The curtain dropped on the 50th Thessaloniki Film Festival with an enthusiastic and magnificent award ceremony. TIFF, having celebrated its jubilee in 2009, is now looking forward to an equally successful 51st festival in 2010.

TIFF’s most prestigious award, the Golden Alexander, which is accompanied by a cash prize of 40,000 euros, went to Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani’s film Ajami. The special Jury award, the Silver Alexander, which is accompanied by a cash prize of 25,000 euros, went to Calin Peter Netzer’s Medal of Honor.

The TDF is a leading European Documentary Festival, carried out every March in Thessaloniki since its inception in 1999 under the artistic direction of Dimitri Eipides. Its main thematic sections are: Recordings of Memory, Portraits-Human Journeys, Stories to Tell, Habitat, Planet in Peril, Music, Views of the World, Greek Panorama. Through its tributes and retrospectives, the TDF focuses on filmmakers with unique cinematic voices, internationally renowned for their contribution to the documentary genre. The Festival’s side events host exhibitions, masterclasses, round table discussions, publications, concerts and parties.

The Thessaloniki International Film Festival organizes as part of its year-round activities and in cooperation with the Center for Sexual and Reproductive Health (CSRH) hosted by Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (A.U.Th.), the 10th Sex, Issues and Cinema Panorama. The aim of such an effort is audience sensitization in regard to issues of relationships, sexual health and taboo subjects.