The Thessaloniki Documentary Festival presents an International Competition Section. Ten films of over 70 minutes in length compete for the Golden Alexander and the Silver Alexander Award. The Golden Alexander award is accompanied by a €12,000 cash prize. The Silver Alexander Award is accompanied by a €5,000 cash prize. This year, the International Competition Jury members are Dimitris Athiridis, director and photographer; Lauren Greenfield, filmmaker; and Signe Byrge Sørensen, producer.
Dimitris Athiridis
Dimitris Athiridis is a photographer, documentary filmmaker, producer, and editor from Thessaloniki, Greece. As a filmmaker, he creates profound character studies, approaching them as existential adventures. His past work includes T 4 Trouble and the Self Admiration Society (2009) and One Step Ahead (2012). His latest 14-hour film, exergue – on documenta 14 (2024), premiered at the 74th Berlinale and the 49th Toronto International Film Festival, and was screened in many other festivals worldwide.
Dimitris Athiridis is a photographer, documentary filmmaker, producer, and editor from Thessaloniki, Greece. As a filmmaker, he creates profound character studies, approaching them as existential adventures. His past work includes T 4 Trouble and the Self Admiration Society (2009) and One Step Ahead (2012). His latest 14-hour film, exergue – on documenta 14 (2024), premiered at the 74th Berlinale and the 49th Toronto International Film Festival, and was screened in many other festivals worldwide.
Lauren Greenfield
For 25 years, Emmy Award-winning photographer and filmmaker Lauren Greenfield has traveled the world, documenting the excesses of wealth and celebrity that have come to define our culture. Named by the New York Times as “America’s foremost visual chronicler of the plutocracy,” Greenfield has produced groundbreaking work on consumerism, youth culture, and gender, provoking international dialogue about some of the most important issues of our time. In her latest work, the series Social Studies, Lauren Greenfield returns to her roots with a groundbreaking social experiment exploring the effects of social media on the first generation of digital natives. The Queen of Versailles was the opening night film of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Best Documentary Director Award and was named by Vogue as one of the top documentaries of all time. Her record-breaking, Super Bowl ad #LikeAGirl (250+ million views) earned her 14 Cannes Lions and the Most Awarded Director by Ad Age, making her the first woman to top this list.
For 25 years, Emmy Award-winning photographer and filmmaker Lauren Greenfield has traveled the world, documenting the excesses of wealth and celebrity that have come to define our culture. Named by the New York Times as “America’s foremost visual chronicler of the plutocracy,” Greenfield has produced groundbreaking work on consumerism, youth culture, and gender, provoking international dialogue about some of the most important issues of our time. In her latest work, the series Social Studies, Lauren Greenfield returns to her roots with a groundbreaking social experiment exploring the effects of social media on the first generation of digital natives. The Queen of Versailles was the opening night film of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Best Documentary Director Award and was named by Vogue as one of the top documentaries of all time. Her record-breaking, Super Bowl ad #LikeAGirl (250+ million views) earned her 14 Cannes Lions and the Most Awarded Director by Ad Age, making her the first woman to top this list.
Signe Byrge Sørensen
Signe Byrge Sørensen is a four-time Oscar® nominee for producing The Act of Killing (nominated Best Documentary Feature 2014), The Look of Silence (nominated Best Documentary Feature 2016) and Flee; (nominated Best Documentary Feature and Best Animated Feature 2022). She was nominated for the Producer’s Guild Award for The Look of Silence. Signe Byrge Sørensen has been a producer since 1998. She began in SPOR Media in 1998, moved to Final Cut Productions ApS in 2004 and co-founded Final Cut for Real ApS in 2009. She holds an MA in International Development Studies and Communication Studies from Roskilde University, Denmark, 1998 (1st). She is a graduate of EURODOC (2003), EAVE (2010), ACE (2018) and Inside Pictures (2022). In 2014, Signe Byrge Sørensen received the Roos Award, which acknowledges an extraordinary contribution to Danish documentary film, and the IB Award given by the Danish Director’s Association. She also received the Timbuktu Prize, which recognizes critical and investigative journalistic work. Her most recent films are Two Strangers Trying Not to Kill Each Other (2024) and The End, the fiction feature musical by Joshua Oppenheimer and starring Tilda Swinton and Michael Shannon, which premiered at Telluride and Toronto 2024.
Signe Byrge Sørensen is a four-time Oscar® nominee for producing The Act of Killing (nominated Best Documentary Feature 2014), The Look of Silence (nominated Best Documentary Feature 2016) and Flee; (nominated Best Documentary Feature and Best Animated Feature 2022). She was nominated for the Producer’s Guild Award for The Look of Silence. Signe Byrge Sørensen has been a producer since 1998. She began in SPOR Media in 1998, moved to Final Cut Productions ApS in 2004 and co-founded Final Cut for Real ApS in 2009. She holds an MA in International Development Studies and Communication Studies from Roskilde University, Denmark, 1998 (1st). She is a graduate of EURODOC (2003), EAVE (2010), ACE (2018) and Inside Pictures (2022). In 2014, Signe Byrge Sørensen received the Roos Award, which acknowledges an extraordinary contribution to Danish documentary film, and the IB Award given by the Danish Director’s Association. She also received the Timbuktu Prize, which recognizes critical and investigative journalistic work. Her most recent films are Two Strangers Trying Not to Kill Each Other (2024) and The End, the fiction feature musical by Joshua Oppenheimer and starring Tilda Swinton and Michael Shannon, which premiered at Telluride and Toronto 2024.
