TIFF66 A-Z by Thessaloniki International Film Festival

A–Z

THESSALONIKI

INTERNATIONAL

FILM FESTIVAL

A cornerstone of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival's belief system is that everyone has the right to respect, as well as fair and equitable treatment from others. Therefore, the Thessaloniki International Film Festival is committed to providing safe and inclusive environments for all participants, guests, audience members, attendees, volunteers or staff members. Our team is eager to maintain professionalism and ensure a workplace free from harassment, and in extension, a fruitful, rewarding experience of a collective event. Hurtful language, bullying, mistreatment, or any form of violence (verbal, physical, sexual, or otherwise) based on one’s identity – including race, gender, ethnicity, religion, background, sexuality, socioeconomic class, disability, or age – will not be tolerated. We encourage a culture of collaboration and inclusion for everyone involved.

In June 2022, starting off with the core actions of the Evia Film Project, the Thessaloniki Film Festival committed to follow an approach of “green” development and sustainability. Implementing a holistic strategy of action in the light of the common good and in the hope that it will function as a source of inspiration and information, the Festival integrated a series of best practices for organizing a cultural event with the minimum footprint possible (p. 22–25), encouraging its guests to follow certain steps towards a common direction of sustainability. Nowadays, we have all come to realize how important it is for each one of us to contribute personally to the protection of not only the environment, but also our fellow citizens, by minimizing the impact that our lifestyle and habits may have.

Within the context of its commitment to enrich its sustainable and green character, and acknowledging its environmental impact, the Thessaloniki Film Festival is taking a step towards the active reduction of the production and distribution of its printed matter, especially when it comes to promotional actions. This useful A-Z guide, which includes the program of the 66th Thessaloniki International Film Festival and other essential information, is printed in a reduced print run and is available for sale at the standard price of three euros (€3).

This initiative continues to aim at raising awareness around the often excessive use of paper, while the profits from sales will be allotted for the development of more green actions in collaboration with the local community and its needs, and with the purpose of balancing the carbon footprint. Even the smallest steps can lead to big changes.

ΓΕΝΙΚΗ

ΚΑΛΛΙΤΕΧΝΙΚΉ ΔΙΕΎΘΎΝΣΉ

ΚΑΛΛΙΤΕΧΝΙΚΟΣ ΔΙΕΥΘΥΝΤΗΣ Ορέστης Ανδρεαδάκης

ΠΡΟΓΡΑΜΜΑ Επικεφαλής Προγράμματος Γιώργος

Κρασσακόπουλος Επικεφαλής Συντονισμού Διεθνούς

Προγράμματος Αγγελική Πέτρου

Επικεφαλής Αφιερωμάτων & Survey Expanded

Δημήτρης Κερκινός

Αφιέρωμα Plot Twist, Beyond the Sixth Sense:

Συντονιστής

Thessaloniki Locarno Industry Academy Κωνσταντίνος

Συντονίστρια προγράμματος AGORA Short Film

Lab Χριστίνα Λιάπη

Συντονίστριες προγράμματος AGORA Series

Νίκη Ξένου, Δήμητρα Καψάλα

AGORA Film Market Ραφαέλα Καραγιάννη, Άννα Χρυσανθακοπούλου

AGORA Talks Θάνος Σταυρόπουλος

Συμβουλευτικές υπηρεσίες και δικτύωση

Χριστίνα Λιάπη, Ερμιόνη Ευστρατιάδου,

Καραγιάννη Παραγωγή Aγοράς

FRENEL

AGORA Info Desk Άννα

Τσεμπερόπουλος» Βασίλης Τερζόπουλος

Βοηθός Φεστιβάλ Ελληνικού Κινηματογράφου /

Αφιερώματος «Γιώργος Τσεμπερόπουλος»

Νικολέττα Χάρου

Συντονισμός Βράβευσης Ελλήνων ηθοποιών

Στέλλα Χαραμή

Πρόγραμμα NextGen Αγγελική Πέτρου, Μαρία

Παπασωτήρη, Ειρήνη Δελιδάκη

Πρόγραμμα Special Screenings Series Νεκτάριος

Σάκκας (Συντονισμός), Στέλλα Καραγιαννίδου (Συνεργάτις)

Πρόγραμμα Immersive / XR Λάζαρος Μπουδακίδης (Υπεύθυνος προγράμματος Immersive – All Αround Cinema) Νίκος Βάρλας (Συντονισμός)

Podcast Δήμητρα Νικολοπούλου (Επικεφαλής), Τίνα Αντωνάκου (Συντονισμός), Αγγελική

, Γιώργος Παπαδημητρίου

Συντονισμός / Παραγωγή Αλέξανδρος Διακοσάββας

ΜΟΥΣΕ Ι Ο ΚΙΝΗΜΑΤΟΓΡΑΦΟΥ

ΘΕΣΣΑΛΟΝ Ι ΚΗΣ

Μαρία Παπασωτήρη (Επικεφαλής), Ειρήνη Δελιδάκη, Γιώργος Ραπτόπουλος, Τάσος

Ατματζίδης

Πρακτική άσκηση Κωνσταντίνος Μαυρίκος

ΚΡΙΤΙΚΕΣ ΕΠΙΤΡΟΠΕΣ Παυλίνα Βοσινάκη (Επικεφαλής), Πάνος Αχτσιόγλου, Στέλλα Βλαχομήτρου

φιλοξενούμενων Λευτέρης Καζαντζίδης

Πρακτορείο ταξιδιών GS Travel, Dion Tours & Red Elephant

ΠΛΗΡΟΦΟΡΙΚΗ & ΤΗΛΕΠΙΚΟΙΝΩΝΙΕΣ Λάζαρος Μπουδακίδης (Επικεφαλής), Γιώργος Στούνος, Aνέστης Σιδηρόπουλος, Νίκος Βάρλας, Ιωάννης Βαφειάδης-Μπαλάσης Website

Σύμβουλοι ευρωπαϊκών προγραμμάτων

Αλέξης Φραγκιάδης, Eλένη Ανδρουτσοπούλου, Ελένη Ράμμου, Αγγελική Βέργου, Θοδωρής

Κουτσαύτης

Πράσινο Δωμάτιο Γιώργος Βλυσίδης (Επικεφαλής)

ΟΜAΔΑ ΠΕΡΙΒΑΛΛΟΝΤΙΚHΣ ΒΙΩΣΙΜOΤΗΤΑΣ

Ιφιγένεια Ταξοπούλου Παραγωγή Κωνσταντίνος Βελένης

ΕΘΕΛΟΝΤΙΣΜΟΣ

Ρουσομάνη

ΥΠΟΤΙΤΛΙΣΜΟΣ

(Επικεφαλής),

Νεανικό Πλάνο Subtitles

ΕΝΤΥΠΑ / ΕΚΔΟΣΕΙΣ

Επιμέλεια (Ακατάλογος, Ειδική έκδοση) Ορέστης

Ανδρεαδάκης

Συντονισμός Ύλης Γκέλυ Μαδεμλή (Α-Ζ, Ακατάλογος, Ειδική έκδοση), Βασιλεία

Καλαφάτη (Agora Mag)

Βοηθός συντονισμού Βαρβάρα Σαββίδη

Μεταφράσεις Ρόζμαρι Τζανάκη, Μαρία-Μίλτα

Θεμελή, Αποστόλης Βασιλόπουλος, Βαρβάρα

Σαββίδη, Κυριάκος Καρσεράς, Γιώργος

Παπαδημητρίου

Γλωσσική Επιμέλεια-Διορθώσεις Κώστας

Κωνσταντίνου (Ακατάλογος), Λένια Μαζαράκη, Νερίνα Κιοσέογλου (Ειδική Έκδοση), Βασιλεία

Καλαφάτη (Agora Mag)

Υπεύθυνος γενικού σχεδιασμού Γιάννης

Καρλόπουλος

Σχεδιασμός εκδόσεων Δήμητρα-Νταίζη

Δαριώτη (Α-Ζ, Agora Mag), Karlopoulos & Associates [Γιάννης Καρλόπουλος, Βιργινία Χριστάκου, Λάιος Παπάζογλου] (Ειδική Έκδοση, Ακατάλογος)

Εκτύπωση Printfair (Α-Ζ, Agora Mag), Future Format (Ειδική

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

PRESIDENT Akis Sakellariou

Vice president Katerina Bei

Members Themis Bazaka, Maria Kriara, Synthia Sapika, Penelope Valti, Spyros Vougias

