61st THESSALONIKI INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ||
5- 15/11/2020
Cinema, no matter what!
Whether it’s dusk
or dawn’s first light
the jasmine stays
always white
Giorgos Seferis
Cinema no matter what, festival no matter what. The 61st Thessaloniki International Film Festival is back in online business, from 5 to 15 November 2020, with indie cinema from all over the world, the best movies of the recent Greek film production, breathtaking tributes, and subversive films that will carry us to the four corners of the horizon, amidst these unforeseeable and unprecedented days we’re living in. We are welcoming you at www.filmfestival.gr, where 177 movies are in store for you to watch.
“Ever since February 2020, our dystopian everyday life seems to be the work of a sci-fi screenwriter. Thessaloniki Film Festival bears no exception of course, but at the same time it has proved to be a feisty and resilient institution. Following in the footsteps of the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival held last March, the 61st Thessaloniki Film Festival will take place, no matter what. We owe it to the audience, to the filmmakers, to the cinema industry, to our team. Cinema by any means, cinema at any given place… to light up our days and nights” points out TIFF’s General Director, Elise Jalladeau.
“As we wheel out the Festival’s online version, we don’t cease to seek new theoretical tools to interpret not only cinema and the arts, but also the very reality that surrounds us. We set up visual art events in Thessaloniki’s public space; we plan alternative solutions for all our Festival’s upcoming actions. Our motto “Cinema, no matter what” is a means for love and understanding, a way for us to lay down some rules of our own, over the ones imposed by the new coronavirus, a reaction against the reversed world we have immersed in” says TIFF’s Artistic Director, Orestis Andreadakis.
The 61st Thessaloniki International Film Festival prepared, instead of the traditional press conference, a video expressing the times we live in and our hope that cinema will, once more, bring us closer together:
Every film is available for a limited number of viewings exclusively destined for users residing in Greece. Tickets for online screenings cannot be returned of cancelled.
POSTER AND TRAILER
The colorful posters of the 61st TIFF are designed by the Basque illustrator Luis Mazón, whereas TIFF’s spots were created by the award-winning director Sophia Exarchou (Park).
OPENING FILM AND VIDEO – CLOSING FILM
GREEK FILM FESTIVAL
The 61st TIFF hosts 18 Greek full-feature films, as well as 21 Greek shorts:
The awarded short films of the recent 43rd Drama International Short Film Festival will also be screened.
ACTIONS AND INITIATIVES SUPPORTING GREEK CINEMA
The 61st TIFF wholeheartedly supports Greek cinema through a series of actions and initiatives: two new awards for Greek projects in the development sections of Agora, the successful program “Meet the Future” that invites eight up-and-coming cinematographers of Greek films to take center stage, the Agora Lab workshop for Greek projects, the participation of six film professionals from Greece at the Thessaloniki Locarno Industry Academy International, as well as the strengthening of TIFF’S collaboration with the Drama International Short Film Festival.
INTERNATIONAL PROGRAM
* The concept behind the 12 films making up the 61st TIFF’s International Competition is Intimacy, a Modern Tyranny, inspired by American sociologist Richard Sennett’s book The fall of public man. Three Greek films take part in the International Competition section: Apples by Christos Nikou, Kala Azar by Janis Rafa and Digger by Georgis Grigorakis.
* Meet the Neighbors Competition includes ten films, among which we encounter three Greek films: Daniel ’16 by Dimitris Koutsiabasakos, All the Pretty Little Horses by Michalis Konstantatos and Amercement by Fokion Bogris. This section hosts films directed by young directors from the wider region of Southeast Europe, Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East, our country’s broader “neighborhood”.
* We discover a vigorous and convention-breaking kind of cinema in The Open Horizons section and the Open Horizons - Another Take subsection.
* We showcase the top-notch Balkan films in the Balkan Survey.
* We catch up with our favorite directors in the Special Screenings.
* We recommend radical films in >>Film Forward.
