26th Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival // 7-17/3/2024
We welcome you to the 26th TiDF
The 26th Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival will be held from Thursday 7th to Sunday 17th March 2024 both in physical spaces and online. A total of 250 documentaries will be screened as part of the 26th TiDF, among which an impressive number of 112 world, international and European premieres. The Festival will take place in its tradition home ground, the movie theaters Olympion and Pavlos Zannas at the Olympion complex, the movie theaters Frida Liappa, Tonia Marketaki, John Cassavetes and Stavros Tornes at the Port of Thessaloniki, as well as Makedonikon theater. Moreover, the audience will have the chance to watch movies online, through the Festival’s digital platform, online.filmfestival.gr.
POSTER AND TRAILER
OPENING FILM - CLOSING FILM
The 26th TiDF will kick off on Thursday March 7th 2024, with the film They Shot the Piano Player by Fernando Trueba. The Academy Award winning film director will honor the Festival with his presence and will attend the opening ceremony, where he will be bestowed with the Festival’s honorary Golden Alexander. The 26th TiDF will call it a wrap with the film Yanni Spanos: A Life Behind the Marquee, directed by Aris Dorizas.
SPOTLIGHT ON DIMITRIS PAPAIOANNOU
The 26th TiDF is delighted to welcome the internationally acclaimed artist Dimitris Papaioannou, shedding light on the multifarious aspects of a creator who explores different forms of art and expression, redefining the boundaries of representation, the allegorical power of images and the communication between a work of art and the audience. The documentary Bull’s Heart (working title), directed by renowned Greek film director Eva Stefani and produced by Onassis Culture, will be screened at the 26th TiDF as a work-in-progress, in a special screening. In the documentary, Eva Stefani follows and records the European tour of Transverse Orientation, Dimitris Papaioannou’s play that was produced by Onassis Stegi. Dimitris Papaioannou’s video installation Inside, along with the filming of the installation’s backstage titled Backside, will also be showcased in Thessaloniki, at MOMus-Experimental Center for the Arts. In addition, the Festival is exploring the great artist’s work in cinema, screening his short films Nowhere and Primal Matter. Finally, the Festival’s magazine First Shot is entirely dedicated to the work of Dimitris Papaioannou.
“CITIZEN QUEER” TRIBUTE
A total of 33 documentaries that honor and praise the liberating act of self-determination, having left their mark on world queer cinema, take center stage at the grand tribute “Citizen Queer” of the 26th Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival. Beloved artists, activists and acclaimed personalities of cinema and culture, academics and scientists will attend the screenings to discuss with the audience. In addition, the Festival’s much-loved Non-Catalog will complement the tribute, featuring texts that explore the themes, components and origins of queer documentary.
SPOTLIGHT ON FERNANDO TRUEBA
The 26th TiDF will bestow its honorary Golden Alexander to the renowned Spanish filmmaker Fernando Trueba, also screening three of his films that revolve around his profound love and knowledge of music.
TRIBUTE TO PANAYOTIS EVANGELIDIS
The 26th Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival is hosting a tribute to the fearless and pioneering cinema of Panayotis Evangelidis, which places the issues of the visibility of the LGBTQI+ community under the spotlight, intertwining the personal element with social reality and the necessity of change. The Festival will bestow its honorary Golden Alexander to the Greek director, screenwriter, author and translator for his overall contribution to cinema and culture.
GREEK DOCUMENTARIES
The 26th TiDF is welcoming 66 full-length and short Greek films
- 35 movies take part in the international programme (International Competition, Newcomers competition, >>Film Forward competition, Open Horizons).
- The Platform section is renamed and expanded to Platform+, and its duration is raised to 14 days, from March 8 to March 22. This way, the audience will have the chance to watch 21 Greek films on the Festival’s digital platform from every part of Greece.
- The special screening of COSMOTE TV featuring the documentary Underwonder by Kostas Karydas, which casts a glance at the exciting world of cave diving.
- Two special screenings.
- The extremely up-to-the-minute and timely documentary Tilos Weddings by Panayotis Evangelidis will be universally accessible both in its physical screening and online, thanks to the support of Alpha Bank, the Festival’s Accessibility Sponsor.
