PLANES, TRAINS AND RIDE LAWNMOWERS.
The Thessaloniki International film festival, getting underway today, may be celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, but it still has a youthful spirit. One big reason for this is that the international competition section is made up of 14 films by first or second time directors. According to festival director Michel Demopoulos, this year's competition films are united in expressing "their creators' worries and concerns about continually changing communities and tough, new problems. The young directors show people at dead ends, with constantly shifting family relationships." The festival officially begins this evening with an opening ceremony at the Olympion Theatre at 8pm, a concert by Italy's Nino Rota Ensemble, and a screening of David Lynch's "The Straight Story". Lynch's film is based on the true story of elderly Alvin Ray Straight's six-week long ride across the US on his John Deere lawnmower to visit his brother.

JURY DUTY.
Seven people will have the difficult task, over the next ten days, of deciding which competition films will receive the $40, 000 Golden Alexander and $25, 000 Silver Alexander awards. Screenwriter Tonino Guerra (who is being honored by the festival this year) presides over the jury. He will be joined by Danish Producer Vlbecke Windelov , Irish actress Elaine Cassidy ("The Night of Dolls"), Hungarian director Janos Szasz, French film critic Michel Ciment, Yugoslav director Srdjan Karanovic and composer Christodoulos Halaris.

ON THE WATERFRONT.
The festival is more geographically concentrated this year, with the 150 films and other activities centered in only two buildingsòthe Olympion Cinema Complex in Aristotelous Square and the new Harbour Warehouse, located a 15-20 minute walk away. The Cine Problita theaters, all press conferences, and exhibits will be located at the later, a new multimedia center. The Olympion complex (renovated in honour of Thessaloniki's turn as European cultural capitol in 1997) will house the screenings of official presentations of the International Competition, New Horizon, non-competition Greek films and other select screenings.

EARTH, WATER AND PEPPERMINT.
After a good year, numbers-wise, for Greek film (with box office success for "Safe Sex" and "The Mating Game"), 24 Greek films will be included in the festival's Panorama of Greek film. The two Greek films competing in the international competition include "Peppermint, " a retro film by Kostas Kapakas about two cousins meeting up after thirty years, and "Earth and Water, " director Panos Karkanebatos' second road trip feature, about a man from Northern Greece.

MATADOR.
This year's festival will have a strong Iberian flavour to it, with a retrospective of Pedro Almodovar's work. All of the Spanish director's feature films will be showing, from his first "Pepi, Luci, Bom y Otras Chicas Del Monton, " to his breakthrough hit "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown" to the new "All About My Mother." The city eagerly awaits the arrival of the director and one of his favorite actresses, Marisa Paredes. The fun begins with a screening of "High Heels" at 6:30pm the first night of the festival.

RISKY BUSINESS.
Over thirty cutting-edge films, discovered by New Horizons director Dimitri Eipides from around the world, have been assembled for the section of the festival devoted to controversial and innovative cinema. Eric Zonca's "Small-Time Thief" and Tim Roth's "The War Zone" are among the New Horizons films which will be screened on the first night of the festival. This section also includes "Humanity" and the painful "Rosetta, " which stirred up opinions at Cannes this year.

BALKAN EXPRESS.
The region's geopolitics may bubble and ice over, but the Thessaloniki festival continues to be a productive meeting point each year for directors from throughout the Balkans. This year a section devoted to Srdjan Karanovic, looks back at the director's works over the past few decades, beginning with his "The Scent of Wild Flowers" this afternoon. This year a Turkish spotlight introduces audiences to directors Zeki Demirkubuz and Ferzan Ozpetek. Demirkubuz's "The Third Page" is a thriller about a man trying to scrape by, who becomes entangled in a dangerous crime story. Ozpetek's "Harem Suare" takes audiences inside the tormentuous world of a Turkish harem during the last days of the Ottoman Empire at the turn of the century.

GREAT EXPECTATIONS.
A high point for Greek film will be a special section devoted to Vasilis Georgiadis. Georgiadis' classic "The Red Lanterns" (1964) will be the first of five of the director's films to be screened today. Georgiadis, who was born in Asia Minor in 1923, and whose works sometimes take place in a historical realm, will be honoured with an honorary Golden Alexander award. Michalis Cacoyiannis' "The Cherry Orchard" is one of the most anticipated films in the Greek panorama section of the festival. Based on a Chekhov play, and shot in Bulgaria, the film stars Katrin Cartlidge, Alan Bates and Charlotte Rampling. The Cypriot director's 1962 film "Electra" was shown as a part of a pre-millennial week of the best of Greek film (80 films by 80 directors) which drew to a close Thursday in Thessaloniki with the screenings of last year's Greek festival favourite, Constantinos Yiannaris' "Edge of the City".

THE GOOD, THE MAL, AND THE UGLY.
Directors Alberto Seixas Santos, Fernando Lopes and Antonio Pedro Vasconcelos will be among those accompanying a tribute to Portuguese cinema to the festival. The festival will screen examples of the diverse films of Portugal, ranging from the political 1974 "Brandos Costumes" (made the same year as the Revolution of the Carnations), through Vasconcelos' 1999 film "Mal", a commentary on contemporary evils.

CITY SLICKERS.
The festival begins its tribute today to the works of Israeli director Amos Gitai. Gitai will be at the festival. Three of the director's recent films, each set in a different major Israeli city, will be shown. Gitai, who was trained in architecture, and first started shooting film during the Yom Kippur War, made genre-challenging documentaries before moving into fiction film. His multi-layered trilogy of films at the festival promises to offer an interesting perspective on issues of spirituality, tradition and modern Israeli life.

FOR YOUR EYES ONLY.
Four exhibits open on the first day of the festival, and run through the 21st, at the new Harbour Warehouse facility. One exhibit will show forty years of production designer Tasos Zografos' work. There will be a film poster show capturing the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema (from producer Rogelio Agrasanchez's archives) and another made up of 31 of graphic artist Dimitris Arvanitis' pieces. Whether you just met the stars of Greek cinema for the first time on your hotel television or have always been a fan, you will find them all in photographer Penelope Masouris' exhibit of Greek actors' portraits.