The 65th Thessaloniki International Film Festival, held from 31 October-10 November, has concluded with its awards ceremony. The "Theo Angelopoulos" Golden Alexander for Best Feature Film was awarded to Happy Holidays [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Scandar Copti
scheda film] by Scandar Copti. The international jury, comprising filmmaker and producer Sara Driver, filmmaker Denis Côté and producer Konstantinos Kontovrakis, presented the €10,000 cash prize. The jury praised the film for “intricately weaving different narratives and perspectives that fully expose the complexity of national, gender and class dynamics that can divide societies, and for seeing the future in the face of a young woman”.

Leonardo Van Dijl won the Silver Alexander for Best Direction, along with a €5,000 prize, for Julie Keeps Quiet [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Leonardo van Dijl
scheda film]. The jury described it as “a powerful yet quiet psychological film – beautifully constructed, performed and shot”. The film also received the Hellenic Parliament’s “Human Values” Award for its masterful exploration of a teenage tennis player confronting personal trauma and breaking her silence following the suicide of a fellow athlete and the departure of their coach.

Mahmood Bakri received the Best Actor Award for his compelling performance in To a Land Unknown [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Mahdi Fleifel
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intervista: Laura Carreira
scheda film], directed by Laura Carreira.

In the Meet the Neighbours+ competition, Vittoria [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Alessandro Cassigoli e Cas…
scheda film] by Alessandro Cassigoli and Casey Kauffman was awarded the Golden Alexander – Michel Dimopoulos, along with a €10,000 prize. The jury praised the film for its “surprising, moving and innovative approach to the sensitive subject of adoption, which caught us completely off guard, and moved both the audience and us to tears”. The jury included actress Manal Awad, filmmaker Maryna Er Gorbach and distributor Vassilis Sourapas.

The Best Director Award “Silver Alexander”, along with a €5,000 cash prize, was awarded to Laila Abbas for Thank You for Banking with Us! [+leggi anche:
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scheda film]. The jury commended Abbas for skilfully narrating a female-driven story set against the backdrop of Palestine’s patriarchal and political landscape, blending an intriguing tone with unexpected humour that plays cleverly with audience expectations.

Volodymyr Kravchuk won the Best Actor gong for his role in U Are the Universe [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Pavlo Ostrikov
scheda film] by Pavlo Ostrikov, recognised for his remarkable solo performance that deeply immersed the audience in the human journey of love and experience. The Best Actress Award went to Antonia Zegers for her turn in The Exiles [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Belén Funes, praised for convincingly conveying a mother's tough choices with warmth and emotional depth. A Special Mention was given to Elvira Lara, also for her role in The Exiles, acknowledging her powerful depiction of a young girl striking a balance between innocence and resilience. Additionally, another Special Mention was awarded to the entire cast of Killerwood [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Christos Massalas, honouring their collective effort and vibrant, creative energy that brought the film to life.

In the >>Film Forward Competition section, Matthew Rankin's Universal Language was awarded the Golden Alexander for being “an exceptional film with a truly original idea that mixes times, spaces and cultures, with a unique cinematic language and sense of humour”. The Silver Alexander was bestowed upon Noaz Deshe's Xoftex [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Noaz Deshe
scheda film] for “depicting the chaos and intense daily life of immigrants in the jungle of a refugee camp with a powerful cinematic language”. A Special Mention was given to Daniel Bolda's Maldives.

Here is the complete list of winners at the 65th Thessaloniki International Film Festival:

International Competition

Best Feature Film Award - “Theo Angelopoulos” Golden Alexander
Happy Holidays [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Scandar Copti
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Best Direction Award - Silver Alexander
Julie Keeps Quiet [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Leonardo van Dijl
scheda film] - Leonardo Van Dijl (Belgium/Sweden)

Best Actor Award
Mahmood Bakri - To a Land Unknown [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Mahdi Fleifel
scheda film] (UK/Palestine/France/Greece/Netherlands/Germany/Qatar/Saudi Arabia)

Best Actress Award
Joana Santos - On Falling [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Laura Carreira
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Meet the Neighbours+ Competition

Best Feature Film Award - “Michel Dimopoulos” Golden Alexander
Vittoria [+leggi anche:
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trailer
intervista: Alessandro Cassigoli e Cas…
scheda film] - Alessandro Cassigoli, Casey Kauffman (Italy)

Best Direction Award - Silver Alexander
Thank You for Banking with Us! [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] - Laila Abbas (Palestine/Germany/Saudi Arabia/Qatar/Egypt)

Best Actor Award
Volodymyr Kravchuk - U Are the Universe [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Pavlo Ostrikov
scheda film] (Ukraine/Belgium)

Best Actress Award
Antonia Zegers - The Exiles [+leggi anche:
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Special Mentions
Elvira Lara - The Exiles
Entire cast - Killerwood [+leggi anche:
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>>Film Forward Competition

Best Feature Film Award - Golden Alexander
Universal Language - Matthew Rankin (Canada)

Silver Alexander
Xoftex [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Noaz Deshe
scheda film] - Noaz Deshe (Germany/France)
Special Mention
Maldives - Daniel Bolda (Greece)

Immersive: All Around Cinema - Golden Alexander
Play Life - Žilvinas Naujokas, Vilius Petrauskas, Mantas Pronckus, Donatas Ulvydas (Lithuania)
Special Mention
Journey of Piraeus - Filippos Tsitos (Greece)

Podcast Competition

Podcast Award
Friends in Liminal Spaces - Anastasia Sotiropoulos (Greece)
Special Mention
A Story Told by the Mountains - MASH (Christos Kapenis & Katerina Anastasiou) (Greece)

Other awards

Mermaid Award
All Shall Be Well - Ray Yeung (Hong Kong)

Smart7 Award
It’s Not My Film - Maria Zbąska (Poland)

FIPRESCI awards

Best Film in the International Competition
Arcadia [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Yorgos Zois
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Best Greek Film Premiered at Thessaloniki
Riviera [+leggi anche:
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Greek Association of Film Critics’ Award
Meat [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Dimitris Nakos
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Human Values Award of the Hellenic Parliament
Julie Keeps Quiet - Leonardo Van Dijl

FOS Actor Award
Yannis Karampampas - Wishbone [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] (Greece/France/Germany/Cyprus)

FOS Actress Award (ex aequo)
Eva Samioti, Myrto Meitani-Kastrinaki - Riviera

Alpha Bank Accessibility Award (ex aequo)
Leonard Mink, Ben Kermer – Tremolo (Germany)

ERT Original Music Award
Yiannis Veslemes - Maldives

Hellenic Film and Audiovisual Center – Creative Greece Award
Kostis Charamountanis - Kyuka - Before Summer's End [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Kostis Charamountanis
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Hellenic Film Commission Best Location Award
Marios Dimopoulos, Niki Saliagopoulou - Riviera

JF Costopoulos Foundation Award
Arcadia - Yorgos Zois

Finos Film Award
Kyuka - Before Summer's End - Kostis Charamountanis

WIFT GR Award
Sugar Island [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Johanné Gómez Terrero
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Crew United Award
Dimitris Nakos - Meat

Youth jury awards

Best Feature Film Award
Kyuka - Before Summer's End - Kostis Charamountanis

Special Youth Jury Award
Meat - Dimitris Nakos