THESSALONIKI FILM FESTIVAL 2025

Νοέ 01, 2025 Κινηματογράφος 0

THESSALONIKI FILM FESTIVAL

THE 66th EDITION

from October 30 to November 9, 2025

Thessaloniki Film Festival 2025: written by Giannis Fragoulis

The 66th edition of the Thessaloniki Film Festival begins on Thursday, October 30, 2025. It ends on Sunday, November 9, 2025, after the films have been screened at the port’s cinemas, Frida Liappa, Tonia Marketaki, John Cassavetes, and Stavros Tornes, at the Olympion and Pavlos Zannas, as well as at the Makedonikon. With many films, several parallel events, and master classes, we will once again have a treasure hunt to see the film that will mark us, if we find it.

Thessaloniki Film Festival 2025: Opening and closing

The Festival will open with Jim Jarmusch’s film “Father, Mother, Sister, Brother” (2025), winner of the Golden Lion at the 82nd Venice Film Festival, and will close 10 days later with the film “Hen” (2025) by Hungarian director György Pálfi. The former is one of the Festival’s favorite directors, both because of his presence at the Festival and his very interesting films. The closing film features several Greek actors, such as Antonis Kafetzopoulos, Antonis Tsiotsiopoulos, Giannis Kokiasmenos, Maria Diakopanagiotou, and Argyris Pantazaras, and is a co-production between Greece, Germany, and Hungary.

Among them are many films vying for the audience’s attention, so from the theaters at the port to the Macedonikon, we will be racing to see as many as we can. Viewers, however, will have to plan ahead because, naturally, tickets will sell out quickly. Of course, one complaint of the film editor is that all these viewers who fill the theaters are lost, since after the end of the Festival, it is a distant dream for the same films to fill a theater. So be it!

Thessaloniki Film Festival 2025: The films

The films come first at a festival. Then come the other events that complete the picture of each festival. At this festival, we have the Greek films, which, for us, are the most interesting part. With 62 films, 32 feature-length and 30 short films, we have a lot to see. The short films are the award-winning films at the 2025 Drama Festival.

Of the feature-length films, 29 are premieres. One of them, “Electra7,” is a co-production of the Greek Film Academy and the Athens Festival, directed by seven directors: Alexandros Voulgaris, Sophia Exarchou, Neritan Zinziria, Christina Ioakimidi, Babis Makridis, Argyris Papadimitropoulos, and Elina Psykou, is an enigma, as its script is based on Sophocles’ “Electra.” Our search will answer the question: Will we find a film that stands out and is worthy of domestic production?

Thessaloniki Film Festival 2025: The tributes

“Plot twist, beyond the sixth sense” is the major tribute. The unexpected and surprising change in the plot’s development, which is what a plot twist means, is the criterion used by Myriam Ben Salah, curator and director of The Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago, to select films. This artist will curate the French pavilion at the next Venice Biennale in May 2026. We will see 14 films produced between 1976 and 2025 that have not been screened as much as others. These screenings will be the material for the Festival’s bilingual book, with contributions from film theorists, journalists, and sociologists.

A tribute will be held for Giorgos Tsemperopoulos, who will be awarded the honorary Golden Alexander. His short and feature-length films will be screened, many of which have not been shown as much as they should have been. In one of them, the director appears only as the lead actor. But is it really fair to wait for a commercial success to remember a talented director, or should we have reintroduced him to the public, as a festival should do?

Films from our geographical neighborhood make up another special tribute, Fragilities, 11 films that overturn the rules of domination and dissect burning issues of our time, such as war, displacement from one’s homeland, living under occupation, censorship, and the interventions of authoritarian systems.

The fourth tribute is dedicated to the directing duo Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani. We will see their unconventional work, their entire filmography, from their experimental works to their more conventional ones. This is a “bait” for the discerning film lover. The directors will be present at the screenings of their films.

Thessaloniki Film Festival 2025: Attendees

In addition to Isabelle Huppert and Giorgos Tsemperopoulos, as mentioned above, the Festival will be attended by Fredrik Elms, director of photography for the films of Jim Jarmusch and David Lynch, casting directors Lucinda Saisun, Tanis Grunwald, and Ingvild Kolset Hoga. Also David Zichlberger, head of the Filmmakers Europe platform, the renowned costume designer Catherine George, writer and screenwriter Nikos Panagiotopoulos, and stuntmen Sotiris Kraniotis and Chris Radanov. Sotiris Kontizas, a chef, will be the ambassador of the Market, although I am not yet sure what purpose this role serves.