* We get ourselves an after hours date in the ‘Round Midnight zone.
TRIBUTES
AGORA
This year’s Agora, taking place online, includes a series of dynamic actions, awards and collaborations. Agora aims at bringing the industry’s international professionals in contact with the Greek cinema community. This year, highly cherished actress Katia Gkoulioni serves as Agora’s ambassador. TIFF’s Agora, supported by Creative Europe MEDIA program, is granting awards in the form of services and cash prizes of a total value of 200,000 euros, and will be carried out online from November 6 to 14, 2020.
AWARDS
The International Competition section movies are contending for the Golden Alexander – Best Feature Film “Theo Angelopoulos” Award (15,000 euros), the Silver Alexander – Special Jury Award (8,000 euros), the Bronze Alexander – Special Jury Award for Best Direction, as well as the Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Artistic Achievement/Best Screenplay awards. As of this year, TIFF’s Grand Sponsor, COSMOTE TV, grants a 3,000-euro prize to the winner of the Bronze Alexander Award.
Meet the Neighbors Competition section movies are contending for the Golden Alexander (3,000 euros), the Silver Alexander – Special Jury Award (3,000 euros) and the Bronze Alexander – Special Jury Award for Best Direction.
The “Mermaid Award” is bestowed to the best LGBTQI-themed film of the Festival’s official selection.
The list of the Festival’s awards also includes: four Fischer Audience Awards granted to the most-voted films by the public, two FIPRESCI Awards bestowed to a film of the International Competition section and a Greek film premiering at the Festival, the J.F. Costopoulos Foundation Award to a Greek film premiering at the Festival, the “Human Values” Award granted by the Hellenic Parliament, two awards bestowed by ERT S.A. (the first, accompanied by a 3,000-euro cash prize to the FIPRESCI Award-winning Greek film and the second one to a Works in Progress of Agora Lab Greek project, accompanied by a 2,000-euro cash prize), the Greek Film Center Award granted to a Greek debut film (5,000 euros), the Best Location Award bestowed by the Greek Film’s Center Hellenic Film Commission (1,500 euros), the Youth Jury Awards bestowed by the students of Thessaloniki’s two major Universities (Aristotle and Macedonia), WIFT GR Award granted to an International Competition or a Meet the Neighbors Competition film for the best woman’s contribution and presence in front or behind the camera.
PUBLIC SPACE EXHIBITIONS
MEET THE DIRECTORS
Starting from Monday November 9th and up until Friday November 13th, don’t miss out on the chance to meet the directors whose films take part in the International Competition and Meet the Neighbors sections, as well as in the Greek program, through online meetings and the Director’s Corner initiative.
CHILDREN’S FILMS
Youth Screen films of the 61st TIFF will be available online on both weekends of the Festival, on November 7-8th and November 14-15th, for kids and teenagers from all over Greece to watch at home, for a limited number of screenings.
SPECIAL EDITIONS
The 61st TIFF launches two special editions that will hit all major bookstores, in collaboration with Nefeli publications:
COLLECTING FESTIVAL MEMORIES
In our e-shop, as well as at Aristotelous Square’s Box, the Festival’s audience will have the chance to purchase this year’s collectible items that bring us closer to cinema in every possible way. Masks, collectible bags, T-shirts, festival socks, notepads and many more! They are here, kicking and waiting for you!
The online version of the 61st TIFF is feasible through the support of the Ministry of Culture and Sports, the NSRF program of the ROP Central Macedonia 2014-2020, and the MEDIA program. Also, of great value was the support offered by ERT S.A., COSMOTE TV, the Festival’s grand sponsor, Alpha Bank, our accessibility sponsor, Mastercard, the Festival’s official payment card, Aegean Airlines, TIFF’s official air carrier, and Fischer, sponsor of the Audience Awards.
The 61st TIFF’s awards will be bestowed at the end of Festival. Enjoy your screenings!