Legal Advisor Marianna Papadopoulou

Secretariat Maria Papasotiri

FESTIVAL STAFF

GENERAL DIRECTOR Elise Jalladeau

ARTISTIC DIRECTION

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR Orestis Andreadakis

Head of Program Yorgos Krassakopoulos

International Program Coordination Angeliki Petrou

Head of Tributes & Survey Expanded Dimitris Kerkinos

Plot Twist, Beyond the Sixth Sense: Myriam Ben Salah

Head of Greek Film Festival / Yorgos

Tsemberopoulos Tribute Eleni Androutsopoulou

International Program Associates Yannis

Palavos, Yannis Smoilis, Nektarios Sakkas, Geli Mademli, Artemis Doukeli, Panos

Achtsioglou, Leda Galanou, Alexandros

Diakosavvas, Vassilis Servetas, Yorgos

Papadimitriou

Program Intern Janka Tasi

Greek Film Festival / Yorgos Tsemberopoulos

Tribute Associate Vasilis Terzopoulos

Greek Film Festival / Yorgos Tsemberopoulos

Tribute Assistant Nikoletta Charou

Coordination of Greek Actors Awards Stella Harami

NextGen Program Angeliki Petrou, Maria

Papasotiri, Irini Delidaki

Special Screenings Series Program Nektarios Sakkas (coordination), Stella Karagiannidou (associate)

Immersive / XR Program Lazaros Boudakidis (Immersive Program Manager – All Around Cinema), Nikos Varlas (coordination)

Podcast Section Dimitra Nikolopoulou (head), Tina Antonakou (coordination), Angeliki

Stellaki, Yorgos Papadimitriou, Vassilis

Servetas, Charis Pagonidou

AGORA

Head Angeliki Vergou

Manager Thanos Stavropoulos

Coordination Errika Zacharopoulou, Elena Gaitanarou

Associates Dimitra Kapsala, Rafaela Karagianni

Coordination – Crossroads Co-production

Forum Errika Zacharopoulou

Advisory Committee – Crossroads Co-Production

Forum Myriam Sassine, Thibaut Braque

Coordination – AGORA Works in Progress

Elena Gaitanarou

Committee – AGORA Works in Progress

Angeliki Vergou, Thanos Stavropoulos, Elena Gaitanarou, Eleni Androutsopoulou, Zahra

Benasri, Celine Roustan, Dimitris Kerkinos, Nikoletta Charou, Yannis Palavos, Yannis Smoilis, Nektarios Sakkas, Artemis Doukeli, Dimitra Kapsala, Errika Zacharopoulou, Rafaela Karagianni

Program Coordinator – Thessaloniki Locarno

Industry Academy Konstantinos Aivaliotis

Program Coordinator – AGORA Short Film Lab

Christina Liapi

Program Coordinators – AGORA Series Niki

Xenou, Dimitra Kapsala

AGORA Film Market Rafaela Karagianni, Anna Chrysanthakopoulou

AGORA Talks Thanos Stavropoulos

Consulting Services and Networking Christina Liapi, Ermioni Efstratiadou, Rafaela

Karagianni

AGORA Production Nikos Bozanis, Panagiotis

Galios, Konstantini Semkou, Antonis Bouras

AGORA Production Services: FRENEL

AGORA Info Desk Anna Chrysanthakopoulou

AGORA Mag – Editor Vasileia Kalafati

AGORA Mag – Graphic Design Dimitra-Daisy

Darioti

AGORA Extroversion Initiatives Niki Xenou (Coordination) Katarina Tomkova, Yorgos

Tsourgiannis, Konstantina Stavrianou (Special Advisors)

FESTIVAL MAIN EXHIBITION

Curation Nadja Argyropoulou / Orestis

Andreadakis

Coordination / Production Alexandros Diakosavvas

THESSALONIKI CINEMA MUSEUM

Maria Papasotiri (head), Irini Delidaki, George Raptopoulos, Tasos Atmatzidis

Intern Konstantinos Mavrikos

JURIES

Pavlina Vosinaki (head), Panos Achtsioglou, Stella Vlachomitrou

ANNUAL ACTIVITY

Annual Activity Venues Program Panos Achtsioglou, Valentina Tsalambouni

Artistic Direction Coordination Alexandros Diakosavvas

PRESS, COMMUNICATION, PROMOTION & SPONSORSHIP OFFICE

Dimitra Nikolopoulou (head), Tina Antonakou, Angeliki Stellaki, George Papadimitriou, Haris Pagonidou, Vasilis Servetas

Social Media Ifigenia Konstantinidou (head), Iliana Kyritsi

Head of Marketing Natassa Pandi

Graphic Designer Menelaos Georgiou

PUBLIC RELATIONS

Tina Antonakou (head), Dimitris Apostolou, Vasiliki Georgisoudi, Olga Kariki, Penny Tsolakidou

“FIRST SHOT” NEWSPAPER

Publishing Director Orestis Andreadakis

Editor-in-Chief Dimitra Nikolopoulou

Copy Editor Yorgos Papadimitriou

Creative Director Yannis Karlopoulos

HOSPITALITY

Stella Stavrinodaki (head), Sofia Timblalexi, Kiara Papadaki, Katerina Gnafaki, Clelia Arbilia

Guest Transportation Lefteris Kazantzidis

Travel Agencies GS Travel, Dion Tours & Red Elephant

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY & TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Lazaros Boudakidis (head), George Stounos, Anestis Sidiropoulos, Nikos Varlas, Ioannis

Vafeiadis-Balasis

Website Anestis Sidiropoulos, Ioannis

Vafeiadis-Balasis

Ticketing System Lazaros Boudakidis, Vangelis

Valampous

Online Screening Platform Anestis Sidiropoulos

FESTIVAL VENUES

Venues Supervision Danis Kokkinos, Iraklis

Sakkalis

Technician Lazaros Seitanides

Head of Venues Niki Chouliara

Film Venues Nikos Alkaios Ladas

Head of Technical Support & Projection

Engineering Akis Stavropoulos

Head of Audiovisuals Nikos Batekas

Film Traffic Andreas Thomopoulos

Digital Projection Coordinator Chrysa Paleochorinou

ADMINISTRATION

Head of Financial and Administrative Department Apostolos Papasotiriou

Assistant to the General Director Maria Naltsatziadou

Assistant to the Artistic Director Stella Karagiannidou

Head of Human Resources Maria Tziola (head), Vasilis Ziogas

Accounting Department

Alexandra Soltatou, Theodora Kaftirani, Petros Koufounakis, Kalli Ganoudi, Christos Vlasakidis

Payroll Department Niki Chouliara (head), Maria Sapountzoglou

Legal Department Marianna Papadopoulou (legal advisor),

Konstantinos Chouliaras, Vasiliki Aliberti

EVENT ORGANIZATION

Maria Polyviou (head), Yannis Fourkiotis, Leoni Kirkini

Masterclass Coordinator Leda Galanou

Festival Spots Coordination Yannis Fourkiotis, Leoni Kirkini

Info Desk / Festival Shop Coordination Yannis Tiktopoulos

Production Organization Danis Kokkinos (head), Antigone Mixafenti

Audience Award Maria Tziola, Evdokia

Ioannidou

Secretariat Eleni Giannoudi, Dimitris Sannas, Stella Vlachomitrou

Runners Dimitris Vangelis, Kostas

Dimitrakopoulos

European Program Consultants Alexis Fragkiadis, Eleni Androutsopoulou, Eleni

Rammou, Angeliki Vergou, Théo Koutsaftis

Green Room George Vlisidis (head)

ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY TEAM

Coordinator – Head Maria Naltsatziadou

Advisor Ifigenia Taxopoulou

Production Konstantinos Velenis

VOLUNTEERING

Stella Karagiannidou (head), Niki Rousomani

SUBTITLING

Neaniko Plano Subtitles

PRINTS / PUBLICATIONS

Editorial Supervision (Νon Catalog, Special Edition) Orestis Andreadakis

Content Coordination Geli Mademli (A-Z, Non Catalog, Special Edition), Vasileia Kalafati (Agora Mag)

Assistant Coordinator Varvara Savvidi

Translations Rosemary Tzanaki, MariaMilta Themeli, Apostolis Vassilopoulos, Varvara Savvidi, Kyriakos Karseras, Yorgos Papadimitriou

Copy Editing Kostas Konstantinou (Non Catalog), Lenia Mazaraki, Nerina Kioseoglou (Special Edition)

Vasileia Kalafati (AGORA Mag)

Design Supervision Yannis Karlopoulos

Publication design Dimitra-Daisy Darioti (A-Z, Agora Mag), Karlopoulos & Associates [Yannis Karlopoulos, Virginia Christakos, Laios

Papazoglou] (Special Edition, Non-Catalog)

Printing Printfair (A-Z, Agora Mag), Future Format (Special Edition), Pletsas | Kardari (Non-Catalog)

Artwork Stefanos Rokos

Graphic Design / Adaptations Menelaos

Georgiou

The Thessaloniki Film Festival uses the Eventival platform for information management and organization.

The Thessaloniki Film Festival operates under the supervision of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture.

