28/11/2003 - This year’s Greek showcase has an interesting programme placing special emphasis on films from the Balkans and more remote regions like Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, as well as the usual international competition

The 44th edition of the International Thessaloniki Film Festival is currently underway in the Greek city (November 21-30). There is a European competition as well as many sidebar sections and retrospectives .

The jury is led by the filmmaker Otar Iosseliani and its members include the Swiss director, Jean-François Amiguet and the Iranian Jafar Panahi. Their task is to award the Gold and Silver Alessandro prizes, judging the 16 films in competition. These include the French productions Elle est des nôtres by Siegrid Alnoy and Eager Bodies by Xavier Giannoli, the Italian film Il dono [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Michelangelo Frammartino, the Czech Republic work Devcatko by Benjamin Tucek, the latest Greek feature length films by Elizabeth Chronopoulou and by Dimitris Indares, and the Portuguese production Antes que o tempo mude by Luis Fonseca.

In addition, this year’s Festival is featuring a comprehensive overview of independent productions, with 45 films sent in from all corners of the globe put together in the New Horizons section. Obviously there’s also a strong selection of national films, with 28 Greek feature length films and documentaries produced in 2002. The traditional Look at the Balkans section features 13 films from the region. There’s also an interesting new initiative, the Stars from the Steppes section, which is an opportunity to see 27 films from Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.
There are tributes to the Portuguese director Joai Cesar Monteiro, the Greek filmmaker Nicos Panayotopoulos, Otar Iosseliani from Georgia and the Asian filmmaker, Wong Kar-Wai.