The 65th Thessaloniki International Film Festival, Greece’s premier film festival, opens today with Maria, a biopic of Maria Callas starring Angelina Jolie and directed by Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larraín (Jackie, Spencer, El Conde).
Throughout the festival, 252 short and feature-length films will be shown (67 available online) across the festival’s competition sections and special tributes, including a tribute to Panos H. Koutras, who will receive the Golden Alexander award and this year’s central theme, We, the Monster.
The 22 films in this tribute explore historical and political monsters, as well as unseen and imagined ones that reflect the most inexplicable and extreme aspects of human psychology. Complementing the screenings, the We, the Monster exhibition will showcase Malvina Panagiotidi’s and David Sambethai’s works.
The festival will also feature 27 Greek and international podcasts.
This year, prominent film stars including Juliette Binoche, Matt Dillon, and Ralph Fiennes will attend the event, with masterclasses led by industry figures such as casting director and Martin Scorsese collaborator Ellen Lewis and composer Zbigniew Preisner, known for his work with Krzysztof Kieslowski.
The festival will conclude on Sunday, November 10, with a screening of The End, attended by its director, two-time Oscar-nominated documentarian Joshua Oppenheimer, and featuring Tilda Swinton in the lead role.