“Do you know what illuminates the night? Poetry…” Jean-Luc Godard, Alphaville

In a dark theater in 1965, the “poet” Jean-Luc Godard “recited” one of his most important works… If you think about it carefully, cinema is a form of poetry unveiled within the darkness of the movie theater. It is the visualization of a different literature, one illuminating the mind, heart, and imagination.

Our own “light” in the darkened cinema halls has been shining brightly for 66 years… This year, the Thessaloniki International Film Festival returns, as it does every November, to win over the audience’s hearts, and secure its leading position among the festivals of southeastern Europe. Through its topnotch competition program, accompanied by tributes, masterclasses, workshops, exhibitions, cultural events, and acclaimed artists, the Festival has built its own cinematic legacy, forever entwined with ideas and actions ahead of its time.

From the festival’s very beginnings with Pavlos Zannas, the “Tehni” Macedonian Art Association, and Elias Venezis, to its international establishment with Michel Dimopoulos and Theo Angelopoulos, the Thessaloniki International Film Festival has paved the way with a sole purpose: to allow the upand-coming poets of the Seventh Art from Greece and across the world, to always wander freely and creatively.

For the 66th edition of this luminous institution, I would like to extend my warmest congratulations to all the people who gave their heart and soul to the Festival. To all the “poets” who are participating, I wish you every success! And to its thousands of loyal supporters, I hope you enjoy the screenings!

Nikitas M. Kaklamanis President of the

Hellenic Parliament

The Thessaloniki Film Festival is celebrating its 66 years of creative presence and lasting impact on our culture. Recognized, for decades, as the leading event of Greek cinema and a platform for showcasing emerging creators and trends, it is the prime outlet for promoting Greek domestic production, as well as for facilitating its interaction with the global film scene. This Festival, faithful once more to its rendezvous with filmmakers and cinephiles alike, combines its long-established maturity with youthfulness, innovation, and an exploratory gaze, teaching the long-term process of renewal through continuity. A plethora of events and screenings spread across seven movie theaters with carefully curated tributes; this year’s edition once again stands out for its thorough scope. The Festival, through a large-scale tribute and the Honorary Golden Alexander, honors Yorgos Tsemberopoulos as the tireless craftsman of cinema that he is. He served cinema with loyalty and devotion throughout every role and task he undertook, leaving a lasting imprint and influence on both contemporary and younger generations of creators. The 66th Thessaloniki Film Festival simultaneously honors the enduring dedication of filmmakers to the big screen and its magic, as well as film production as an extroverted cultural product. In particular, this year's edition introduces us to the secrets of screenwriting through a tribute delving into the concept of the narrative reversal, the plot twist, comprising screenings of rare films, a relevant exhibition, and a special corresponding publication. The Festival, for the past 66 years, has established its identity as a meeting point for creators from different cultures and places, offering outlets for domestic production. It honors Finland as the guest country of its pioneering program Bridge to the North, which encourages film collaborations between North and South, in Europe. By welcoming the prestigious organization, European Audiovisual Entrepreneurs (EAVE), which specialises in networking in the audiovisual sector, it organizes a workshop with a view to strengthening European production and co-production, while also hosting the meeting of the Board of Directors of the European Film Academy, chaired by Juliette Binoche, in anticipation of the European Film Awards, which will take place in Greece, in 2027. The Thessaloniki Film Festival was born in an era that I would describe as heroic for the Greek cinema, as the surge in production, with its increasing and more widespread appeal, coincided with the emergence of new filmmakers and their imaginative explorations. Throughout all the decades of its existence, it has uniquely contributed to supporting Greek cinema and its contributors, while also serving as an ideal meeting point for the exchange of trends, movements, and concerns. Today, building on its long-standing and prestigious tradition, it is able to successfully rise to new challenges, contributing to the international visibility of our cinematic product. I would like to extend my congratulations and thanks to the Festival’s General Director, Elise Jalladeau, and its Artistic Director, Orestis Andreadakis, for their admirable dedication to the Festival's objectives, but also for its exemplary organization, as well as to all of their collaborators. The professionalism and passion of everyone involved guarantee that this year’s edition will also be a success.

Dr. Lina Mendoni Minister of Culture

For 66 years, the Thessaloniki International Film Festival has been one of the key entities in the advancement of Thessaloniki’s extroversion, a leading institution of contemporary culture and the most significant film event in our country.

It is not only the international reach and radiance that define the Festival, which has blended harmoniously with the city and has become an integral part of its identity, but also the unique way it showcases the seventh art, which it achieves in an exemplary manner.

As the Region of Central Macedonia, we believed, supported, and will continue to support the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, for beyond all else, it also constitutes an integral component of our cultural policy. A policy that focuses, on the one hand, on the protection and enhancement of important monuments in Central Macedonia and, on the other hand, on supporting contemporary creativity.

Culture is one of the greatest comparative advantages of our region, and we have a duty to harness it, highlight it, and continue supporting it. It is our very identity, our creativity, our signature as a society.

This is why we have been prioritizing culture for all these years as the Administration of the Region of Central Macedonia, why we have intertwined it with tourism, and why we support the most important cultural institutions in our region in practice. We invest in them for both social and developmental reasons, but first and foremost, we recognize them as pillars of our region’s extroversion since they contribute decisively to its promotion, visibility, and competitiveness.

We consistently support and will continue to support the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, as it has demonstrated its contribution to society and fills us with pride year after year.

Athina Aidona Regional Governor of Central Macedonia

For yet another year, the Thessaloniki International Film Festival returns to captivate, fascinate, creatively challenge and inspire, offering its tens of thousands of visitors a unique, well-rounded experience. Thessaloniki welcomes this grand celebration of independent cinema and becomes the ultimate point of reference for all of us who bow before the magic of the big screen, through dozens of films, thematic events, and tributes.

In parallel, thanks to the Festival’s international reach, the city is evolving into a cultural hub for the wider region of Southeast Europe, capitalizing on its unique attributes, its geography, its rich history, its inclusive character. For our city, TIFF is not just another cultural institution; it is the cornerstone of Thessaloniki’s creative force, a city that rightfully claims to be at the forefront of advancing and promoting contemporary Culture, as well as providing meaningful support to Greek film production.

The 66th edition, enriched with new, innovative ideas, brings creative, active citizens together and fosters discussions on crucial current issues, while at the same time making a significant impact on the city’s economy, thus further encouraging the development of cultural tourism.

The Municipality of Thessaloniki’s support for the successful organization of the TIFF is a given; every investment in Culture is an investment in our city’s future, in economic development and social cohesion.

Best of luck!

Stelios Angeloudis Mayor of Thessaloniki

filmfestival.gr

This publication offers the basic information on the 66th Thessaloniki Film Festival (October 30–November 9, 2025), the official selection and the sidebar events of this year’s edition, the juries that will award prizes to their films of choice, the Agora – the main industry event and developmental module of the organization – as well as the Festival Staff and supporters.

The subsequent pages of this publication contain the following:

- Instructions on issuing tickets for physical screenings

- A detailed map of the Festival venues

- Notes on the Festival’s environmental sustainability policy

- A daily screening schedule (indicating the day, venue, and time each film is being screened, as well as the program it belongs to)

- The films of the 2025 official selection (listed alphabetically, according to their international title)

- Online screenings schedule

- Presentation of the Festival Juries and the independent juries and awards

- Presentation of the Agora and its main activities

- Sidebar Events calendar

All films in the official selection are suitable for people over 18 (except for the NextGen program, addressed to the children and youth).

All films are screened with Greek and English subtitles, unless otherwise stated.

Smoking is not permitted in the Festival venues.

For more information on this year’s program and guests, visit filmfestival.gr.

PHYSICAL SCREENINGS TICKETS

Festival tickets are issued ONLINE at filmfestival.gr and more.com

Ticket price: €7 Την

On Thursday, October 30, on Cinema Day, the ticket price will be €2.

Ticket Regulations

No admission once the screening has started.

A printed or digital ticket with the barcode clearly visible must be presented on entry. Lost tickets will not be replaced.

Seats are not numbered.

€7 tickets can be refunded up to the day before the screening.

More information on the refund process is available at http://on.tiff.gr/refundticket

http://on.tiff.gr/10pack

€50 Ticket Package for 10 Screenings

The ticket package is available exclusively online and is exchanged for 10 tickets. Applies exclusively to physical screenings. Does not apply to online screenings. A zero-value online ticket is required for entry. Tickets issued using screening vouchers are non-refundable and non-exchangeable. The package cannot be used for opening / closing ceremonies and special screenings. More information on purchasing and using the ticket package is available at http://on.tiff.gr/10pack

Kids Love Cinema

Tickets to Kids Love Cinema Screenings cost €3 for adults. For children and teenagers under the age of 18, admission is free with the issuance of a zero-value ticket.