The Festival posters were designed by Stefanos Rokos, who created two original paintings. The trailers were created by Fokionas Xenos, with music by the great Greek-American artist Jim Sclavounos, a collaborator of many artists and member of the Bad Seeds since 1994.

It should be noted that the exhibition entitled “Plot Twist (the science fiction change)” will also be presented, which will run until November 16 and marks the official opening of the 9th Biennale. The opening will take place on Friday, October 31, at MOMus-Experimental Arts Center, accompanied by a big party at pavilions 2 & 3 of the Thessaloniki International Trade Fair.

Thessaloniki Film Festival 2025: The Actors

The Thessaloniki Film Festival, in collaboration with Finos Film, will honor iconic actors who starred in some of the most defining moments of Greek cinema in the 1960s. These great actors will be awarded for their overall contribution to cinema and Greek culture at a special event to be held on Monday, November 3, as part of the 66th edition of the festival. At the same time, the Festival is preparing a recorded tribute in which many of the beloved actors will share their memories and stories with the audience.

The Festival will introduce Marcel Pagnol, director, playwright, and novelist, mainly autobiographical, to the Greek public, who is widely recognized in all three fields of art. There will also be special screenings of the film “Rififi” by Sotiris Tsafoulias and “Tomorrow” by Giorgos Gkikapeas. The first is a Cosmote TV production and the second is a co-production of ERT and ERTFLIX.GR.

Thessaloniki Film Festival 2025: International Program

The International Program will feature the International Competition, Meet the Neighbors+, >>Film Forward, the Mermaid Award, and the Immersive section. In the International Program, 12 films will compete for the Golden Alexander, 3 of which are Greek. In Meet the Neighbors+, we will have 12 films, 3 of which are Greek, from our geographical neighborhood. In the >>Film Forward section, we will have 12 films, 3 of which are Greek, competing for the Golden Alexander and the Special Jury Prize. In the Immersive section, 8 films will be screened, competing for the Golden Alexander of the section.

In addition to these, we will have samples of dynamic and innovative cinema in Open Horizons. We will meet beloved filmmakers at the Special Screenings. We will stay up late at Tonia Marketaki, where midnight screenings will take place as part of the upgraded ‘Round Midnight section. Finally, the Festival will introduce young people to the art of cinema in the NextGen section, with morning screenings for schools at Stavros Tornes, as well as in Stavroupoli and Sykies.

For another year, as part of the Smart7 film festival alliance, the Festival will host a competition section where seven films will compete for the Smart7 Award, which comes with a cash prize of €5,000.

Thessaloniki Film Festival 2025: The Agora

The Agora Series section is the Thessaloniki Film Festival’s forum for series production in Greece and the wider region of Southeast Europe and the Mediterranean. It returns with a rich two-day program. This year, the Agora Series presents Agora Series Talents, a new pilot initiative that aims to support young and established series writers working in Greece.

This year, professionals will have the opportunity to take part in innovative actions and initiatives aimed at the future and supporting young creators. The Agora is launching the new FOCUS sessions initiative, in which four projects will be hosted at the Agora and receive practical advice on how to best present their film in international markets.

The projects participating in the Market are eligible for significant awards, offering either cash prizes or services in kind. The Market is held with the valuable support of the Creative Europe-MEDIA program.

Finally, 11 Greek-language and 1 English-language podcasts are participating in the Festival’s Podcast Competition, while another 28 podcasts are participating in the Nexus Section. The podcasts in the competition section are competing for the Best Podcast Award, worth €2,000.

Thessaloniki Film Festival 2025: Epilogue

So, we have a 66-year-old who, despite his age, thinks and acts more boldly and actively than a young person. He sees the present clearly and plans for the future with insight. This year’s event is refreshed and bolder than previous ones. However, it is loaded with films that fill its storage space to capacity. He does not consider emptying it; he enjoys offering generously. We do not know if this creates a problem or is a beneficial offering.

We will have to watch his work and judge whether it is productive or not. We will observe the behaviors, reactions, and actions that take place around him and return with our critical notes at the end of the Festival in our review. Here we have presented this general picture; we will show the individual elements in the articles that will follow. Enjoy the films you choose to watch!

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