67th TIFF: Discover the full lineup

On Thursday, October 29th, the press conference of the 67th TIFF took place in both Thessaloniki and Athens, at the same time. The 67th Thessaloniki International Film Festival will be held from Thursday November 5th to Sunday November 15th, 2026, both in physical spaces and online.

A total of 258 films will be screened at Olympion and Pavlos Zannas theaters, in the Port’s theaters, Frida Liappa, Tonia Marketaki, John Cassavetes and Stavros Tornes, as well as in the Makedonikon theater. In parallel, the audience will have the opportunity to also enjoy 58 films online, via the Festival’s platform online.filmfestival.gr.

Deputy Minister of Culture Iasonas Fotilas, responsible for Contemporary Culture, delivered a greeting: “To begin, I want to congratulate and thank the Festival’s director, Orestis Andreadakis, and his entire team. This year Orestis is carrying a double load, since Elise has been appointed to a highly prestigious position of responsibility. It is an honor for her, and also for the Festival, which gave her the opportunity to show her abilities. Let us wish her every success in her duties and return to the protagonists of this year’s event. Thanks to them, the curtain rises on the 67th edition. First of all, I want to express my joy that, even if only in this way, I too am taking part in the great celebration of cinema. Our national celebration of cinema. Because that is what the Festival is. A celebration the city has embraced. It is a leading presence in Greece. It is a leading presence in Europe. And it is a leading presence around the world. Because the love and persistence of Thessaloniki, especially of its young people, created and established the Festival. Let me reveal something to you. In all our discussions and negotiations on behalf of Greek cinema, whether with the European Film Academy, with Cannes, with France, or with international organizations, two things played a role. First, the government’s determination to invest 750 million in the sector and its people through the Greece on Screen program. Second, the artistic prestige of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival. We will continue. The strategy of investment and growth in cinema and the audiovisual sector is, in my view, already being vindicated. It is delivering results. It is bringing in investment.”

BIG NAMES IN THESSALONIKI

In Thessaloniki, we will welcome prominent figures within Greek and global culture, who will showcase their films or participate in fascinating talks, open to the public:

• The acclaimed Galician director and scriptwriter Oliver Laxe, creator of the riveting Sirãt, who is the guest curator of the “Welcome to the Desert” grand tribute.
• Nikos Grammatikos, to whom the Festival is dedicating a tribute and presenting an Honorary Golden Alexander Award.
• The iconic academic, author, film theorist, and director Laura Mulvey.
• Three favorite creators in a special talk: filmmaker Sarah Driver, actress Trine Dyrholm, film editor Yorgos Mavropsaridis. Producers Konstantinos Kontovrakis and Rodrigo Areias will also be joining them.
• The multi award-winning Emin Alper, one of the most important contemporary Turkish directors.
• The beloved actor, screenwriter, and director Christopher Papakaliatis, who will be this year’s Agora ambassador.
• The director Fatih Akin, who is especially well-loved by Greek audiences, will come to Thessaloniki to present his new film.
• The renowned Danish actor, Claes Bang.

GOLDEN ALEXANDER TO STAVROS XARCHAKOS

In addition, Thessaloniki will host the legendary composer, conductor, and orchestrator Stavros Xarchakos, who will be honored with a Golden Alexander Award for his overall contribution to culture. As part of the honorary award ceremony, Rembetiko by Costas Ferris will be screened.

POSTER AND SPOTS

The 67th Thessaloniki International Film Festival’s posters are based on the spatial affects work by visual artist, Sofia Rozaki.

The Festival’s four spots carry the signature of acclaimed director Stavros Markoulakis, who composed four fragments of a story about celestial bodies wandering around the sun.

Watch the Festival’s spots:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQnYB7UhkSlQ

OPENING FILM – CLOSING FILM

• The Festival will kick off on Thursday, November 5th with the film Minotaur, winner of the Grand Prix at Cannes, directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev. Following the screening, a concert featuring Pavlos Pavlidis will take place at Warehouse C, with free admission upon issuing a zero-fee ticket.

• The curtain will fall on Sunday, November 15th with the screening of the film Woman Unknown, the Golden Lion Award winner at the Venice Film Festival, directed by May el-Toukhy. Actress Mathilde Arcel, winner of the Volpi Cup for Best Actress, will also be joining us in Thessaloniki.