Immersive – All Around Cinema

Ticket price: €3 for each screening, €14 package for all screenings. Screenings take place daily from 13:00 to 21:00 throughout the duration of the Festival. Tickets for the Immersive screenings can be purchased exclusively at the exhibition space, Warehouse C. It is not possible to reserve a seat or pre-purchase a ticket. Screenings are in English or with English subtitles. Accreditations and screening invitations apply.

The venues Olympion, Pavlos Zannas, Tonia Marketaki, Frida Liappa, John Cassavetes and Stavros Tornes are accessible by disabled persons. For yet another year, the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, with the support of Alpha Bank, has ensured full access conditions to the festival. Interventions on the built environment, accommodating specific wheelchair types, two accessible film screenings featuring audio description and SDH subtitles, and 30 films with intralingual subtitles, aim to facilitate equal access to cinema for all.

ONLINE

TICKETS (ONLINE SCREENINGS)

Οι

online.filmfestival.gr

The Festival’s online screenings are available through the website online.filmfestival.gr

Create an account if you don’t already have one, by selecting “Create Account” located top right. Fill in your name, email and passcode. You can now watch the films that are available!

Find the movie that you are interested in through search or through the lists in every section of the main menu. Every movie will be available for a limited number of screenings.

You can purchase your ticket for all screenings before the Festival starts, but you can watch each film only on the day(s) it is screened online!

When you select a film to watch, the ticket price (€4) is shown, and you can enter your credit or debit card info in order to complete the purchase. You will receive confirmation of payment via email.

On the screening day, each movie is available from 10:00 a.m.

Press “Play Now” to start the screening. From that moment onwards, you have 24 hours to watch the film.

In case you don’t complete the viewing within 24 hours, your ticket expires.

Stay tuned daily to check the availability of the festival movies.

We will be at your disposal daily through live chat, to answer your questions.

* Tickets to online screenings cannot be exchanged, returned or cancelled.

IMMERSIVE: ALL AROUND CINEMA

• Screenings are exclusively in English or with English subtitles.

• Pregnant women, people with heart disease, eye conditions, neurological disorders, such as epilepsy, or other major medical issues, and people with hearing aids, pacemakers, or other implanted medical devices, are advised to consult their doctor before using the VR headset.

• The VR headset can be used by children over 13 if accompanied by an adult.

• The Festival bears no responsibility for any damage incurred by VR headset users resulting from violation of the above instructions.

FESTIVAL SHOPS

Box at Aristotelous Square

30/10–9/11

10:00–23:00

Thessaloniki Cinema Museum

30/10–9/11

10:00–21:00

Pier (Entrance of Warehouse C)

30/10–9/11

10:00–23:00

24/7 online purchases are possible via the Festival’s e-shop filmfestival.gr with the possibility of order receipt from Olympion (upon scheduled appointment).

The Festival Shops’ opening hours are subject to change.

The Thessaloniki IFF publications are available through the Festival’s e-shop.

Welcome to a safe 66th Thessaloniki International Film Festival, implementing all officially indicated safety measures to limit the transmission of seasonal diseases.

The Festival Theaters operate at full capacity.

Ventilation and air conditioning systems use open-loop units that ensure the full renewal of the venues’ air.

Venues open 30 minutes before the screening time. Please arrive in good time to avoid crowding in the waiting areas.

There will be no intermission during screenings.

Please refrain from entering the venue if you have a cough, temperature or other COVID-19 symptoms, or if you are waiting for lab results. •

filmfestival.gr

more.com. Purchase your tickets online at filmfestival.gr and more.com.

We encourage you to use contactless card payments.

66th THESSALONIKI INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL: Α GREENER AND MORE SUSTAINABLE EXPERIENCE

https://www.filmfestival.gr

The Thessaloniki Film Festival acknowledges its environmental impact and has adopted a comprehensive environmental policy, which is being detailed and systematized into an action plan, meant to constitute an integral part of our administration, daily operations and overall organizational culture. The action plan, which is regularly revised and re-evaluated, focuses on:

Our people. A green team was formed, a series of workshops took place and more are scheduled. A Festival executive has been assigned with the role of green officer/coordinator and the Festival teamed up with a specialized advisor and specialized collaborators (greenteam@filmfestival.gr).

Buildings & Operations. A carbon footprint analysis and energy audit for the entire organisation, on a year-long based operation, are underway. The results and recommendations are to be presented in the next few months. Energy upgrade works have already been realized and others are planned for the immediate future, while other green initiatives, regarding the daily operations and behavioural measures, were also implemented.

Materials & Procurement. We are revising our procurement policy, with the aim to explore possibilities to green our supply chain, and we have already taken measures towards this direction.

Travel & Hospitality. Taking into account the geographical location of the Festival and the limited opportunities for more sustainable travel choices, TFF is pursuing a greener travel policy, without undermining the artistic and social dimension of the Festival’s and AGORA’s events.

Waste Management. We have already taken many steps towards reducing waste and diverting as much waste as possible from landfill, by working with experts and constantly learning how to optimize our waste management system.

Content. The Festival always aims to host stories that address urgent environmental issues of global impact, and our industry event AGORA is taking steps in supporting green initiatives in the film industry.

Green Charter. TIFF is also a co-signatory of the Green Charter for Film Festivals, a European initiative of the Festival Network MIOB. The Charter includes a carbon assessment tool, through which data on energy, transportation, food, waste, etc. is submitted and measured for each festival event, with the possibility to compare environmental performance over time.

Certification. TFF has invited a private company to audit its environmental management system against EN ISO 14001:2015 requirements. The second stage of the audit will be executed in the next few months.

Communication & Collaboration. We strive to communicate our green initiatives and share knowledge with our audiences, partners, collaborators, the cultural sector in Greece and abroad and the wider community we serve. In this frame and in order to support the commitments of our environmental policy, we established -since November 2023- a 10-euro “green fee” for accredited guests and pledged to reinvest the collected amount towards our sustainability action plan. The initiative was warmly embraced by accredited guests, who -like all the participants and the audiences- are always on our side in our efforts to be as green and sustainable as possible.

Additional information is available on TFF’s website: https://www.filmfestival.gr

Think about your arrival to and departure from the Festival. When you can, opt for walking, cycling or car-pooling, which can be quicker, more practical, and beneficial for our health. It will also lower our carbon emissions. Mass transportation options are available too.

We are continuing our effort to avoid single-use plastic and we encourage you to use your own reusable water bottle. Across the Festival venues you will find installed several water coolers. You can also buy the Festival’s reusable bottle, available at the Festival shops and canteens. Still, if you have a single-use plastic water bottle, you can recycle it at our plastic recycling stations.

We have limited our promotional materials, mindful of the energy consumption required to recycle them, and the environmental footprint they entail. A “merch drop-off” option will be available this year, as well as last year, at Warehouse C. If you don’t want it, return it!

More and more of our printed materials are printed on FSC certified environmentally friendly paper, and will be recycled or repurposed at the end of our activities. Instead of throwing paper away, recycle it!

We are relying as much as possible on reusable cutlery and products. Opt to buy and consume seasonal and local food and beverages, available at all venues for the duration of your stay in Thessaloniki. This action will help minimizing the energy spent on transporting materials, as well as strengthen the local economy and diversify your experience!

WASTE MANAGEMENT

GREECE S.A,

The 66th TiFF continues its efforts towards the goal of zero-waste management. In collaboration with VIPA GREECE S.A., InCommOn, and Cigaret Cycle, there will be a daily collection, sorting, and circular management of the waste generated from all the event across the Festival venues. You will find separate recycling bins for paper, plastic, glass, aluminum, cigarette butts and organic waste. Additionally, all coffee residue from the canteens and any food leftovers from the AGORA lunches will be collected daily and placed into special storage bins. Along with the rest of the produced refuse, these materials will be transferred to each company’s waste management facilities to be weighed, recorded and will then be responsibly recycled, composted or gain a second life.

