Two myths of world cinema, radiant Juliette Binoche, Academy Award winner and President of the European Film Academy, and beloved Ralph Fiennes, Academy award nominee and an iconic figure of the British theater scene, will honor the 65th Thessaloniki International Film Festival with their presence.
The Festival will bestow its honorary Golden Alexander to the two stars at the screening of the monumental film The English Patient (1996) by Anthony Minghella, which brought the Oscar® for Best Supporting Actress for Juliette Binoche and an Oscar® nomination for Best Actor for Ralph Fiennes. Moreover, within the framework of the 65th TIFF, the audience will also have the chance to watch the film The Return (2024), where the two prolific stars will join forces for the third time in their career – after the films Wuthering Heights and The English Patient – in a screening that will also be attended by the director of the film, Umberto Pasolini.
The Return draws inspiration from the epic story of Odysseus’ homecoming to Ithaca. Twenty years after the outbreak of the Trojan War, Odysseus (Ralph Fiennes) is washed ashore at the coasts of his homeland, completely unrecognizable and weathered. In the meantime, a lot has changed on his island. His beloved wife Penelope (Juliette Binoche) is imprisoned in her own house, hunted down by the suitors who put pressure on her to pick a new husband. Their son, Telemachus, who never got to know his father, is in peril, as the suitors regard him as an obstacle in their pursuit of Penelope and the throne. Odysseus is called to face his past and wounds, and find the courage to salvage his family, as well as his kingdom.
Stunning Juliette Binoche was the first actress in the history of cinema to win the so-called Triple Crown of Acting, having snatched awards for her performances at the three most prestigious film festivals of the planet. In particular, she won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the Venice International Film Festival for her performance in the legendary film Three Colors: Blue (1993) by Krzysztof Kieślowski, the Berlinale’s Silver Bear for Best Actress for her performance in the film The English Patient, as well as the Cannes’ Best Actress Award for her performance in the film Certified Copy by Abbas Kiarostami. In addition, Juliette Binoche became only the second French actress to ever win an Oscar®, thirty-six years after Simone Signoret.
Through daring, risky and highly demanding roles both in the French and the English language, Juliette Binoche has embodied some of the most unforgettable female portraits we have ever seen on the big screen. From famous literary heroines to real-life personas that left their mark in history, Binoche has been navigating in style through the various genres and styles. In her breathtaking course in acting, she has teamed up with many more landmark directors of world cinema, among whom stand out the names of Chantal Akerman, Leos Carax, David Cronenberg, Claire Denis, Jean-Luc Godard, Michael Haneke, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Patrice Leconte, Louis Malle, André Téchiné. One of the most recognizable and influential names of European cinema, with an immense contribution and legacy in the history of cinema, Juliette Binoche took the baton from Agnieszka Holland as the president of the European Film Academy.
Ralph Fiennes, after having excelled in the British theater scene and consolidated himself as one of the most imposing Shakespearean actors of all times, made his film debut in the film Wuthering Heights, directed by Peter Kosminsky and based on the titular legendary novel by Emily Brontë, co-starring alongside Juliette Binoche. In the course of a spectacular career of fascinating choices, harmoniously balancing between the comic and the dramatic, the low-key and the operatic, Fiennes has interpreted an impressive gamut of characters. Right from his early steps as an actor, he gained the status of an absolute star, as his chilling performance in Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List (1993) earned him an Oscar® nomination for Best Supporting Actor, a BAFTA Award and a Golden Globe nomination. A few years later, his performance in the film The English Patient (1996) garnered him nominations for an Oscar® and a Golden Globe, while in 1999 he won the European Film Award for Best Actor for his performance in the film Sunshine by István Szabó.
Ralph Fiennes has offered us memorable moments in many more films directed by distinguished filmmakers, such as Wes Anderson, Kathryn Bigelow, Joel & Ethan Coen, David Cronenberg, Luca Guadagnino, Peter Greenaway, James Ivory, Neil Jordan, Sam Mendes, Robert Redford. Moreover, he has inextricably tied his name to two of the most successful franchises of the film industry, as agent M and Lord Voldemort in the James Bond and Harry Potter series, respectfully, while also having directed the films Coriolanus (2011), The Invisible Woman (2013) and The White Crow (2019).
The movie The Return will hit the Greek theaters on November 28th, 2024, distributed by Rosebud.21.
