The German film Sabbatical won the impressions. The main core of the festival are its three competition sections dedicated to films by creators making their first or second attempt. Don’t forget at the Thessaloniki Film Festival we saw films by creators like Todd Haynes or Darren Arenovsky in their first steps. Thessaloniki “does its best” and welcomes a multitude of filmmakers from every corner of the world and the thirsty cinephiles who flood the theaters even day and night, spreading smiles to the creators.

The modern family in crisis

Tara and Robert’s relationship is in crisis. So they make the decision, one step before the separation, to spend their sabbatical with their daughter, Nia, in the rugged and beautiful Mani. A kind of rest and abstinence from continuous engagement with the object of their work. Their stay in Greece seemed to heal the rift in their relationship. “I was interested in getting into the depth of a long-term relationship with all the pain, the bad but also the deep love. When both relatives and important events are involved, show how the couple reacts. I’m interested in illuminating conflicts,” says Judith Angerbauer, the director of Sabbatical, speaking to Deutsche Welle. The film is her directorial debut and had its Greek premiere at the Thessaloniki Film Festival in the Open Horizons section. For years he wrote scripts for film and television productions, such as the German-language detective TV series Tatort.

When the tourists leave, the film’s couple decide to stay in Mani, as the place seems to provide an answer to their relationship problems. From the safety of a stone tower they try to find their footing. But with the change of weather and the desolation of winter, the wild manic landscape brings their conflicts to the surface. “It is an image of German society and family. It was very important for me to show what happened after the war, the silence that existed in families, the inability to manage conflicts and the ways that are constantly parting. The film’s protagonists are victims of their own family,” emphasizes the German director. Her next script takes place in Athens. “A German figure in Greek society, with crucial encounters in a political film”, he reveals to us.

Mani is the protagonist

“It was beautiful to play as an actor but also to live it as a person. The view of the sea, the olive groves. The mountain that cracks and tries to maintain its bulk and weight, just like the relationship of the film’s couple. These rocks are so impressive, creating a mystical atmosphere that matched the atmosphere of the film very well,” says one of the film’s protagonists, Tristan Putter, who is typically impressed by Mani. In fact, when he was informed about the existence of the successful daily television series “Gi tis Elia” that is filmed in Mani, he declared that he was ready, if a role was found for him, to visit it again. “The family in the film carries with it old conflicts that never stopped. The landscape was imposing and the contact with the local community very interesting. You can live your role better in such an environment instead of in a studio,” emphasizes the film’s actor Sebastian Urchedowski.

The couple’s choice to isolate themselves in a beautiful place does not solve everything. More honesty would help. Their little girl experiences loneliness, almost invisible because of her parents’ problems, with distance only saving them from hatred. As a German viewer of the film, who has lived in Greece for years, characteristically commented in the discussion that followed its screening: “By being isolated in Greece without social contact, you have nothing to gain.”

A festival with glitz and hospitality

“The festival evolves and grows organically. We want it to be open and try not to change its character. Let’s grow it without ever losing measure and its mood to be welcoming”, points out Giorgos Krassakopoulos, head of the International Program of the Thessaloniki Film Festival and the Documentary Festival, speaking to Deutsche Welle. This year the festival welcomed two of the brightest stars of modern cinema, Juliette Binoche and Ralph Fiennes, who reunite after “Windsweeping Heights” and “The English Patient” in Umberto Pasolini’s “The Return”. But also the versatile Matt Dillon who charmed at the presentation of the new film “They Called Her Maria”, directed by Jessica Palund, where he stars in the role of Marlon Brando.

27 films with German participation are presented at this year’s festival. Among them, the social drama “ALLE DIE DU BIST” (ALLE DIE DU BIST) shows us the search for lost love in Nadine’s marriage in the industrial area of ​​the Rhine and the film “EDGE OF NIGHT” (GECENİN KIYISI) by the German director Türker Süer, in the international competition, illuminates the conflict between two very different brothers, during the period of the 2016 coup attempt in Turkey. “There are many German co-productions with a multinational character and with great extroversion, strongly following the example of France, from which we draw our choices. In recent years, several notable Greek-German co-productions”, points out George Krassakopoulos. There were a few days left before the curtain fell on the festival and the available tickets were running out. Cinephiles hurry…