- Two films dedicated to the unforgettable soprano Maria Callas, among which the documentary Mary, Marianna, Maria - The Unsung Greek Years of Callas by Michalis Asthenidis and Vassilis Louras, a Greek National Opera production that stands out as a significant documentation of the great Greek diva’s life, as well as a reminder of our cultural heritage, carried out thanks to the support of DEI .
INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMME
The 26th Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival is hosting four competition sections:
* A total of 12 films, among which three Greek, take part in the International Competition, having their eyes set on the Golden Alexander, accompanied by a 12,000-euro cash prize, and the Silver Alexander, accompanied by a 5,000-euro cash prize.
* The Newcomers competition section, featuring debut and sophomore films of up-and-coming film directors, includes 12 films, among which three Greek, competing for the “Golden Alexander - Dimitri Eipidis”, accompanied by a cash prize of 10,000 euros and the Silver Alexander, accompanied by a cash prize of 4,000 euros.
* The >>Film Forward competition section, which challenges cinematic conventions and showcases unconventional films, is hosting 11 films, among which two Greek. The awards bestowed are the Golden Alexander >>Film Forward, accompanied by a cash prize of 6,000 euros and the Silver Alexander, accompanied by a cash prize of 3,000 euros.
* Within the framework of the Immersive: All around cinema competition section, 8 pioneering films are lining up for the Golden Alexander Immersive, accompanied by a 2,000-euro cash prize. The art installation The Eye and I by the electronic music legend Jean-Michel Jarre will be screened out of competition.
* We discover dynamic and out-of-the-box docs at the Open Horizons section.
* We are presenting the cream of the crop of the documentary production at the Top Docs section.
* We turn our attention to the younger generation through the NextGen section.
AGORA
Dynamic initiatives, newly established awards and fresh synergies are part of the 26th TiDF Agora, the Festival’s developmental branch, which will take place both in physical spaces and online. The TiDF Agora is showcasing and supporting the films and the documentary filmmakers of tomorrow through a series of actions such as Thessaloniki Pitching Forum, Docs in Progress, Agora Lab, Meet the Future, Agora Talks, Talking Heads etc.
PODCAST SECTION
Fourteen Greek-speaking and one English-speaking podcasts were selected for the Podcast Competition section, with their eyes set on the Best Podcast Award, accompanied by a cash prize of 2,000 euros. In addition, the audience will have the chance to hear another 21 podcasts taking part in the Nexus Section.
CELEBRATING 50 YEARS OF GREEK DEMOCRACY
On the account of the completion of 50 years since the restoration of Democracy in Greece, the Festival is hosting a tribute that renders homage to his historical anniversary and the anti-dictatorship struggle. The tribute includes four films by acclaimed directors, which recount groundbreaking events. In addition, an open discussion featuring ministers and deputies of the Greek Parliament will be held within the framework of the presentation of the book Half a Century of Elections: Discussing the Contests of the Metapolitefsi (Polis publishing house), edited by Petros Ioannidis and Ilias Tsaousakis.
EDITIONS
* The special two-language edition of the Festival on cinema and documentary manifestos brings forth 24 declarations of timeless value that reflect the history and the evolution of the documentary genre and cinema as a whole. The Festival’s special edition is accompanied by a mini tribute of five films related to the above-mentioned manifestos.
*The Festival’s much-loved Non-Catalog will complement the Citizen Queer tribute, featuring texts that explore the themes, components and origins of queer documentary.
The 26th Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival is held with the support of the Ministry of Culture, the Partnership Agreement of the Central Macedonia Regional Operational Program, the National Recovery and Resilience Plan “Greece 2.0”, the MEDIA programme, the Ministry of Tourism and ERT. COSMOTE TV is Grand Sponsor of the Festival, for the 7th consecutive year, proving once again its support towards quality cinema. The Festival is happy to welcome PPC Group as its new Strategic Partner, and expresses its gratitude for the trust in its vision and work. Valuable is the support of Alpha Bank, the Festival’s accessibility sponsor, Aegean, the Festival’s official air-carrier, Fischer, the Audience Awards sponsor, and Jameson. The awards of the 26th TiDF will be bestowed in the Festival’s closing ceremony.
The Festival’s programme, as well as more info on the films, are available at www.filmfestival.gr. The tickets’ presale kicks off on Tuesday March 5th. A lovely festival to you all!
#TDF26
@filmfestivalgr
