The 25th Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival will be held from Thursday 2 to Sunday 12 March 2023, both in physical spaces and online. A total of 237 short and full-length documentaries will be screened in the Festival’s historic home turf, the Olympion and Pavlos Zannas theaters, as well as in the Port’s theaters, Frida Liappa, Tonia Marketaki, John Cassavetes and Stavros Tornes, as well as in the Makedonikon theater. In addition, the audience is given the chance to watch films online too, through the Festival’s digital platform online.filmfestival.gr. This year's lineup showcases a total of 99 world, international and European premieres, marking a TiDF all-time record number.
SPOTS AND POSTERS
Director Marianna Economou is behind the 25th TiDF’s spots, whereas the posters bear the signature of Swedish painter and illustrator Daniel Egnéus.
OPENING FILM – CLOSING FILM
-La Singla by Paloma Zapata, in its world premiere, signals the Festival’s curtain-rise, on Thursday March 2nd 2023
-The closing ceremony will take place on Sunday March 12th 2023, where the film My Pet and Me by Johan Kramer, celebrating its international premiere, will call it a wrap.
GREEK DOCUMENTARIES
The 25th TiDF is welcoming 61 full-length and short Greek films
- 33 movies take part in the international program (International Competition, Newcomers Competition, >>Film Forward Competition, Open Horizons, NextGen).
- 17 films will be screened in the Platform section, 6 films are featured in the section From screen to Screen, 2 films will be screened out of competition as part of the >>Film Forward section, while 2 more documentaries are included in the spotlight on Sotiris Danezis.
- Benchmark documentary Mourning Rock by Filippos Koutsaftis will be universally accessible both physically and online, with the support of Alpha Bank, the Festival’s Accessibility Sponsor.
INTERNATIONAL PROGRAM
The 25th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival hosts 4 competition sections.
*A total of 12 films, among which 3 Greek, take part in the International Competition of the 25th TDF. The movies have their eyes set on the Golden Alexander, accompanied by a 12,000-euro cash prize and the Silver Alexander, accompanied by a 5,000-euro cash prize.
*In the Newcomers competition section, featuring debut and sophomore films by young directors, we encounter 12 films, among which 3 Greek. The movies are competing for the Golden Alexander – “Dimitri Eipides” (cash prize of 10,000 euros) and the Silver Alexander (4,000 euros).
*>>Film Forward, the competition section that questions film conventions and brings forth radical films, hosts a total of 10 films, among which 3 Greek. The movies are aiming at the Golden Alexander >>Film Forward (cash prize of 6,000 euros) and the Silver Alexander (cash prize of 3,000 euros).
*Immersive: All Around Cinema competition sections, which intertwines new technologies with today’s cinema, includes 8 films competing for the section’s Golden Alexander (2,000 euros).
*We discover the most vibrant and pioneering cinema trends at the Open Horizons section.
*We showcase the crème-de-crème of the documentary production at the Top Docs section.
*The 25th TDF is catching the youth vibe through the NextGen section.
THE FESTIVAL’S MAIN TRIBUTE TO OBSERVATIONAL DOCUMENTARY
The 25th Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival hosts a unique and multifaceted tribute to observational documentary, under the title “The Art of Reality: Beyond Observation”, showcasing legendary movies of world cinema, which redefine our view and interpretation of the world, as well as of life.
TRIBUTES
AGORA
Dynamic actions and initiatives, awards and partnerships, are part of this year’s Agora, which will be held both in physical spaces and online. TiDF’s Agora is backed by Creative Europe MEDIA program and is carried out in close collaboration with DAE (Documentary Association of Europe), hosting a fully-rounded program grabbing the documentary’s pulse in all its forms.
THESSALONIKI-ELEFSINA
Thessaloniki International Film Festival and 2023 Eleusis European Capital of Culture invite you to walk down a pathway of culture, featuring the work of visual artist Adrian Paci, the 3-day live-cinema project by Syllas Tzoumerkas and the glance cast on Elefsina by Filippos Koutsaftis
PODCASTS
Exciting human stories and issues that prevail our daily concerns are brought before us in an original way by the 21 podcasts that take part in this year’s Festival. The Competition section podcasts are in the pole position for the Best Podcast Award (2,000 euros), whereas a scholarship award for an Upcoming Audio Documentary Creator will be bestowed in collaboration with ENS Louis Lumière and the French Institute of Greece. In addition, two podcasts in special hearing will be available for the audience, in collaboration with iMEdD.
SPECIAL EDITIONS
The Festival is unveiling its special edition on observational documentary, the much-revered A-Catalogue that captures each Festival’s core, as well as the fully renewed and redesigned First Shot magazine.
SUSTAINABILITY
The Festival is targeting its efforts towards the goal of sustainability, through a series of actions, initiatives and synergies, with the aim of reducing its environmental footprint, as well as to serve as a source of awareness and information for the public. In this spirit, it launches the new initiative of Climate Hub, urging its audience to embrace it.
GEOCULTURA
Geocultura is the thematic orientation of the 8th Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art, hosted by the Metropolitan Organization of Museums of Visual Arts of Thessaloniki – MOMus. The Festival is inspired by its content and hosts a special section of films in its official selection, exploring the indiscernible bond between mankind and the environment.
The 25th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival is held thanks to the support of the Ministry of Culture and Sports, of the National Strategic Reference Framework of the Regional Operational Program of Central Macedonia, of the MEDIA program, the valuable contribution of ERT SA, the official communication sponsor of the Festival, COSMOTE TV, Grand Sponsor of the Festival, Alpha Bank, the Festival’s accessibility sponsor, Aegean, the Festival official air-carrier, Fischer, the Audience Award sponsor of the Festival, and Jameson. The awards of the 25th TDF will be bestowed in its closing ceremony, on March 12, 2023.
The Festival’s program, as well as more info on the films, are available at www.filmfestival.gr. The ticket pre-sale will kick off on February 28, 2023.
