Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, 1 to 20

Celebrating the 20th anniversary of Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, we revisit two films that were screened during its inaugural event 20 years ago, seeking their directors and heroes in order to trace their trajectories within these two decades.

Is it possible for a film to change your life? Or, even more so, a documentary which records, captures and attempts to interpret it? For this year, we wanted to explore a question that most of us ask ourselves all too often after the end of a film: “What happened next?”

In Nightflowers (1998), Nikos Grammatikos dealt with the education of visually impaired children and introduced us to Manolis Diamantidis, a 12-year-old boy discovering in his own special way a world he had never seen. (Pavlos Zannas, Friday, 9/3 20:00)

Fatima Jebli Ouazzani’s In my Father’s House (1997) addressed the status of women in Morocco’s society, through her personal story and refusal to enter a forced marriage, but also through the story of Naima Seddiki, who chose a different path. (Pavlos Zannas, Thursday 8/3, 17:00)

So, how did the lives of these heroes and of the directors who documented them evolved, after 20 years? How decisive was their encounter? The answers will be given in two screening, and we’re more than certain that they will be emotionally moving and thrilling