News

The Thessaloniki Documentary Festival educates the new generation of filmgoers: for yet another year, the event’s successful Docs for Kids program presents a selection of engaging feature and short documentaries from all over the world that are suitable for children and teenagers 

In the framework of this year's 20^th anniversary edition, a special screening of the French documentary Wiz Kids: Making School a Better Place by Antoine Fromental will be held in collaboration with TV5 Monde on Friday 9 March 2018, in the Stavros Tornes theatre.

The screening will be attended by teenage students of French schools based in Thessaloniki, as well as other schools in the city, with the aim to promote the French language and culture through the festival's activities.

About the film:

Wiz Kids: Making School A Better Place by Antoine Fromental

France 2017, Color 91’

Α headmaster of a public middle school in a diverse Parisian suburb has decided

to implement an alternative teaching program, based on intensive acting classes and rugby trainings – 2016 is the graduation year for the two classes that were at the spearhead of the experiment…

The Docs in Progress of the Doc Market of the 20^th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival were presented on Wednesday 7 March 2018 at Pavlos Zannas theatre. The Docs in Progress are hosted for the seventh consecutive year in the festival’s Doc Market. This year 10 projects from Central Europe, the Balkans and the Mediterranean region participate in closed sessions for Thessaloniki’s invited industry professionals, sales agents, distributors, producers and festival representatives who attend the 20^th TDF; six out of the ten projects are directed by women.

Thessaloniki International Film Festival Orestis Andreadakis warmly welcomed the participants in the event, highlighting that “Docs in Progress are here to encourage you to keep making films”.

This year, 2|35 Inc Post-Production House offers for the fourth time an award of up to 15.000 euro in post-production services. In addition, the MuSou award for music and sound services, amounting up to 6.500 euro, will be presented for the second time and the Greek Film Centre offers an award of 3.000 euro in cash.  The DiP awards amount to 24.500 euro in total.

The international Docs in Progress jury consists of:

Laia Aubia, Distribution Manager, DocsBarcelona, Spain

Charlotte Madsen, Buyer, SVT, Sweden

Takis Veremis, Distributor, StraDA Films, Greece

The projects are:

1. 1000 m2 of Time, Direction: Maro Anastopoulou, Production: Lilette Botassi - Inkas Film Productions, Co-producer: Pangaia Pictures, Greece
2. Body Struggles, Direction: Francesco Corona, Production: Lorenzo Cioffi – Ladoc, Italy
3. Figures, Direction: Eugenio Canevari, Production: Eugenio Canevari, Melina Pereyra, Waking Films Co-producer: Felipe Yaryura - Mamá Húngara Cine, Spain-Argentina
4. Frugal Abundance, Direction: Giorgos Savoglou & Frantzeska Romanou, Production: Amanda Livanou - Neda Film, Greece
5. Gentle Warriors, Direction: Marija Stonyte, Production: Giedre Zickyte – Moonmakers, Co-producer: Riho Vastrik, Lithuania-Estonia
6. Janitou, Direction: Amine Hattou, Production: Boualem Ziani - Libre image Production, Co-producer: Thomas Kaske - Kaske Film, Algeria-Germany-France-Qatar
7. KAT People, Direction: Marco Gastine, Production: Eleni Chandrinou, Marco Gastine - MINIMAL FILMS, Co-producer: Alexandre Cornu - Les films du tambour de soie, Greece-France
8. Seeds of Columbus, Direction: Marianna Economou, Production: Spyros Mavrogenis -Stefi/ Lynx Productions, Co-producer: Rea Apostolides – Anemon, Greece
9. Staring at the Sun, Direction: Atieh Attarzadeh & Hesam Eslami, Production: Etienne de Ricaud - Caractères Productions, Co-producer: Hesam Eslami, Atieh Attarzadeh, France-Iran
10. Tiny Souls, Direction: Dina Naser, Production: Dina Naser - Mad Moshawash, Co-producer: Khaled Haddad - Jordan Prioneers, Palmyre Badinier- Urban Factory, Jordan-Lebanon-Qatar-The Netherlands-France

Expanding further in dynamics and international collaborations each year, the Doc Market of the 20^th TDF takes place March 4-10 2018, daily 10:00-20:00, at Warehouse C (Thessaloniki Port).

