50th Thessaloniki International Film Festival - The Best from Greece

Posted on: 17/Nov/2009 - The 50th Thessaloniki International Film Festival 13 - 22/11 2009

With the motto Why cinema now?” the 50th Thessaloniki International Film Festival would like to make a radical proposition; an occasion for thought, dialogue, communication, interaction; a singular celebration that will reach its peak this coming November, from the 13th to the 22nd.

Jean Renoir’s words were the incentive: �In order to keep cinema alive, we would have to reinvent everything from the beginning�. These words perfectly sum up the objective of this year’s edition. The 50th Thessaloniki International Film Festival is celebrating a half century of existence and invites artists, film professionals and of course its audience to actively participate, to once again ask questions concerning the nature and the role of cinema.

The International Thessaloniki Film Festival (TIFF; Greek: Διεθνές Φεστιβάλ Κινηματογράφου Θεσσαλονίκης, Diethnes Festival Kinimatografoy Thessalonikis) has become the one of the Balkans' primary showcases for the work of new and emerging filmmakers.

The event features the International Section, a panorama of Greek films, the New Horizons program, the Balkan Survey, and numerous retrospectives and tributes to leading figures in the world of film. The Festival is competitive with the International Section jury awarding several prizes each year, most notably the "Golden Alexander" for Best Feature-Length Film.

Since 1992, the International Thessaloniki Film Festival has striven to present the most innovative independent films from around the world. Components of the Festival include:

The International Competition section consists of new directors' first or second films.
The non-competitive panorama of Greek films, an overview of the recent local production is followed by the presentation of the State Film Awards by the Greek Ministry of Culture.
The Independence Days non-competitive section is the cutting-edge showcase for the latest trends in independent film production.
The Balkan Survey, created in 1994, stands as a unique program which offers audiences a window on the cinema of this region of the world.


More information and detailed programme

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