awards were won by three Greek and two foreign films, which are as follows: “Soundtrack for a Coup d’état” by Johan Grimonpress (international film over 50′). “The Last Song of Kabul” by Kevin MacDonald and Roohi Hamid (international film under 50′). “Unwanted” by Marianna Oikonomou (Greek film over 50′). “Farewell: Suddenly the memory began to remember”, by ‘Antas Picsou’ (Greek film under 50). “The Missing Piece” by Angelos Tsatsis (Greek film shown online in the Platform section).