The Thessaloniki International Film Festival returns for its 66th edition from 30 October-9 November, maintaining its unwavering commitment to discovering new talents and cinematic voices that keep the festival's outlook fresh and exciting.

This year, the gathering presents its three usual official competitive sections: the International Competition, Meet the Neighbors+ and >>Film Forward. The event will bring together 12 features in each section, most of them the directors' first or second works, and all looking to broaden the boundaries of form, geography and theme.

In the International Competition, the selected films are festival favourites such as Pillion (UK) by Harry Lighton, selected in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard; A Light That Never Goes Out (Finland/Norway) by Lauri‑Matti Parppei, premiered in Cannes’ ACID; Bearcave (Greece/UK) by Krysianna B Papadakis and  Stergios Dinopoulos, Europa Cinemas Label in Venice’s Giornate degli Autori; Strange River (Spain/Germany) by Jaume Claret Muxart and Milk Teeth (Romania/France/Denmark/Greece/Bulgaria) by Mihai Mincan, both premiered in Venice’s Orizzonti; Cotton Queen (Germany/France/Palestine/Qatar/Saudi Arabia/Sudan) by Suzannah Mirghani and Gorgonà (Greece/France) by Evi Kalogiropoulou, both premiered in Venice’s International Film Critics’ Week; Satisfaction (USA/Greece/Ukraine/Italy) by Alex Burunova, premiered at SXSW; as well as Karla (Germany) by Christina Tournatzès, Maysoon (Germany/Greece) by Nancy Biniadaki, Beachcomber (Greece) by Aristotelis Maragkos and On the Sea (UK) by Helen Walsh.

In the Meet the Neighbors+ competition, dedicated to cinema from the Southeastern European region, the selected films are the Locarno-premiered titles God Will Not Help (Croatia/Italy/Romania/Greece/France/Slovenia) by Hana Jušić, Don’t Let Me Die (Romania/Bulgaria/France) by Andrei Epure, Fantasy (Slovenia/North Macedonia) by Kukla, Sweetheart (Italy) by Margherita Spampinato and In the Land of Arto (France/Armenia) by Tamara Stepanyan; the Venice International Film Critics’ Week entry Roqia (France/Algeria/Qatar/Saudi Arabia) by Yanis Koussim; Smaragda – I Got Thick Skin and I Can’t Jump (Cyprus) by Emilios Avraam; Another Man (Spain) by David Moragas; Feels Like Home (Hungary) by Gábor Holtai; Life in a Beat (Greece/Cyprus/Bulgaria/North Macedonia/Montenegro/France) by Amerissa Basta; Novak (Greece/Switzerland) by Harry Lagoussis; and Maysoon by Nancy Biniadaki.

Lastly, the >>Film Forward competition, dedicated to the boldest voices, includes the Cannes-premiered The Chronology of Water (France/Latvia/USA/UK) by Kristen Stewart; the Venice-premiered Last Night I Conquered the City of Thebes by Gabriel Azorín (Spain/Portugal), Agon by Giulio Bertelli (Italy/USA/France) and Barrio Triste (Colombia/USA) by Stillz; the Locarno-premiered Don’t Let the Sun by Jacqueline Zünd (Switzerland/Italy) and Balearic (Spain/France) by Ion De Sosa; the Karlovy Vary-premiered Before / After (Belgium) by Manoël Dupont; as well as Kingdom by Michał Ciechomski (Poland), Female by Konstantinos Menelaou (Greece), Regan by Panos Katsimperis (Greece), Zealotis by Stelios Repanis (Greece) and 1001 Frames by Mehrnoush Alia (USA/Iran).

The festival, which will honour Isabelle Huppert (read news) and one of Greece’s most beloved directors, Yorgos Tsemberopoulos and host a tribute to directing duo Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani, among other highlights, will be opened by the latest Venice Golden Lion winner, Jim Jarmusch's Father Mother Sister Brother, and closed by György Pálfi's Hen.