52nd THESSALONIKI INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
November 4 - 13, 2011
ATHENS, Greece
PRESS RELEASE October 20th, 2011
OPENING & CLOSING FILMS & NOTABLE GUESTS
The 52nd Thessaloniki International Film Festival announces its Opening and Closing films, to be screened at the opening and closing ceremonies in the Olympion Theater, on Friday the 4th and Saturday the 12th of November respectively.
In addition, we present a roster of notable guests that will attend the Festival.
PLEASE NOTE: for interview requests for any of these guests, please contact us as early as possible.
OPENING FILM – The Descendants by Alexander Payne, 2011, USA
The TIFF has showcased Alexander Payne’s work from its beginnings; his first film, Citizen Ruth (1996), won the Best Screenplay Award at the 1996 TIFF and Payne also attended the Festival in 2004 to present Sideways with great success. His fifth film, The Descendants, has garnered spectacular reviews; indiewire called it “his warmest, most earnest work, if not his best”. A family drama with a sense of humor (Payne’s preferred genre), it stars George Clooney as a wealthy businessman but poor father, whose wife winds up in a coma, an event that will redefine his life.
Alexander Payne will attend the 52nd TIFF from the 4th to the 6th of November. A press screening of the film will also take place on Saturday, the 5th of November at 09:00 at the Olympion Theater and a press conference will take place on the same day at 12.00 in Warehouse C.
CLOSING FILM – Martha Marcy May Marlene by Sean Durkin, USA, 2011
Sean Durkin’s debut feature, the winner of this year’s Sundance Directing Award, is a remarkable psychological thriller about a young girl who flees a violent cult posing as a peaceful commune. Newcomer Elisabeth Olsen, who stars in the titular role, gives a complex performance as Martha, as she tries to deal with her past while safe in her sister’s home; frequent nightmares and bouts of paranoia, however, do not allow her to recover.
OTHER GUESTS AND FILMS
Marjane Satrapi will attend the Festival from 9-13 November to present Chicken with Plums (France, 2011 - Open Horizons). Adapted from another of her award-winning graphic novels and co-directed with Vincent Paronnaud, Satrapi’s new film after Persepolis takes place in 1958 in Tehran; it is the story of a violinist who decides to die after his favorite instrument is broken. Chicken with Plums uses a delightful blend of live action and animation, which corresponds flawlessly to the story’s mix of fantasy with harsh reality.
Andrey Zvyagintsev will attend the Festival from 6-9 November to present his new film, Elena (Russia, 2011 - Open Horizons). A suspenseful and atmospheric family drama with extraordinary attention to detail, it is about a simple woman, Elena, married to an old and wealthy man who decides to leave her almost nothing in his will.
DAYS OF PRESENCE OF THE PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED GUESTS WHOSE TRIBUTES WE HOLD IN THIS YEAR’S EDITION:
Sara Driver: 9-13 November
Ole Christian Madsen: 4-8 November
Ulrich Seidl (Open Horizons): 10-12 November
Erden Kiral (Balkan Survey): 5-7 November
AN ADDITION TO OUR AGORA / MARKET PRESS RELEASE:
Three more Greek projects have been added to the Crossroads Co-production Forum roster out of competition:
Chess Games
Director: Olga Malea, Producer: Irene Souganidou, Feelgood Entertainment, Greece
Heatwave
Director: Joyce A. Nashawatti, Producer:Alexandra Boussiou, Wrong Men, Greece/France
Kalashnikov
Director: Constantine Giannaris, Producer: Dionyssis Samiotis, Filminmind Productions, Greece