“WELCOME TO THE DESERT” MAJOR TRIBUTE

This year’s edition is hosting a tribute, dedicated to the desert, with filmmaker Oliver Laxe serving as guest curator. Oliver Laxe selected 17 films and will also deliver an open talk. As part of the tribute, a multimedia exhibition will be unveiled: an audiovisual installation, produced by the Reina Sofía Museum in Madrid, will be hosted by the MOMUS Experimental Center for the Arts. At the same time, audiences will also have the opportunity to enter a desert landscape at the West Guardhouse of Gate 1, curated by Orestis Andreadakis, Artistic Director of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, and enjoy unique VR creations. Furthermore, the Festival has prepared a special two-language edition about the tribute.

TRIBUTE AND GOLDEN ALEXANDER TO NIKOS GRAMMATIKOS

The 67th TFF will bestow its honorary Golden Alexander Award to beloved filmmaker, Nikos Grammatikos, for his overall contribution to cinema. Within the Festival’s framework, his complete body of work, both feature-length and short films, will be screened, while the film Exodos (1995) will be showcased on the big screen for the very first time, courtesy of the ERT Archive. The Festival will also host an open discussion with the director and his collaborators - actors, scriptwriters, as well as other contributors to his films. Furthermore, a presentation of the book Apontes (Antipodes Publications), featuring accounts from all those involved in the making of the film, by journalist and writer Theodosis Michos, will take place. The Festival’s special edition, First Shot Magazine, will also be dedicated to Nikos Grammatikos and will feature a selection of rare photo material, an extensive interview, and original texts on both him and his works.

BALKAN HORROR TRIBUTE

In this edition, the frightening visage of the Balkans will be explored through “Balkan Horror,” this year’s Survey Expanded tribute within the framework of the Meet the Neighbors+ section. Legends, folklore, ghosts of History, family secrets, and intergenerational trauma meet cult classics, B-movies, genre-defying hybrids, as well as some of the most peculiar and eerie stories of Balkan cinema.

TRIBUTE TO EMIN ALPER

The Festival is hosting a tribute to the works of Emin Alper, one of the most important Turkish filmmakers of our time. Deeply political yet inherently human, the cinema of the multi award-winning creator highlights the contradictions and the ingrained rigidities of Turkish society. Emin Alper will be joining us in Thessaloniki to present his films to the audience: from his explosive debut, Beyond The Hill, to his most recent film which garnered the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival, Salvation.

SPOTLIGHT ON LAURA MULVEY

The Festival welcomes one of the most influential voices in feminist discourse. Filmmaker, writer, theorist, and academic, Laura Mulvey will join audiences in Thessaloniki for a talk, during which she will touch upon subjects such as visual pleasure, desire, and the gaze, which have influenced entire generations of creators, critics, and viewers. The spotlight is curated by the Thessaloniki Film Festival and Georgia Korossi, a Digital Production Editor at the British Film Institute, independent film curator and producer.

GREEK FILM FESTIVAL

A total of 26 feature-length and 28 shortGreek films will be featured in the lineup of the 67th TFF.

- A special screening of the restored print of the film Eva (1953), directed by Maria Plyta, will take place.

- The Happy Beginning (1954) by Dinos Dimopoulos will be screened, in collaboration with Finos Film.

- Alexis Alexiou’s new film, Sea of Glass (2026), will have its avant-première, while Renos Haralambidis’s film, The Classic Masterpiece (2026), will be showcased at the open-air Apollon theater.

- Lost for three decades and widely regarded, not without reason, as “the holy grail of Greek queer cinema,” Andreas Velissaropoulos’s Opera (1976) will come back into focus through recently discovered Super 8 footage from its shoot. This footage will be screened within the Festival’s framework, and a discussion with people who worked on the film, collaborators and friends of Andreas Velissaropoulos, and queer cinema scholars will follow.

- The award-winning shorts of the 49th Drama International Short Film Festival will be presented.

The Greek films are vying for a series of independent awards.

SERIES SPECIAL SCREENINGS

The Festival continues to expand its series lineup, enriching its official program with new international and Greek productions. This year, in the Series Special Screenings section, we will enjoy long-awaited series such as Lord of the Flies, Dear England, Ravalear: Not for Sale, among others, as well as episodes from the Greek series Project Odysseus by Yorgos Gkikapeppas, produced by Magenta TV, and Seas Between Us by Christos Dimas, produced by ERT and ERTFLIX.GR.

INTERNATIONAL PROGRAM

The 67th Thessaloniki International Film Festival hosts four international competition sections, which are accompanied by major cash prizes.

*A total of 10 films are featured in the Arrivals competition section, including three Greek films. The section’s films are competing for the Golden Alexander “Theo Angelopoulos,” which is accompanied by a 10,000-euro cash prize, the Silver Alexander - Best Direction Award, which is accompanied by a 5,000-euro cash prize, sponsored by TELEKOM, the Awards for Best Actor and Best Actress, as well as a Best Screenplay Award or a Best Artistic Achievement Award.

