10/11/2025 - Aristotelis Maragkos’ Beachcomber and Francesco Sossai’s The Last One for the Road also stood out, winning the Golden Alexanders in their respective competitions

The 66th Thessaloniki International Film Festival, held from 30 October-9 November, has concluded with an awards ceremony held at its Warehouse C venue. Three Golden Alexanders were presented across the festival’s competitive sections, celebrating bold storytelling and innovative cinematic voices.

The “Theo Angelopoulos” Golden Alexander for Best Feature Film was awarded to Cotton Queen [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Suzannah Mirghani. The international jury, composed of director, producer and actor Elegance Bratton, sales agent Thania Dimitrakopoulou (The Match Factory) and cinematographer Frederick Elmes, praised the film, as it “found a place in our hearts. In a world plagued by genocide and war, this movie reminded us of what is truly important and what we are fighting for: our families and communities.” The award, accompanied by a €10,000 cash prize, recognises Mirghani’s ability to blend political urgency with human emotion in a story featuring displaced actors from Egypt and Sudan. Amine Bouhafa, the composer of the film, also received the newly introduced Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra Award.

The Silver Alexander for Best Direction, supported by COSMOTE Telekom, which provides a €5,000 prize, went to Aristotelis Maragkos for Beachcomber, described by the director as “a film about failure, but also about the right to dream”. The pic also earned itself the Best Artistic Achievement Award for Giorgos Karvelas’ cinematography, praised for its visual poetry and emotional depth.

The Best Actor Award was given to Harry Melling for his performance in Pillion [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Harry Lighton, while the Best Actress Award went to Sabrina Amali for Maysoon by Nancy Biniadaki. The Best Screenplay Award was bestowed upon Yvonne Görlach for her work on Karla [+see also:
trailer
interview: Christina Tournatzés
film profile], directed by Christina Tournatzès, while the jury highlighted the film’s profound reflections on the right to life and equality.

In the Meet the Neighbors+ competition, the “Michel Dimopoulos” Golden Alexander, accompanied by a €10,000 prize, was presented to The Last One for the Road [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Francesco Sossai
film profile] by Francesco Sossai. The jury, consisting of filmmaker Ali Abbasi, actress Sofia Kokkali and DFFF president Kirsten Niehuus, praised the film for “the poetic precision with which it depicts a sentimental journey through the small towns and winding roads of Northern Italy, drenched in nostalgia for a ‘good old world’ that has ceased to exist”. The movie also received the Best Actor Award, which went ex-aequo to Pierpaolo Capovilla and Sergio Romano.

The newly renamed “Silver Alexander – City of Thessaloniki Award” for Best Director, supported by the Municipality of Thessaloniki, which provides a €5,000 prize, was awarded to Yanis Koussim for Roqia [+see also:
film review
interview: Yanis Koussim
film profile]. The film was lauded for its “violent and timely examination of a traumatic chapter in Algerian history and its creative use of horror-movie iconography in an Islamic context; it thus creates a uniquely haunting and eerie experience”.

The Best Actress Award went to Manuela Martelli for Hana Jušić’s God Will Not Help [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Hana Jušić
film profile], for her turn “as an outsider who shakes up the rules of an archetypical society with female force and enigmatic mysteriousness”. The same film also received the Best Artistic Achievement Award for “its creation of an enigmatic universe with detailed yet sparse cinematic language”.

In the >>Film Forward competition, the Golden Alexander, accompanied by €8,000, was awarded to 1001 Frames by Mehrnoush Alia. The jury, composed of choreographer Constanza Macras, filmmaker Christos Massalas and Zurich Film Festival programmer Valeria Wagner, commended the work for its “ideal merging of an urgent subject matter and its cinematographic execution”.

The Silver Alexander for Best Director, endowed with a €4,000 prize, was bestowed upon Manoël Dupont for Before / After [+see also:
film review
interview: Manoël Dupont
film profile], praised for its “comedic, existential journey that reveals a heartbreaking tenderness at its core”. Meanwhile, actors Jeremy Lamblot and Baptiste Leclère received a Special Mention for their performances in the film. Finally, The Chronology of Water [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Kristen Stewart earned the Best Artistic Achievement Award for its formal boldness and visceral depiction of trauma.

