09/02/2023 - A total of 34 documentaries will be vying for the main awards in three competitions, while a series of tributes are being organised at the most important documentary gathering in Greece

The 25^th Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival (TiDF) will run from 2-12 March, featuring 34 films that will be screened across its three competition sections. Among the themes set to be explored are questions of gender oppression and portraits of female emancipation, testimonies that delve into historical traumas and life-shattering events, personal stories of human triumph and untamed will, and documentaries that send out an SOS for the environment and our planet.

Twelve docs are competing for the Silver Alexander in the TiDF’s International Competition as well as the Golden Alexander, which is accompanied by a cash prize of €12,000. The winner of the latter prize will also secure a place in the preselection shortlist for the Academy Award for Best Documentary. The three world premieres are Narrow Path to Happiness by Kata Oláh (Hungary/USA), The Last Seagull [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Tonislav Hristov
film profile] by Tonislav Hristov (Finland/Bulgaria), and Who I Am Not [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Tünde Skovrán (Romania/Canada/Germany/South Africa/USA). Meanwhile, Beyond Revolution – Fighting for Democracy by Kristof Gerega (Germany), General Hercules by Brodie Poole (Australia), I Like It Here by Ralph Arlyck (USA), Light Falls Vertical [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Efthymia Zymvragaki (Spain/Germany/Netherlands), The Hill [+see also:
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film profile] by Denis Gheerbrant and Lina Tsrimova (France/Belgium), and Under the Sky of Damascus by Heba Khaled, Talal Derki and Ali Wajeeh (Denmark/Germany/USA/Syria) will be enjoying their international premieres. The three Greek entries, Mighty Afrin: In the Time of Floods by Angelos Rallis (Greece/France), Queen of the Deuce [+see also:
interview: Valerie Kontakos
film profile] by Valerie Kontakos (Greece/Canada) and Ζakros by Filippos Koutsaftis (Greece) wrap the selection.

Twelve documentaries by first-time and sophomore filmmakers are competing in the Newcomers International Competition, vying for the Golden Alexander “Dimitris Eipides” Award, given out in honour of the founder of the TiDF, and the Silver Alexander. Four films are having their world premieres: Coming Around by Sandra Itäinen (USA), Domingo Domingo [+see also:
interview: Laura García Andreu
film profile] by Laura García Andreu (Spain), Leon by Wojciech Gostomczyk (Poland) and The Woman of Stars and Mountains by Santiago Esteinou (Mexico). Also, The DNA of Dignity [+see also:
film review
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film profile] by Jan Baumgartner (Switzerland) and The Voice [+see also:
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film profile] by Dominika Montean-Pańków (Poland) will be premiered internationally, while 5 Seasons of Revolution [+see also:
film review
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interview: Lina
film profile] by Lina (Germany/Syria/Netherlands/Norway), Is There Anybody Out There? [+see also:
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film profile] by Ella Glendining (UK) and Red Herring [+see also:
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film profile] by Kit Vincent (UK/Switzerland/France) will have their European premieres. The selection is topped off by three Greek entries: AKOE/AMFI: The Story of a Revolution (*Just to sleep on their chest…) by Iossif Vardakis, In the Sky of Nothingness with the Least by Christos Andrianopoulos and Ladies in Waiting by Ioanna Tsoucala.

The third international competitive section is >>Film Forward, in which ten movies that challenge conventions and make use of a bold and daring cinematic language will be vying for the >>Film Forward Golden Alexander and the Silver Alexander. The selection includes A Common Sequence by Mary Helena Clark and Mike Gibisser (USA), Avaton by Irini Karayannopoulou (Greece), Blue Bag Life [+see also:
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film profile] by Alex Fry, Rebecca Lloyd Evans and Lisa Selby (UK), Dogwatch [+see also:
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film profile] by Gregoris Rentis (Greece/France), Herd by Michel Negroponte (USA), Inside My Heart [+see also:
interview: Saskia Boddeke
film profile] by Saskia Boddeke (Netherlands), Iron Butterflies [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Roman Liubyi
film profile] by Roman Liubyi (Ukraine/Germany), Starring Jerry as Himself by Law Chen (USA), Stoker by Stelios Bouziotis (Greece), and The Sharpness of the Scissors by David Marcial Valverdi (Argentina).

“Τhe Art of Reality: Beyond Observation” is the TiDF’s main tribute to observational documentary. Within this field, filmmakers fully permeate the world they study, permitting their topic to unfold with the bare minimum of intervention, giving viewers the time and space they need to reach their own conclusions. A total of 20 films are featured here, and master classes by acclaimed international and Greek filmmakers will uncover the secrets of this particular cinematic genre.

Furthermore, the TiDF is organising tributes to Greek documentarian Stavros Psillakis, who unveils stories of everyday people often caught up in borderline situations, and to radical Austrian filmmaker Nikolaus Geyrhalter, who outlines the calamitous desire of humanity to place the planet under our control. Both filmmakers will receive an Honorary Golden Alexander.

In March 1943, the first train bound for the Nazi concentration camp in Auschwitz departed from Thessaloniki; 80 years later, the TiDF is organising a tribute, “Adio querida: From Thessaloniki to Auschwitz”, honouring the memory of the Jewish community of the city that was exterminated during World War II.