*The Meet the Neighbors+ competition section includes 11 films, including two Greek and two Cypriot films. The section’s films are competing for the Golden Alexander - Michel Dimopoulos Award, which is accompanied by a 10,000-euro cash prize, the Silver Alexander - Best Direction Award, which is accompanied by a 5,000-euro cash prize, the Awards for Best Actor and Best Actress, as well as a Best Screenplay Award or a Best Artistic Achievement Award.
*The >>Film Forward competition section is composed of 10 films, including two Greek films. The section’s films are competing for the Golden Alexander >>Film Forward - Best Feature Film Award, accompanied by a 10,000-euro cash prize, the Silver Alexander - Best Direction Award, accompanied by a 5,000-euro cash prize, the Awards for Best Actor and Best Actress, as well as a Best Screenplay Award or a Best Artistic Achievement Award.

*The Mermaid Award is accompanied by a 3,000-euro cash prize.

*The Immersive competition section hosts 8 works, each one vying for the section’s Golden Alexander Award, which is accompanied by a 2,000-euro cash prize.

*In Open Horizons, we get to discover the most dynamic and groundbreaking cinema.

*In Special Screenings, we get to reunite with our favorite filmmakers.

*The Thessaloniki Film Festival’s much-loved section, ’Round Midnight returns, as always, for its signature late-night rendezvous with audiences.

*The 67th TFF celebrates young people’s voices through its NextGen section. As part of the section, it presents morning educational screenings for schools, free of charge, at the Stavros Tornes Hall, as well as in Stavroupoli and Sykies, in collaboration with the Municipalities of Pavlos Melas and Neapoli-Sykies, respectively. In parallel, within the framework of Kids / Teens Love Cinema, the screenings of the NextGen films taking place over the Festival’s two weekends will be free of charge for children and teens under the age of 18.

*For yet another year, as part of the Smart7 film festival network, the Festival will host a competition section, where seven films will compete for the Smart7 Award, which is accompanied by a 5,000-euro cash prize.

*TFF presents a new section titled Taming Time, whose films invite audiences to experience the moving image in entirely unprecedented ways.

THE EFA NOMINATIONS IN THESSALONIKI

The nominations for the European Film Awards, whose 2027 ceremony will be held in Greece, will be unveiled this year in Thessaloniki, on November 14th. The announcement of the nominations will be broadcast in the Pavlos Zannas theater at 12.00.

AGORA

With Christopher Papakaliatis as the ambassador, the Festival’s Agora will welcome cinema and series industry professionals from across the globe to take part in its programs, activities, and new initiatives. Projects participating in the Agora compete for important awards, which offer either cash prizes or in-kind services. The Agora is made possible with the valuable support of the Creative Europe-MEDIA programme.

PODCAST SECTION

A total of eight Greek and English-language podcasts are participating in the Festival’s Podcast Competition section, whereas 13 additional podcasts are taking part in the Nexus section. The podcasts of the Competition section are vying for the Best Podcast Award, which is accompanied by a 2,000-euro cash prize.

ACCESSIBILITY

The Alpha Bank Accessibility Award will be bestowed for the fifth time. The award, accompanied by a cash prize of 3,000 euros, is awarded to either an individual or a film that highlights accessibility issues in the arts. The audience of the 67th Thessaloniki International Film Festival will have the opportunity to enjoy Truants (1996) and Night Flowers (1999) by Nikos Grammatikos under universally accessible terms. Furthermore, 22 films will be screened with Audio Description (AD) for blind and visually impaired individuals, as well as Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (SDH).

SPECIAL EDITIONS

The Festival is unveiling three special editions:

• A special two-language edition, connected to the desert-themed tribute.
• The beloved and trailblazing Non Catalog.
• A special two-language edition, dedicated to the Balkan Horror tribute.

The 67th Thessaloniki International Film Festival is held with the support of the Hellenic Parliament, the Ministry of Culture, the ESPA Operational Programme “Central Macedonia 2021-2027”, and the MEDIA programme. Valuable support is provided by the Ministry of Tourism, the Hellenic Film and Audiovisual Center, ERT (Official Broadcaster), COSMOTE TELEKOM (Festival's Grand Sponsor), Alpha Bank (Accessibility Sponsor), Fischer (Audience Awards Sponsor), Aegean (Official Air Carrier), and Jameson.

The tickets’ presale kicks off on Tuesday, November 3rd. Happy screenings!