28/09/2017 - Greece’s most important festival has revealed part of the selections for its 58th edition, focusing on Balkan cinema and, this year, female directors and Ruben Östlund

The 58^th Thessaloniki International Film Festival (TIFF), running from 2-12 November, has announced the first part of its selections, including the Balkan Survey section, a full retrospective of Swedish filmmaker Ruben Östlund, and tributes to female directors Ildikó Enyedi and Ida Lupino.

The 24^th edition of Balkan Survey, curated by TIFF’s programmer, Dimitris Kerkinos, will showcase ten of the most celebrated Balkan feature films of the year and five shorts, including many festival favourites. The former Yugoslavia is represented by the entries for the Best Foreign-language Film Academy Award from Serbia (Bojan Vuletić’s well-travelled and widely awarded Requiem for Mrs. J. [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bojan Vuletić
film profile]) and Slovenia (The Miner [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Hanna Slak
film profile] by Hanna AW Slack). Also, Croatia will contribute the Rotterdam-premiered A Brief Excursion [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Igor Bezinović, while FYROM is included with Gjorce Stavreski’s debut Secret Ingredient [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Blagoj Veselinov
interview: Gjorce Stavreski
film profile], set to be world-premiered at the Greek gathering. Romania has three films selected: Călin Peter Netzer’s Berlinale-awarded Ana, mon amour [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Călin Peter Netzer
film profile], Locarno’s Charleston [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Andrei Creţulescu
film profile] by Andrei Creţulescu,and the Toronto- and San Sebastián-screened Soldiers. Story from Ferentari [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dawid Ogrodnik
interview: Ivana Mladenovic
film profile] by Serbian director Ivana Mladenović. Locarno’s Golden Leopard – Filmmakers of the Present winner Ilian Metev will represent Bulgaria with his debut fiction film, ¾ [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ilian Metev
film profile]. Finally, Turkey will be included with Semih Kaplanoğlu’s English-language debut, Grain [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Semih Kaplanoğlu
film profile], which premiered at Sarajevo, and Kazim Öz’s road movie Zer [+see also:
trailer
film profile].

This year’s Balkan Survey tribute, “From Words to Images: Balkan Literature and Cinema”, will screen 11 classic films from the region that are based on important literary works. Some of the titles included are Vulo Radev’s The Peach Thief (1964), Aleksandar Petroviċ’s Three, and Stone Wedding by Mircea Veroiu and Dan Piţa (1972).

Hungary’s Ildikó Enyedi, whose On Body and Soul [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ildiko Enyedi
interview: Ildiko Enyedi
interview: Réka Tenki
film profile] will open the TIFF, is under the spotlight, and the most highly acclaimed films of her career will receive a special tribute. Meanwhile, Hollywood pioneer Ida Lupino, who rose to prominence in the late 1940s as an actress and, later, as one of the first female directors, will have a section of screenings dedicated to her, too. Finally, the TIFF will screen the complete filmography by Palme d’Or winner Ruben Östlund (The Square [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ruben Östlund
film profile]), and the director will also be in attendance at the festival.