IC International Competition

MtN+ Meet the Neighbors+ International Competition

FFC Film Forward International Competition

FFSS Film Forward Special Screenings

XR Immersive – All Around Cinema

POD Podcasts

PΝΧ Podcasts: Nexus

OH Open Horizons

RM Round Midnight

S7 Smart7 Competition

SS Special Screenings

SSS Series Special Screenings

PT Tribute Plot Twist: Beyond the Sixth Sense

SE Survey Expanded: Fragilities

ΙΗ Tribute to Isabelle Huppert

CF Tribute to Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani

MP Spotlight to Marcel Pagnol

FR Greek Film Festival: First Run

SV Greek Film Festival: Second Viewing

CB Greek Film Festival: Crossing Borders

DISFF Greek Film Festival: DISFF Awarded Films

YT Greek Film Festival: Tribute to Yorgos Tsemberopoulos

GSS Greek Film Festival: Special Screenings

NG NextGen

PE Parallel Events

Meet the Neighbors+

Film Forward

Immersive – All Around Cinema

Podcasts

Podcasts: Nexus

Round

Plot Twist: Beyond the Sixth Sense

Survey Expanded: Fragilities

19:30 SS FATHER MOTHER

SISTER BROTHER, 110΄

Jim Jarmusch

USA, Ireland, France 2025

OV English, French σ./p. 112

ΤΕΛΕΤΗ ΕΝΑΡΞΗΣ OPENING CEREMONY

16:00 MP

THE BAKER’S WIFE, 134΄

Marcel Pagnol

France 1938 OV French σ./p. 147

Admission by Invitation and Limited Ticket Sale

19:00 OH

LOST LAND, 99΄

Αkio Fujimoto

Japan, France, Malaysia, Germany 2025 OV Rohingya σ./p. 90

22:00 DISFF

DANCE OF THE LIVING, 92΄

José Alayón

Spain, Colombia 2025

OV Spanish σ./p. 83

17:00 OH

THE PIANO ACCIDENT, 88΄

Quentin Dupieux France OV French σ./p. 94

DRAMA ISFF AWARDED FILMS, 129΄ OV Various

156-161

#1 Program #1

22:00 OH

RAINS OVER BABEL , 113΄ Gala del Sol Colombia, Spain, USA 2025

OV Spanish σ./p. 97

20:00 OH

CACTUS PEARS, 113΄ Rohan Parashuram

Kanawade

India, UK, Canada 2025 OV Marathi σ./p. 82

19:00 PT

THEY ARE THE DOGS, 85΄

Hicham Lasri

Morocco 2013

OV Arabic σ./p. 128

AFTER DREAMING, 109΄

Christine Haroutounian Armenia, USA, Mexico 2025

OV Armenian σ./p. 130

HEAVEN’S GATE, 218΄

Michael Cimino USA 1980

OV English σ./p. 138 18:30

VALLEY OF LOVE, 92΄ Guillaume Nicloux France 2015

OV French, English σ./p. 142

20:00

ΟΛΑ ΕΝΤΑΞΕΙ GROWING DOWN, 84΄

Bálint Dániel Sós Hungary 2025

OV Hungarian σ./p. 133

INTERNAL ZERO, 100΄

Eugen Jebeleanu

Romania 2025

OV Romanian, French, Spanish σ./p. 109

22:00 Q&A FR

DIVERSION, 97΄

Marinos Kartikkis

Cyprus, Greece 2025

OV Greek

σ./p. 150

11:00 IH

AMATEUR, 105΄

Hal Hartley

USA, UK 1994

OV English

σ./p. 136

14:00 OH

ΑΠΟ ΕΡΩΤΑ OUT OF LOVE, 111΄

Nathan Ambrosioni

France 2025

OV French

σ./p. 94

17:00 OH

ΜΙΚΡΕΣ

LITTLE TROUBLE GIRLS, 89΄

Urška Djukić

Slovenia, Italy, Croatia, Serbia 2025

OV Slovenian

σ./p. 90

20:00 SS

ΑΜΝΕΤ HAMNET, 125΄

Chloé Zhao

UK 2025

OV English

σ./p. 113

13:00 DISFF

13:00 OH

ΑΛΗΘΙΝΑ

REAL FACES, 90΄

Leni Huyghe

Belgium 2025

OV Dutch, French σ./p. 98

23:00 SS

THE MASTERMIND, 110'

Kelly Reichardt

USA 2025

OV English

σ./p. 116

156-161

16:00

LET THE CORPSES TAN, 91΄

Hélène Cattet, Bruno Forzani

Belgium, France 2017

OV French σ./p. 144

19:00 Q&A

BLACK + WHITE, 80΄

Thanasis Rentzis, Nikos Zervos

Greece 1973

OV Greek σ./p. 162

15:00 PT

BOUCHRA , 85΄

Orian Barki, Meriem Bennani

Italy, Morocco, USA 2025 OV Moroccan Arabic, French, English σ./p. 126

18:00 OH

RAINS OVER BABEL , 113΄

Gala del Sol Colombia, Spain, USA 2025

OV Spanish

σ./p. 97

20:30 SS

GRAND PRIX , 176΄

John Frankenheimer USA 1966

OV English

σ./p. 112

22:00 Q&A FFC FR

FEMALE, 81΄

Konstantinos Menelaou

Greece 2025

OV Greek σ./p. 64, 150

Admission is free on issue of a zero-value ticket

IT ENDS, 89΄ Alexander Ullom USA2025 OV English σ./p. 106

14:00 Q&A S7

AS SILENCE PASSES BY, 98΄

Sandra Romero Spain 2024

OV Spanish σ./p. 107

THE LOVE THAT REMAINS, 109΄

Hlynur Pálmason

Iceland, Denmark, Sweden, France 2025

OV Icelandic σ./p. 115

20:00

WHITETAIL , 103΄

Nanouk Leopold

The Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland 2025

OV English σ./p. 122

LOVE ME TENDER, 133΄

Anna Cazenave Cambet

France 2025

OV French σ./p. 115

THE TROUT, 104΄

Joseph Losey

France 1982

13:00

DIVERSION, 97΄ Μαρίνος

Marinos Kartikkis

Cyprus, Greece 2025

OV Greek σ./p. 150

14:00 Q&A SE

; HOW COME IT’S ALL GREEN OUT HERE?, 114΄

16:00

CAST

ASIDE THE CLOUDS, 115΄

Mary Darling, Bre Vader, Felicia Sobhani

Greece, Canada 2025

OV English, Persian σ./p. 155

19:00 Q&A FR

ΚΟΚΟΡΑΣ ROOSTER, 101΄

Τάσος Γερακίνης Tassos Gerakinis

Greece 2025

OV Greek σ./p. 153

22:00 Q&A MtN+ FR

SMARAGDA – I GOT THICK SKIN AND I

CAN’T JUMP, 99΄

Emilios Avraam

Cyprus 2024

OV Greek, English σ./p. 60, 153

OV French σ./p. 142 15:00

13:00 OH ΑΒΑΡΗΣ WEIGHTLESS, 97΄

Emilie Thalund

Denmark 2025

OV Danish σ./p. 102

Nikola Ležaić

Serbia, Croatia, Bulgaria 2025

OV Serbian, Croatian σ./p. 133

PARTITION, 61΄

Diana Allan Lebanon, Palestine, Canada 2025

OV Arabic σ./p. 68

THE LAST ONE FOR THE ROAD, 100΄

Francesco Sossai

Italy, Germany 2025

OV Italian σ./p. 58

20:00

REFLECTION IN A DEAD DIAMOND, 87΄

Hélène Cattet, Bruno Forzani Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Italy 2025

OV French, Italian, English σ./p. 145

23:00 OH

HOMO SAPIENS

HOMO SAPIENS?, 98΄

Gaston Duprat, Mariano Cohn

Argentina, Spain, Italy

2025 OV Spanish σ./p. 85

ΟΝΕΙΡΟ AFTER DREAMING, 109΄ Christine Haroutounian Armenia, USA, Mexico 2025

OV Armenian σ./p. 130

20:00 Q&A OH

ΜΗΤΕΡΑ MOTHER, 104΄ Teona Strugar Mitevska Belgium, North Macedonia, Sweden, Denmark, Bosnia & Herzegovina 2025

OV English, Hindi σ./p. Q&A Mitevska, Vuk Mitevski Belgium, North Macedonia, Sweden, Denmark, Bosnia & Herzegovina 2025

OV English, Hindi σ./p. 92

MEMORY OF PRINCESS MUMBI, 79΄

Damien Hauser

Kenya, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia 2025

OV English σ./p. 68

11:30 NG Η

LITTLE AMÉLIE, 78΄

Maïlys Vallade, Liane-Cho Han

France 2025

OV French σ./p. 166

14:00 Q&A CF

11:00-12:30 PE

CASTING

CASTING IN THE AGE OF TECHNOLOGY: FINDING THE SOUL OF A STORY

Masterclass ICDA σ./p. 190

13:00–14:30

THE STRANGE COLOUR OF YOUR BODY’S TEARS, 102΄

Hélène Cattet, Bruno

Forzani

France, Belgium, Luxembourg 2013

OV French, Danish σ./p. 146

17:00 Q&A ΙC FR

ΜΠΙΤΣΚΟΜΠΕΡ BEACHCOMBER, 92΄

Αριστοτέλης Μαραγκός Aristotelis Maragkos

Greece 2025

OV Greek

σ./p. 51, 149

20:00 Q&A OH

THE SOUFFLEUR, 78΄

Gastón Solnicki

Austria, Argentina 2025

OV English, German, Italian σ./p. 99

DRESSING THE STORY: THE ART OF COSTUME DESIGN

Masterclass with Catherine George σ./p. 190

16:00 Q&A FFC

DON’T LET THE SUN, 98΄

Jacqueline Zünd

Switzerland, Italy 2025

OV English σ./p. 64

19:00 Q&A OH

WHITE SNAIL , 115΄

Elsa Kremser, Levin Peter Austria, Germany 2025

OV Russian, Belarusian, English, Mandarin σ./p. 103

12:00 Q&A SS

WHITETAIL , 103΄

Nanouk Leopold

The Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland 2025

OV English

σ./p. 122

22:00 Q&A

MEGARA , 72΄

15:00 Q&A OH

MOSQUITOES, 110΄

Valentina Bertani, Nicole Bertani

Italy, Switzerland, France 2025

OV Italian σ./p. 92

23:00 Q&A OH

ΤΡΕΛΕΣ FOLLIES, 101΄

Eric K. Boulianne

Canada 2025

OV French σ./p. 84

Sakis Maniatis, Yorgos

Tsemberopoulos

Greece 1974

OV Greek σ./p. 162

18:00 SS

SEMIRAMIS ΤΗΣ ICDA ICDA SEMIRAMIS AWARD CEREMONY σ./p. 191

ΕΝΑ ΠΡΑΓΜΑ ΜΕ ΦΤΕΡΑ THE THING WITH FEATHERS, 98΄

Dylan Southern UK 2025

OV English σ./p. 121

21:00 Q&A OH ΞΕΚΙΝΗΜΑΤΑ BEGINNINGS, 96΄ Jeanette Nordahl Denmark, Sweden, Belgium 2025 OV Danish σ./p. 80

23:45 Q&A RM

THE HOLY BOY, 122΄

Paolo Strippoli

Italy, Slovenia 2025

OV Italian σ./p. 105

12:30 Q&A CF HELENE CATTET AND BRUNO FORZANI 46΄ Πρόγραμμα ταινιών

Shorts Program

OV French / No Dialogue σ./p. 143-147

14:00 SSS

Νο. 13 DORM No. 13, 107΄ Teemu Nikki Finland OV Finnish σ./p. 123

16:45 Q&A OH

ΚΙΚΑ 111΄

Alexe Poukine

Belgium, France 2025

OV French σ./p. 87 19:45

WE BELIEVE YOU, 78΄

Charlotte Devillers, Arnaud Dufeys Belgium 2025 OV French σ./p. 102

22:15 Q&A SS MADE IN EU, 109΄

Stephan Komandarev Bulgaria, Germany, Czech Republic 2025

OV Bulgarian σ./p. 116

13:00 Q&A MtN+ FR ΣΜΑΡΑΓΔΑ SMARAGDA

– I GOT THICK SKIN AND I CAN’T JUMP, 99΄ Αιμίλιος Αβραάμ

Emilios Avraam

Cyprus 2024

OV Greek, English σ./p. 60, 153

16:00 Q&A CB

TENDER, 75΄

Άρης Μπαφαλούκας

Ari Bafalouka

France, Greece 2025

OV French

σ./p. 156

19:00 Q&A FR

PATTY IS SUCH A GIRLY

NAME, 113΄ Γιώργος

Giorgos Georgopoulos

Greece 2025

OV Greek

σ./p. 152

22:00 Q&A FR

MADONNAS, 76΄

The Callas – Λάκης &

The Callas –Lakis & Aris Ionas

Greece 2025

OV Greek

151

TORNES

12:00 Q&A FFC FR

ΘΗΛΥΚΟ FEMALE, 81΄

Konstantinos Menelaou

Greece 2025

OV Greek σ./p. 64, 150

14:15 Q&A FR

ROOSTER, 101΄

Tassos Gerakinis

Greece 2025

OV Greek

153

MARE’S NEST, 98΄

Ben Rivers

UK, France, Canada 2025

OV English, Catalan σ./p. 67 20:00

THE LAKE, 80΄

Fabrice Aragno

Switzerland 2025

OV French σ./p. 66

23:00

PUTAIN, 89΄

Deben Van Dam

Belgium 2024

OV French, Dutch

125

THE PHOTOGRAPH, 113΄

Νίκος Παπατάκης Nico Papatakis

France, Greece 1986

OV Greek, French σ./p. 128

14:30 IH

A JUDGEMENT IN STONE, 111΄

Claude Chabrol

France 1995

OV French σ./p. 139

SUNFISH (& OTHER STORIES ON GREEN LAKE), 87΄

Sierra Falconer

USA 2025

OV English σ./p. 99

; HOW COME IT’S ALL GREEN OUT HERE?, 114΄

Nikola Ležaić Serbia, Croatia, Bulgaria 2025

OV Serbian, Croatian σ./p. 133

LESBIAN SPACE PRINCESS, 87΄

Emma Hough Hobbs, Leela Varghese

Australia 2025

OV English σ./p. 89

11:30 NG ΑΥΡΙΟ ΘΑ ΕΙΜΑΙ ΓΕΝΝΑΙΟΣ TOMORROW

I’LL BE BRAVE, 80΄

Bernd Sahling

Germany 2025

OV German σ./p. 169

14:00 Q&A OH

WHITE SNAIL , 115΄

Elsa Kremser, Levin Peter Austria, Germany 2025 OV Russian, Belarusian, English, Mandarin σ./p. 103

11:00-12:30 PE

AGORA SERIES

MASTERCLASS: FROM PAGE TO SCREEN

With Saverio Costanzo, on the making of My Brilliant Friend σ./p. 191

13:00 DISFF

13:00 MtN+

ΕΝΑ ΤΕΛΕΥΤΑΙΟ ΓΙΑ ΤΟΝ ΔΡΟΜΟ THE LAST ONE FOR THE ROAD, 100΄ Francesco Sossai Italy, Germany 2025 OV Italian σ./p. 58

16:00 OH

RENOIR, 118΄

Chie Hayakawa

Japan, France, Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia, Qatar 2025

OV Japanese, French σ./p. 98

14:00 Q&A OH ΚΙΚΑ 111΄

Alexe Poukine

Belgium, France 2025 OV French σ./p. 87

17:00 Q&A ΙC

ΕΥΧΑΡΙΣΤΗΣΗ SATISFACTION, 97΄

Alex Burunova

USA, Greece, Ukraine, Italy 2025

OV English σ./p. 54

19:45 Q&A SS

ΣΙΩΠΗΛΗ ΦΙΛΗ SILENT FRIEND, 147΄

Ildikó Enyedi Germany, Hungary, France 2025

OV German, English, Cantonese σ./p. 120

23:15 Q&A OH ΣΤΟΝ ΔΡΟΜΟ ON THE ROAD, 93΄

David Pablos

Mexico 2025

OV Spanish

σ./p. 93

DRAMA ISFF AWARDED FILMS, 125΄ OV Various

#3 Program #3 σ./p. 156-161

16:00 Q&A OH ΤΡΕΛΕΣ FOLLIES, 101΄

Eric K. Boulianne

Canada 2025

OV French σ./p. 84

19:00 MP

A MAGNIFICENT LIFE, 91΄

Sylvain Chomet France, Belgium, Luxembourg 2025

OV French, English σ./p. 148

22:00

YORGOS

TSEMBEROPOULOS: SHORT FILMS, 94΄

OV English

σ./p. 162, 163, 164

Admission is free on issue of a zero-value ticket

19:00 Q&A MtN+

IN THE LAND OF ARTO, 104΄

Tamara Stepanyan France, Armenia 2025 OV French, Armenian, English σ./p. 58

17:00 Q&A FFC ΒΑΣΙΛΕΙΟ KINGDOM, 112΄

Michał Ciechomski

22:00 SS

MIRRORS No. 3, 86΄

Christian Petzold Germany 2025 OV German σ./p. 117

00:15 RM OBEX, 91΄ Albert Birney USA 2025 OV English σ./p. 106

20:00 SS

95΄

Jim Sheridan, David Merriman

Ireland, Luxembourg 2025

OV English σ./p. 119

Poland 2025 OV Polish σ./p. 64 23:45

THE HOLY BOY, 122΄ Paolo Strippoli

Italy, Slovenia 2025

OV Italian σ./p. 105

13:00 Q&A ΙC FR

ΜΠΙΤΣΚΟΜΠΕΡ BEACHCOMBER, 92΄

Aristotelis Maragkos

Greece 2025

OV Greek

σ./p. 51, 149

16:00 Q&A SV

THE GREAT MASSACRE OF ALIMOS, 108΄

Athan Tom Sklavos

Greece 2025

OV Greek

σ./p. 155

12:00 Q&A FFC

DON’T LET THE SUN, 98΄

Jacqueline Zünd

Switzerland, Italy 2025

OV English σ./p. 64

14:30 Q&A OH

ΞΕΦΟΥΣΚΩΤΑ

THE SOUFFLEUR, 78΄

Gastón Solnicki Austria, Argentina 2025

OV English, German, Italian σ./p. 99

8 WOMEN, 111΄

François Ozon France, Italy 2002

OV French σ./p. 136

19:00 Q&A FR

ΜΑΧΗ MAHI, 120΄

Elias Giannakakis

Greece 2025

OV Greek

σ./p. 152

THE DANISH WOMAN, 103΄

Benedikt Erlingsson France, Iceland 2025

OV Icelandic, Danish, English σ./p. 123

22:00 Q&A FR

DON’T LAUGH, THEY’LL SEE YOU,

Nicholas Dimitropoulos

Greece 2025

OV Greek

20:00

ATROPIA, 103΄

Hailey Gates

USA, UK, Italy 2025

OV English, Arabic, Spanish σ./p. 126

14:30 Q&A CF

ΑΜΕΡ AMER, 90΄

Hélène Cattet, Bruno Forzani

France, Belgium 2009

OV French σ./p. 143

PLOT TWIST, BEYOND THE SIXTH SENSE

Shorts Program 71΄

OV French Spanish σ./p. 126-129

σ./p. 150 12:00 IH

WHAT MARIELLE KNOWS, 87΄

Frédéric Hambalek

Germany 2025

OV German, French

102

20:00 Q&A OH

MOSQUITOES, 110΄

Valentina Bertani, Nicole Bertani

Italy, Switzerland, France 2025

OV Italian σ./p. 92

TO THE VICTORY!, 105΄ Valentyn Vasyanovych Ukraine, Lithuania 2025 OV Ukrainian σ./p. 100

09:00-13:00 NG

ONE OF US IS TREMBLING, 80΄

Selma Sunniva

Denmark 2024

OV Danish

σ./p. 124

14:00

A LIGHT THAT NEVER GOES OUT, 111΄

Lauri-Matti Parppei

Finland, Norway 2025

OV Finnish σ./p. 52

17:00 Q&A ΙC FR GORGONÀ, 96΄

Evi Kalogiropoulou

Greece, France 2025

OV Greek σ./p. 52, 150

20:00

THE RICHEST WOMAN IN THE WORLD, 122΄

Thierry Klifa

France, Belgium 2025

OV French

σ./p. 140

23:00 OH

HUJAR’S DAY, 75΄

Ira Sachs

USA, Germany 2025

OV English

13:00 Q&A FFC

ΒΑΣΙΛΕΙΟ KINGDOM, 112΄

Michał Ciechomski

Poland 2025

OV Polish σ./p. 64

SATISFACTION, 97΄

Alex Burunova

USA, Greece, Ukraine, Italy 2025

OV English σ./p. 54

16:00

ON THE ROAD, 93΄

David Pablos

Mexico 2025

13:45

Q&A MtN+

IN THE LAND OF ARTO, 104΄

Tamara Stepanyan France, Armenia 2025

OV French, Armenian, English σ./p. 58

FOR THE STARS OF THE 1960s GREEK CINEMA σ./p. 193

Admission is free on issue of a zero-value ticket

Yorgos Tsemberopoulos

Greece 1984

OV Greek, Portuguese, French σ./p. 163 15:45

Nicholas Dimitropoulos

Greece 2025

OV Greek σ./p. 150

OV Spanish σ./p. 93 19:30

18:15 Q&A MtN+

GOD WILL NOT HELP, 137΄

Hana Jušić

Croatia, Italy, Romania, Greece, France, Slovenia 2025

OV Croatian, Spanish σ./p. 57

16:45 Q&A FFC

AGON, 100΄

Giulio Bertelli

Italy, United States, France 2025

OV Italian, English σ./p. 61

BALEARIC, 74΄ Ion De Sosa

Spain, France 2025

OV Spanish σ./p. 62

Pete Ohs USA 2025

OV English σ./p. 101

Tina Romero USA 2025 OV English

107

14:15 FR

MADONNAS, 76΄

The Callas – Λάκης &

Ιωνάς The Callas –Lakis & Aris Ionas

Greece 2025

OV Greek σ./p. 151

16:15

PATTY IS SUCH A GIRLY NAME, 113΄

Giorgos Georgopoulos

Greece 2025

OV Greek σ./p. 152

19:15 Q&A

THEY COME OUT OF MARGO, 92΄

(The Boy) Alexandros Voulgaris (The Boy)

Greece 2025

OV Greek σ./p. 153 22:15

Yorgos Athanasiou

Greece 2025

OV English, Greek σ./p. 149

12:30

SILENT FRIEND, 147΄

Ildikó Enyedi

Germany, Hungary, France 2025

OV German, English, Cantonese σ./p. 120

THE SPOUSALS OF GOD, 155΄ João César Monteiro France, Portugal 1999

OV French, Portuguese

σ./p. 128

COPACABANA, 106΄

Marc Fitoussi

France 2010

OV French, English, Flemish σ./p. 137

DROWNING DRY, 88΄ Laurynas Bareiša Lithuania, Latvia 2024 OV Lithuanian σ./p. 108

18:45 Q&A OH

ONCE UPON A TIME IN GAZA , 90΄

Tarzan Nasser, Arab Nasser

France, Palestine, Germany, Portugal, Qatar, Jordan 2025 OV Arabic σ./p. 93

21:30 Q&A SS

FATHER MOTHER

SISTER BROTHER, 110΄

Jim Jarmusch

USA, Ireland, France 2025

OV English, French σ./p. 112

EVERYBODY LOVES TOUDA , 101΄ Nabil Ayouch France, Morocco, Belgium, Denmark, Τhe Netherlands, Norway 2024

OV Arabic

σ./p. 132

DONKEY DAYS, 107΄

Rosanne Pel

The Netherlands, Germany 2025

OV German σ./p. 83

LITTLE, BIG, AND FAR, 122΄

Jem Cohen

Austria, USA 2024

OV German, English σ./p. 66

11:45 SSS

HOLY SH!T, 96΄

Geoffrey Enthoven

Belgium 2025

OV Flemish

σ./p. 124

12:00-13:30 PE

MOVIE STUNTS

09:00-13:00 NG

SCHOOLS ONLY σ./p. 165-170

14:15 Q&A SE

I’M HERE, I’M FINE, 99΄

Emine Emel Balcı

Türkiye, Germany 2025

OV Turkish σ./p. 134

17:00 Q&A ΙC

ΚΑΡΛΑ KARLA , 105΄

Christina Tournatzès Germany 2025

INTRODUCTION TO THE EXCITING WORLD OF CINEMATIC ACTION

Masterclass

Masterclass with Sotiris

Kraniotis and Kris

Radanov σ./p. 195

14:00 Q&A OH

13:00 Q&A FFC

ΑΓΩΝ AGON, 100΄

Giulio Bertelli

Italy, United States, France 2025

OV Italian, English σ./p. 61

15:30 Q&A OH

14:15 FFC

BALEARIC, 74΄

Ion De Sosa

Spain, France 2025

THE TRUE BEAUTY OF BEING BITTEN BY A TICK, 82΄

Pete Ohs USA 2025 OV English σ./p. 101

16:30 Q&A OH

ERUPCJA , 71΄ Pete Ohs USA, Poland 2025 OV Polish, English σ./p. 84

ONCE UPON A TIME

IN GAZA , 90΄

Tarzan Nasser, Arab Nasser

France, Palestine, Germany, Portugal, Qatar, Jordan 2025

OV Arabic σ./p. 93

OV German σ./p. 52 16:30 Q&A ΙC

19:00

TAKE CARE,

20:00 IH

ΕΚΕΙΝΗ ELLE, 130΄

Paul Verhoeven France, Germany 2016

OV French

σ./p. 137

23:00 OH ΤΡΙΑ ΑΝΤΙΟ THREE GOODBYES, 122΄

Isabel Coixet

Italy, Spain 2025

OV Italian

σ./p. 100

Yorgos Tsemberopoulos Greece 1990 OV Greek σ./p. 164

18:30 Q&A MtN+ ROQIA, 94΄ Yanis Koussim France, Algeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia 2025 OV Algerian Arabic σ./p. 59

