The 52nd Thessaloniki International Film Festival began with films and ceremonies in the Olympion Theater, on Friday the 4th until Saturday the 12th of November.
The opening film of the festival is “The Descendants” the fifth film directed by Greek-American Alexander Payne. The Descendants has garnered spectacular reviews; indiewire called it “his warmest, most earnest work, if not his best”.
A family drama with a sense of humor (Payne’s preferred genre), it stars George Clooney as a wealthy businessman but poor father, whose wife winds up in a coma, an event that will redefine his life.
Despite the economic turmoil, the fest is that rare local phenom — a cultural event with a future secured for the next two years by EU funding.
After a year under the leadership of prexy Dimitri Eipides, Thessaloniki has been thoroughly streamlined but not in a way that visitors will perceive, he says. It still offers prizes ranging from €10,000 ($13,800) to $41,200.
The festival features a new Open Horizons section celebrating indie pics. It includes Iranian exile Amir Naderi’s “Cut,” about a Japanese filmmaker trying to make his next movie; fellow Iranian Mohammad Rasoulof’s “Goodbye”; and helmer Dorota Kedzierzawska’s Polish/Japanese “Tomorrow Will Be Better,” about three Russian immigrant children.
Pics by Gaul’s Bruno Dumont, Mathieu Kassovitz and Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne plus offerings from Russia’s Alexander Sokurov and Andrey Zvyagintsev and Spain’s Montxo Armendáriz round out the section.
Guests expected to draw crowds include directors Payne, Ole Christian Madsen and Ulrich Seidl plus roundtables on comparative production in Israel, Romania and Greece.
Agora market and Crossroads co-production forum will present rising Greek talent.
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