The Doc Market, introduced in 1999, provides a substantial space to its participants, outfitted with 30 digital booths for private viewing. The Market, supported by Creative Europe Media program, caters to television networks from European countries and a wide range of professionals from various parts of the world. The Doc Market is fully digital; all films are easily accessible in the video library.

Her lasting contribution in the art of documentary making and her valuable support to the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival all these years, is the reason behind the Festival’s idea to honor Madeleine Avramoussis, Commissioning Director for Arte France, in a special event organized on Monday 5 March 2018 at a stacked “Stavros Tornes” Theatre, as part of TDF’s 20th anniversary edition. The event ended with the screening of Lefteris Haritos’ documentary Dolphin Man, a co-production with Arte.

“In appreciation of her passion for documentary and her ongoing support to the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, we honor Madeleine Avramoussis”, noted Elise Jalladeau, General Director of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, handing the honorary plaque to Mrs Avramoussis, who counts more than 25 years of experience with Arte. On his part, TIFF’s Director, Orestis Andreadakis, welcomed once more the guest to Thessaloniki and TDF, and described her as a “unique personality and a citizen of the world”.

“It’s more than I’m worthy of”, noted Madeleine Avramoussis, who during her long career in documentary and from her key position in Arte, has participated in the co-production of many Greek production and co-production documentaries, such as Roy Sher’s My Sweet Canary and Up to the Last Drop: The Secret Water War in Europe by Yorgos Avgeropoulos, which is being screened in this year’s event. “Documentary is above all teamwork. Therefore, I return the honor to all the people we have worked together with for the promotion of Greek documentary. I come to this festival ever since it was a ‘baby’, and now it is a twenty-year old... girl. So, happy birthday, and know that TIFF is not just a good opportunity to watch interesting things and relax with the films; it is mostly a chance to see and meet people and build relations with them eventually, so that beautiful partnerships can happen. You would not believe how many remarkably talented Greek documentarists are out there”.  Mrs Avramoussis added: “If I’m worthy of this honor at all, it is for my decisiveness. Because the producer clearly needs to be very decided and open-minded. I’m proud and thrilled to be here today, in this historic, cosmopolitan and open-minded city, in this historic building, just like I was proud every time we were going, together with all the team of Dolphin Man, to pitch this film in every big documentary festival in the world”,» Mrs Avramoussis noted, and concluded: “In our job, in order to make a documentary you have to wait for the right moment. It is like building a house. You need patience and time in order to lay the proper foundations”.

Collaboration between the TIFF & Greek Film Centre with the Festival de Cannes

The second edition of the event “Thessaloniki Goes to Cannes” will take place on Monday May 14^th 2018, during the 71^st Festival de Cannes (8-19 May, 2018). This is a collaboration of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, in partnership with the Greek Film Centre, and the Festival de Cannes.

Following last year’s successful pilot event, TIFF’s Agora will participate in “Goes to Cannes” of this year’s edition of Cannes’ Marché du Film by presenting 5 Works in Progress: fiction or documentary films at post-production stage from Greece or the surrounding area. These films will be showcased to the sales agents, distributors and programmers who attend this year’s Cannes’ Marché du Film, one of the world’s largest film markets, discovering up-and-coming directors from all over the world.

Greece is the only country in Southeastern Europe and the Balkans that participates in the event.

For more information about project submissions please contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or +30 210 8706010.

What kind of content could possibly be considered “dangerous” in the era of political correctness and lobbying? How can we be certain that anything we publish on the Internet will stay there? These questions and many more were addressed in the course of the very interesting and timely discussion “Social Media and Human Rights” that took place on Monday 5 March 2018, in Warehouse C, as part of the 20th anniversary edition of the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival.