The 28th Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival is scheduled to take place from 5 to 15 March. It will showcase 38 films across three competition sections, each of them hosting world, international or European premieres and foregrounding nine Greek productions. The documentaries form a dense and multilayered body of work, drawing strength from their position at the intersection of the personal and the collective. Coming-of-age stories and narratives about loss, memory and family bonds enter into dialogue with urgent social questions surrounding power, inequality, emancipation, the ecological crisis and technological transformation. Focused both on the ruptures and the traumas of history and on the fragile textures of everyday life, these films seek to reconsider humanity’s place in a rapidly changing world.

In the International Competition, 14 documentaries will vie for the Golden Alexander, which includes €12,000 in cash and eligibility for consideration for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, since the festival is Oscar-qualifying. The Silver Alexander Award is similarly accompanied by a €5,000 cash prize. The jury comprises film editor Dana Bunescu, curator and producer Caroline Libresco, and producer Yorgos Papalios.

World premieres on the agenda include Bugboy (Greece/Denmark/France) by Lucas Paleocrassas, The Golden Grip (Greece) by Fokion Bogris, The Way Elsewhere (Greece) by Eirini Vourloumis, Candidates of Death [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] (Poland) by Maciej Cuske, Derek vs Derek (UK) by James Dawson, La Pietà (Spain/Iceland/Lithuania) by Rafa Molés and Pepe Andreu (widely recognised for Lobster Soup [+leggi anche:
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scheda film]), Soap Fever [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] (Finland/Sweden) by Inka Achté, and The Golden Swan [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] (Norway/Sweden/Denmark/Netherlands) by Anette Ostrø. Works screening in international premieres are Around Paradise [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] (Germany) by Yulia Lokshina, recently premiered in Berlinale’s Panorama, The Beauty of Errors by Jukka Kärkkäinen (Finland/Norway/Sweden), and Nuisance Bear (USA/Canada) by Gabriela Osio Vanden and Jack Weisman, while films set to take their European bows include Sundance titles All About the Money [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] (Ireland) by Sinéad O’Shea (acclaimed for Pray for Our Sinners [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] (Poland/France) by Michał Marczak (known for the Sundance-winning All These Sleepless Nights [+leggi anche:
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In the Newcomers Competition, 14 films by emerging filmmakers are contending for the Golden Alexander “Dimitri Eipides” Award, which includes a €10,000 cash prize, and the Silver Alexander Award, accompanied by €4,000. The jury consists of documentary filmmaker Melody Gilbert, filmmaker and film editor Farahnaz Sharifi and documentary filmmaker Chryssa Tzelepi.

World premieres in this section include the Greek titles At No Cost by Mary Bouli, EXILE(S), Tales From an Island by Yorgos Iliopoulos and Tiny Gods by Panos Deligiannis, alongside In Cod We Trust (Norway/Finland) by Guro Saniola Bjerk, Inner Emigrants (Germany/France) by Lena Karbe, Just Look Up [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] (USA/Denmark) by Emma Wall and Betsy Hershey, Replica (Australia/France/China) by Chouwa Liang, The Smuggler (Sweden/Finland/Norway) by Sylvelin Måkestad, Tirrenica (Italy/Spain) by Rosario Minervini, We Are Stardust [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] (Norway/Denmark) by Elisabeth Rasmussen and Motel Paraiso (Mexico) by Jose Eduardo Castilla Ponce. Hex (Norway) by Maja Holand will screen in an international premiere, while One in a Million by Jack MacInnes and Itab Azzam (UK/Germany) and Sentient by Tony Jones (Australia) will enjoy European premieres after their Sundance bows.

The third competitive section, >>Film Forward, presents ten films which challenge conventions and adopt bold cinematic language. Awards in this section include the Golden Alexander, offering a €6,000 cash prize, and the Silver Alexander, with a €3,000 cash prize. The jury members are programmer Alberto Valverde, architect and cultural programmer Sandra Pires, and visual artist Aikarini Gegisian.

This selection includes world premieres of Dear Future (Greece/Switzerland) by Christiana Cheiranagnostaki, Horse and Rider (Greece) by Panayotis Evangelidis, Level (Spain) by Carlos Mora Fuentes and Anna Berkhof, Phosphene (Portugal) by Miguel Filgueiras, The Culprits (Spain) by Marta Duran Lozano, and Trine on Fire (Denmark) by Alexander Lind. Movies screening in international premieres include A Song Without Home [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] (Georgia/USA/Denmark) by Rati Tsiteladze, Mummy’s Boys (Denmark) by Jesper Dalgaard, and The Magic City – Birmingham According to Sun Ra (Belgium/Italy/France) by Guillaume Maupin and Pablo Guarise, while Stories of a Lie (Greece/France) by Olia Verriopoulou will enjoy its national premiere.