18/05/2021 - Featuring more premieres than any previous edition, the most important documentary gathering in Greece will present its entire programme both in open-air cinemas and online

The 23^rd Thessaloniki Documentary Festival (TDF) is ready for its summer and hybrid edition which will run from 24 June to 4 July, both in open air cinemas in Thessaloniki, as well as online. This year will feature more premieres than ever with 13 world, 9 international and 6 European premieres among the 36 documentaries that are featured in all three international competitions.

Twelve documentaries are competing for the Golden Alexander and Special Jury Awards in TDF’s Feature Length International Competition, including three Greek documentaries. The documentaries convey the fragile reality of everyday life in the most remote parts of the world and consist of true stories that exceed the boundaries of imagination. The five world premieres are Days and Nights of Demetra K. by Eva Stefani (Greece), Lost Flowers [+see also:
interview: Fabrizio Maltese
film profile] by Fabrizio Maltese (Luxembourg), Porno Uncle Jim [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Stephan Bookas (USA/UK), Singing in the Wilderness by Dongnan Chen (China) and Through the Window Glass, Three Acts [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Christos Barbas (Greece). Furthermore, The Bubble [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Valerie Blankenbyl (Switzerland/Austria), Wuhan Wuhan by Yung Chang (USA) and When the Olympus Collides with the Pampas by Sol Miraglia and Hugo Manso (Argentina) will be having their international premieres at the festival, while Luchadoras [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Paola Calvo and Patrick Jassim (Germany/Mexico), Magaluf Ghost Town [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Miguel Ángel Blanca
film profile] by Miguel Ángel Blanca (Spain/France), and The Return: Life after ISIS [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Alba Sotorra Clua (Spain/UK) are having their European premieres in Thessaloniki. Local feature Golden Dawn A Public Affair by Angélique Kourounis (Greece) wraps the selection.

Furthermore, fourteen documentaries by first-time and sophomore filmmakers are competing in the Newcomers International Competition, for the “Golden Alexander Newcomers Dimitris Eipides” award, in honor of the founder of the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival. The selection features Acts of Love by Isidore Bethel and Francis Leplay (France/USA), The Count [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Jon Blåhed (Sweden), Faith Can Move Mountains by Silje Evensmo Jacobsen (Norway), Gabriela – The German with the Bicycle by Dominikos Ignatiadis (Greece), Invisible [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Marianna Kakaounaki (Greece), Keep Running by Geting Sun (China), Land of Milk and Honey by Héctor Domínguez-Viguera, Carlos Mora Fuentes, Carlos Mora Fuentes, and Gonzalo Recio (Spain), Little Satchmo by John Alexander (USA), LUX by Raphaël Dubach and Mateo Ybarra (Switzerland), Made in Vain by Michael Klioumis (Greece), On the Other Side [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Iván Guarnizo (Colombia/Spain), Sediments [+see also:
film review
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interview: Adrián Silvestre
film profile] by Adrián Silvestre (Spain), The Soldier by Nikolaj Møller (Denmark), and Sons of Honour [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Sophia Luvarà (Netherlands/Italy),

The third international competitive section is >>Film Forward, in which ten films that experiment with the form and method of documentary filmmaking will partake. Some of the docs are Anamnesis [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Chris Wright and Stefan Kolbe
film profile] by Chris Wright and Stefan Kolbe (Germany), Feast [+see also:
trailer
interview: Tim Leyendekker
film profile] by Tim Leyendekker (Netherlands), Landscapes of Resistance [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Marta Popivoda
film profile] by Marta Popivoda (Serbia/France/Germany), Memento by Nikos Ziogas (Greece), Miguel’s War [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Eliane Raheb (Lebanon/Spain/Germany), and The Oleanders by Paola Revenioti (Greece).

There will be a special focus on Greek documentaries, and a total of 72 short and feature-length productions have been selected in various sections, including the international competitions as well as in the Open Horizons, From screen to Screen and Platform sections.

Finally, the Thessaloniki Film Festival celebrates the 200^th anniversary of the Greek Revolution of 1821, with the launch of a special interactive augmented reality app that brings to life folk paintings of the battles, a film-multimedia installation that offers an inventive depiction of moments from the life and extermination of the Jewish community of Thessaloniki, and a bilingual special edition.