10/11/2005

The strength is in the numbers the old saying goes. The Thessaloniki International Film Festival organizers said they have every reason to believe that this will be the case with the Greek event’s 2005 edition, November 18-27, when they publicized the festival’s official programme. A record number of 254 films make up this year’s programme, while almost 1000 guests are expected to be present, most probably including directors Francis Ford Copolla and Michael Winterbottom.

The International Competition section programmed by festival director Despina Mouzaki is composed of 14 first or second films of new and emerging directors. It also features three films presented out of competition.
The seven-member International Jury that will decide the festival’s main awards of the Golden and Silver Alexanders, backed respectively by a monetary prize of € 37,000 and 22,000, is composed by Vittorio Storaro (cinematographer, Italy - president), Natacha Regnier (actress, Belgium), Ulrich Felsberg (producer, Germany), Lodge Kerrigan (director, USA), Sotigui Kouyaté (actor, Mali - Burkina Faso), Leonardo Garcia Tsao (film critic, Mexico), and Antoinetta Angelidi (director, Greece).

This year’s festival is the first under for the new management which took over from president Theo Angelopoulos and director Michel Dimopoulos. It has added to the event new sections, retrospectives and special events (Balkan Survey, Independence Days, Hou Hsiao Hsien, Patrice Chereau, Vittorio Storaro, Michael Winterbottom, Mexican, Danish, Irish cinemas, Dean Tavoularis, Alex Mc Dowell, Balcan Fund, Crossroads Co-production Forum, Agora). Danis Tanovic’s Hell (L’Enfer [+see also:
trailer
film profile]; France/Italy/Belgium/Japan) is set to open the festival, November 18.

International Competition Films

Black Brush (Fekete Kefe), Roland Vranik, Hungary, 2005,
Drifting States, Denis Côte, Canada, 2005
Falling…In Love, Ming-tai Wang, Taiwan, 2005
Grain In Ear, Zhang Lu, China/South Korea, 2005
Man Push Cart, Ramin Bahrani, USA, 2005
One Night (Yek Shab), Niki Karimi, Iran, 2005
Pavee Lackeen: The Traveller Girl [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Perry Ogden, Ireland, 2005
Play, Alicia Scherson, Chile, 2005
Sangre, Amat Escalante, Mexico/France, 2005
Someone Else's Happiness [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (Een Ander Zijn Geluk), Fien Troch, Belgium/Netherlands, 2005
The Hours Go By (Comon Pasan Las Horas), Ines de Oliveira Cezar, Argentina, 2005
Backstage [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], Emmanuelle Bercot, France/Germany, 2005
Sweet Memory (Glykia Mnimi), Kyriakos Katzourakis, Greece, 2005
Kinetta, Yorgos Lanthimos, Greece, 2005,

Out Of Competition

Garpastum, Alexei German Jr., Russia, 2005
The Great Ecstasy Of Robert Carmichael, Thomas Clay, UK, 2005
Unveiled [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (Fremde Haut), Angelina Maccarone, Germany/Austria, 2005