Here is the complete list of winners at the 66th Thessaloniki International Film Festival:

International Competition

Best Feature Film Award – “Theo Angelopoulos” Golden Alexander
Cotton Queen [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] – Suzannah Mirghani (Germany/France/Palestine/Egypt/Qatar/Saudi Arabia/Sudan)

Best Direction Award – Silver Alexander
Beachcomber – Aristotelis Maragkos (Greece)

Best Actor Award
Harry Melling – Pillion [+see also:
film review
film profile] (UK/Ireland)

Best Actress Award
Sabrina Amali – Maysoon (Germany/Greece)

Best Screenplay Award
Yvonne Görlach – Karla [+see also:
trailer
interview: Christina Tournatzés
film profile] (Germany)

Best Artistic Achievement – Cinematography
Giorgos Karvelas – Beachcomber

Meet the Neighbors+ Competition

Best Feature Film Award – “Michel Dimopoulos” Golden Alexander
The Last One for the Road [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Francesco Sossai
film profile] – Francesco Sossai (Italy/Germany)

Best Director Award – “Silver Alexander – City of Thessaloniki Award”
Roqia [+see also:
film review
interview: Yanis Koussim
film profile] – Yanis Koussim (Algeria/France)

Best Actor Award (ex aequo)
Pierpaolo Capovilla, Sergio Romano – The Last One for the Road

Best Actress Award
Manuela Martelli – God Will Not Help [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Hana Jušić
film profile] (Croatia/Italy/Romania/Greece/France/Slovenia)

Best Artistic Achievement Award
God Will Not Help – Hana Jušić

>>Film Forward Competition

Best Feature Film Award – Golden Alexander
1001 Frames – Mehrnoush Alia (USA/Iran)

Silver Alexander – Best Director Award
Before / After [+see also:
film review
interview: Manoël Dupont
film profile] – Manoël Dupont (Belgium)

Best Artistic Achievement Award
The Chronology of Water [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] – Kristen Stewart (USA/UK/France/Latvia)

Special Mention
Jeremy Lamblot, Baptiste Leclère – Before / After

Immersive: All Around Cinema – Golden Alexander
A Long Goodbye – Kate Voet, Victor Maesbe (Belgium)

Podcast Competition

Best Podcast Award
A Guy from Tyrnavos – Evangelos Makris, Panos Apokoritis (Greece)
Special Mention
Warfetti – Nalia Ziku (Greece)

Other awards

Mermaid Award
Plainclothes [+see also:
film review
film profile] – Carmen Emmi (USA/UK)
Special Mentions
Fantasy [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Kukla
film profile] – Kukla (Slovenia/North Macedonia)
Bearcave [+see also:
film review
interview: Stergios Dinopoulos, Krysia…
film profile] – Krysianna B Papadakis, Stergios Dinopoulos (Greece)

Smart7 Award
Hanami [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Denise Fernandes
film profile] – Denise Fernandes (Switzerland/Portugal/Cape Verde)

FIPRESCI Awards

Best Film in the International Competition
Karla – Christina Tournatzès

Best Greek Film Premiered at Thessaloniki
Bearcave – Krysianna B Papadakis, Stergios Dinopoulos

Greek Association of Film Critics’ Award
Patty Is Such a Girly Name – Giorgos Georgopoulos (Greece)

Human Values Award of the Hellenic Parliament
Milk Teeth [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mihai Mincan
film profile] – Mihai Mincan (Romania/France/Denmark/Greece/Bulgaria)

FOS Actor Award
Alexandros Ntavris – Endless Land (Greece)

FOS Actress Award
Chara Kyriazi – Bearcave

Alpha Bank Accessibility Award
Everybody Loves Touda [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] – Nabil Ayouch (Morocco/France/Belgium/Denmark/Netherlands/Norway)

Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra Award
Amine Bouhafa – Cotton Queen
Special Mentions
Felix Rösch – On the Sea (UK)

ERT Original Music Award
Marilena Orfanou, Stavros Mitropoulos – Patty Is Such a Girly Name

Hellenic Film and Audiovisual Center – Creative Greece Award
Bearcave – Krysianna B Papadakis, Stergios Dinopoulos

Hellenic Film Commission Best Location Award
Petros Chytiris – Gorgonà [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Evi Kalogiropoulou
film profile] (Greece/France)

JF Costopoulos Foundation Award
Patty Is Such a Girly Name – Giorgos Georgopoulos

Finos Film Award
Patty Is Such a Girly Name – Giorgos Georgopoulos

WIFT GR Award
Bearcave – Krysianna B Papadakis, Stergios Dinopoulos

Crew United Award
Life in a Beat – Amerissa Basta (Greece)

Youth Jury Awards

Best Feature Film Award
Patty Is Such a Girly Name – Giorgos Georgopoulos

Special Youth Jury Award
Bearcave – Krysianna B Papadakis, Stergios Dinopoulos