21/10/2015 - With its 6 November opening date fast approaching, Greece’s major film gathering has announced Arnaud Desplechin’s My Golden Days as its closing title

With just a few weeks to go until it gets under way, the Thessaloniki International Film Festival is preparing for its 59th edition (6-15 November) by gradually unveiling its broad selection, while Arnaud Desplechin, whose work will be spotlighted by the gathering, will be on hand to present My Golden Days [+see also:
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The Open Horizons section, personally curated by festival director Dimitri Eipides as a reflection of the year’s global indie scene, will this year feature established festival darlings like Joachim Trier’s Cannes contender Louder Than Bombs [+see also:
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interview: Joachim Trier
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interview: Miguel Gomes
film profile]. Sundance winner Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by newcomer Alfonso Gomez-Rejon and Trey Edward Shults’ SXSW winner Krisha will lend a US flavour to the selection, while Bénédicte Liénard and Mary Jiménez’s Belgian refugee drama Rising Voices [+see also:
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Currents, an Open Horizons sub-section, will once again highlight an eclectic set of experimental offerings from around the world, and the Special Screenings list will feature local premieres of titles like Aleksandr Sokurov’s Francofonia [+see also:
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Q&A: László Nemes
interview: László Rajk
film profile], along with the world premiere of Hungarian director Péter Gárdos’ Fever at Dawn. Meanwhile, the three LUX Prize finalists, Mediterranea [+see also:
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interview: Jonas Carpignano
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interview: Deniz Gamze Ergüven
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interview: Kristina Grozeva, Petar Val…
interview: Margita Gosheva
film profile] by Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov, will also be screened.

Along with Desplechin, whose work will be highlighted via a selection of seven films spanning his output since the early 1990s, the festival’s spotlight will be turned on what has been dubbed by the programmers as New Austrian Cinema: here, Stephan Richter’s teenage-angst drama One of Us [+see also:
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interview: Stephan Richter
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film profile], Elisabeth Scharang’s psychological thriller Jack [+see also:
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film profile], Marie Kreutzer’s story of a man’s life-altering experience in Gruber Is Leaving [+see also:
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film profile], and Sabine Hiebler and Gerhard Ertl’s coming-of-age love story Chucks [+see also:
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film profile] will offer viewers a representative slice of the latest in Austrian film.