Media / Press

The International Casting Directors Association (ICDA) presented the Semiramis Award for Best Casting on Saturday, November 1st, at the Tonia Marketaki Theatre. This honorary award recognizes the significant contribution of casting directors and the decisive role they play in shaping the genre of a film, the performances and the audience's relationship with the storytelling. Tania Grunwald and Karin Jagd received the award for the film The Girl with the Needle by Magnus von Horn, followed by the screening of the film The Thing with Feathers by Dylan Southern.

Within the framework of the 66th Thessaloniki IFF, renowned costume designer Catherine George, a longtime collaborator of great filmmakers such as Jim Jarmusch, Bong Joon Ho, and Lynne Ramsay, delivered an exciting masterclass, titled “Dressing the Story: The Art of Costume Design,”  that centered on the art of costume design in cinema. 

The opening of the 66th Thessaloniki International Film Festival’s main exhibition, titled “Plot Twist (the science fiction change)”, the opening festivities of the 9th Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art, titled “Everything Must Change. Radical Intelligence. Saloniki 9,” and the special screening of the 1960s gem "Grand Prix" held with the support of OPAP, member of Allwyn. 

Amidst a warm atmosphere, and with the leading actress of Jim Jarmusch’s film, Father Mother Sister Brother, in attendance — the wonderful Indya Moore — the opening ceremony of the 66th Thessaloniki International Film Festival took place on Thursday, October 30th, in the packed Olympion theater. The event was introduced by the Deputy Minister of Culture, responsible for Contemporary Culture, Iason Fotilas, the Deputy Minister of Interior, responsible for Macedonia and Thrace of Greece, Konstantinos Gkioulekas, the Deputy Governor of the Metropolitan Region of Thessaloniki, Konstantinos Gioutikas, and the Mayor of Thessaloniki, Stelios Angeloudis.

One of the most acclaimed and radiant names of contemporary classical music, Chinese-American Tan Dun, will attend the 66th Thessaloniki International Film Festival. The renowned composer and maestro will preface the special screening of the film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) by Ang Lee, held on Wednesday November 5th, at 4pm, at John Cassavetes theater. 

The 66th Thessaloniki International Film Festival will be held from Thursday October 30th to Sunday November 9th, 2025, both in physical spaces and online. A total of 278 full-length and short films will be screened in Olympion and Pavlos Zannas theaters, in the Port’s theaters Frida Liappa, Tonia Marketaki, John Cassavetes and Stavros Tornes, as well as in the Makedonikon theater. In addition, we’ll watch another 86 films online, through the Festival’s platform online.filmfestival.gr. The Festival takes part in the National Cinema Day events, and on Thursday October 30th, 2025, all screenings will have a fixed ticket price of 2 euros.