“Welcome to Chechnya”: From the 22^nd TDF to the Oscars®

With 82,686 free tickets and 167 sold out screenings, the online 22nd Thessaloniki Documentary Festival successfully completed its virtual version on May 28, 2020.

The shocking documentary Welcome to Chechnya by David France that won the Golden Alexander Feature Length International Competition award in the online 22nd TDF becomes automatically eligible for the Best Feature Documentary Oscar®. The film records the detentions and tortures of the LGBTQUIA+ community in Chechnya. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences gives the opportunity to the films that win the first award in the leading documentary festivals -among them the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival- to automatically become eligible for Oscar consideration in the Documentary Feature category.

The 22^nd TDF concludes a cycle of actions that took place under extremely difficult circumstances. We want to thank the audience, the sponsors and the film professionals for their touching and valuable support. For the last two months you have stood by us, and embraced our actions, aiming to keep us company during these unprecedented times:

• The project Spaces that gave the opportunity to 22 beloved Greek and international directors to shoot a short film at home.
• The Meet the Future that made available, free for the audience, the short films of up and coming Greek directors who participated in the Meet the Future section of the 60^th Thessaloniki International Film Festival.
• The masterclasses and open discussions with an active audience participation.
• The launch of the ThessFest application that is used by all the Festival’s friends.
• The competitions for children, adolescents and young adults, through which new talents emerged.
• The free online screenings of the Greek feature films and the children’s films from the 60^th TIFF that became sold out.
• The collaborations with cultural institutions in Thessaloniki.

More than 150,000 people watched or participated in the aforementioned actions, during the worldwide lockdown, while some of the biggest international media wrote about the Festival and the city of Thessaloniki.

It is our hope that the next Festival will take place physically, to the spots and venues where it belongs. Above all, we must stay safe and keep watching closely the situation. From Monday, the Festival’s staff will start planning the 61^st Thessaloniki International Film Festival, while also looking at three alternative scenarios and original ideas.