21:15 Q&A FR

I WILL LOVE YOU IN NOVEMBER, 79΄

Sotiris

Stamatis

Greece 2025

Admission is free on issue of a zero-value ticket

22:00 Q&A OH

GIOIA , 108΄

Nicolangelo Gelormini

Italy 2025

Italian, French

OV Greek σ./p. 151

23:45 Q&A RM

BULK, 91΄

Ben Wheatley

UK 2025

OV English

σ./p. 104

A LIGHT THAT NEVER GOES OUT, 111΄ Lauri-Matti Parppei

Finland, Norway 2025 OV Finnish σ./p. 52

OV Spanish σ./p. 62 19:15

LAST NIGHT I CONQUERED THE CITY OF THEBES, 111΄

Gabriel Azorín

Spain, Portugal 2025

OV Portuguese, Latin, Galician, σ./p. 65

Yorgos Gkikapeppas

Greece 2025 OV Greek σ./p. 126

10:00-11:30 PE

MASTERCLASS

FROM STAGE TO SCREEN: MASTERCLASS WITH ISABELLE HUPPERT σ./p. 194

12:30 Q&A FR ΜΑΧΗ MAHI, 120΄

Γιαννακάκης Elias Giannakakis

Greece 2025

OV Greek

σ./p. 152

15:30 Q&A CB

& ΣΑΜΑΡ

MAYA & SAMAR, 95΄

Anita Doron

Greece, Canada 2025

OV Greek, English, Dari σ./p. 155

12:00 Q&A MtN+

GOD WILL NOT HELP, 137΄

Hana Jušić

Croatia, Italy, Romania, Greece, France, Slovenia 2025

OV Croatian, Spanish σ./p. 57

CLOSE-UP, 98΄ Abbas Kiarostami

Iran 1990

OV Farsi σ./p. 127

THE PIANO TEACHER, 130΄

Michael Haneke

Austria, France 2001

OV French σ./p. 140

19:00 Q&A FR MARICEL, 120΄ Ηλίας Δημητρίου

Elias Demetriou

Cyprus, Greece 2025

OV Greek, English, Tagalog σ./p. 152

19:30 Q&A MtN+

ANOTHER MAN, 91΄

David Moragas

Spain 2025 OV Catalan

22:00 Q&A FR

ΚΡΑΥΓΕΣ CRIES, 87΄

Petros Sevastikoglou

Greece 2025

OV Greek σ./p. 149

BLUE HERON, 90΄

Sophy Romvari

Canada, Hungary 2025

OV English, Hungarian σ./p. 81

THE PIANO ACCIDENT, 88΄

Quentin Dupieux

France

OV French σ./p. 94

20:00 Q&A FFSS

MACDO, 118΄ Racornelia

Mexico, Greece 2025

OV Spanish σ./p. 67

Yorgos Athanasiou

Greece 2025

OV English, Greek σ./p. 149

11:30 SE ΟΛΑ

GROWING DOWN, 84΄

Bálint Dániel Sós Hungary 2025 OV Hungarian σ./p. 133

14:00 Q&A ΙC

ΤΑ ΠΡΩΤΑ ΔΟΝΤΙΑ MILK TEETH, 104΄

Mihai Mincan Romania, France, Denmark, Greece, Bulgaria 2025 OV Romanian σ./p. 53

17:00 Q&A ΙC

ON THE SEA , 111΄

Helen Walsh

UK 2025 OV English σ./p. 53

20:00 SS ΔΥΟ ΕΙΣΑΓΓΕΛΕΙΣ TWO PROSECUTORS, 118΄

Sergei Loznitsa France, Germany, The Netherlands, Latvia, Romania, Lithuania 2025 OV Russian σ./p. 121

11:00-12:30 PE

MASTERCLASS

THE COLLABORATE ART: MASTERCLASS WITH FREDERICK ELMES

σ./p. 196

13:00 Q&A OH

BLUE HERON, 90΄

Sophy Romvari

Canada, Hungary 2025

OV English, Hungarian σ./p. 81

16:00 Q&A OH

DONKEY DAYS, 107΄

Rosanne Pel

The Netherlands, Germany 2025

OV German σ./p. 83

19:00 Q&A

BACK DOOR, 104΄

Yorgos Tsemberopoulos

Greece 2000

OV Greek σ./p. 161

13:00 Q&A MtN+

ROQIA, 94΄

Yanis Koussim

France, Algeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia 2025

OV Algerian Arabic σ./p. 59

16:00 Q&A OH

PLAINCLOTHES, 95΄

Carmen Emmi

USA 2025

OV English σ./p. 95

19:00 Q&A GSS

ELECTRA7, 50΄

11:00 Q&A FFC

LAST NIGHT I CONQUERED THE CITY OF THEBES, 111΄

Gabriel Azorín

Spain, Portugal 2025

OV Portuguese, Latin, Galician σ./p. 65

14:00 Q&A MtN+

ANOTHER MAN, 91΄

David Moragas

Spain 2025

OV Catalan σ./p. 56

16:45 Q&A ΙC

KARLA , 105΄

Christina Tournatzès

Germany 2025 OV German σ./p. 52

Sofia

Exarchou, Christina Ioakeimidi, Babis Makridis, Argyris Papadimitropoulos, Elina Psykou, Alexandros Voulgaris (The Boy), Neritan Zinxhiria

Greece 2025

OV Greek σ./p. 164

21:30 FFC

THE CHRONOLOGY OF WATER, 128΄

Kristen Stewart

France, Latvia, USA 2025

19:45 Q&A MtN+

FANTASY, 98΄ Kukla

Slovenia, North Macedonia 2025

OV Slovenian, Albanian, Serbian, Bosnian, Macedonian σ./p. 57

22:30 SE

22:00 Q&A FFC FR REGAN, 84΄

OV English σ./p. 63

23:00 Q&A OH ΕΚΡΗΞΗ ERUPCJA , 71΄

Pete Ohs

USA, Poland 2025

OV Polish, English σ./p. 84

Panos Katsimperis

Greece 2025

OV Greek σ./p. 65, 153

00:00 RM

EXIT 8, 95΄

Genki Kawamura

Japan 2025

OV Japanese σ./p. 104

ALL THAT’S LEFT OF YOU, 145΄

Cherien Dabis Germany, Cyprus, Palestine, Jordan, Greece, Qatar, Saudi Arabia 2025 OV Arabic, English σ./p. 130

13:00 Q&A ΙC FR

GORGONÀ, 96΄

Evi Kalogiropoulou

Greece, France 2025

OV Greek σ./p. 150

16:00 SS

ΤΙΓΡΗΣ ΚΑΙ ΔΡΑΚΟΣ CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON, 120΄

Ang Lee China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, USA 2000

OV Mandarin σ./p. 111

19:00 Q&A FR

TΟΜΟΣ 7 VOLUME 7, 105΄

Πάνος Παππάς, Δέσποινα Χαραλάμπους Panos Pappas, Despina Charalampous

Greece, Cyprus, Serbia 2025

OV Greek

σ./p. 154

22:00 Q&A MtN+ FR

LIFE IN A BEAT, 93΄

Amerissa Basta

Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Montenegro, France 2025

OV Greek, Albanian σ./p. 59, 151

09:00-13:00 NG

165-170 14:00 Q&A

GIOIA , 108΄

Nicolangelo Gelormini

Italy 2025

OV Italian, French

17:00 Q&A FFC

1001 FRAMES, 87΄

Mehrnoush Alia

USA, Iran 2025 OV Farsi

WILD AT HEART, 125΄

David Lynch

USA 1990 OV English σ./p. 122

SIDONIE IN JAPAN, 96΄

Élise Girard

France 2023

OV French, Japanese, English

σ./p. 141

ΑΝΤΙΟ, DRAGON INN GOODBYE, DRAGON INN, 82΄

Tsai Ming-Liang

Taiwan 2003

OV Mandarin σ./p. 127

BOUCHRA , 85΄

Orian Barki, Meriem Bennani

Italy, Morocco, USA 2025

OV Moroccan Arabic, French, English σ./p. 126

20:00

ΚΑΛΑ I’M HERE, I’M FINE, 99΄

Emine Emel Balcı Türkiye, Germany 2025

OV Turkish σ./p. 134

116΄

José Mari Goenaga,

Aitor Arregi

Spain 2025

OV Basque σ./p. 91

IN NOVEMBER, 79΄

Sotiris Stamatis

Greece 2025 OV Greek σ./p. 151

14:00

STRANGE RIVER, 105΄

Jaume Claret Muxart Spain, Germany 2025 OV Catalan, German, English σ./p. 55

17:00 Q&A ΙC

MAYSOON, 121΄

Νάνσυ

Nancy Biniadaki Germany, Greece 2025 OV German, Arabic σ./p. 53

11:00-12:30

Masterclass

Masterclass with Nicos

Panayotopoulos σ./p. 197 13:00

1001 FRAMES, 87΄

Mehrnoush Alia

USA, Iran 2025 OV Farsi σ./p. 61

TRUST, 132΄

Daniele Luchetti

Italy 2024

OV Italian σ./p. 135

12:45 Q&A MtN+

ΦΑΝΤΑΖΙ FANTASY, 98΄

Kukla

Slovenia, North Macedonia 2025

OV Slovenian, Albanian, Serbian, Bosnian, Macedonian

σ./p. 57

ON THE SEA , 111΄

15:30

THEY COME OUT OF MARGO, 92΄

(The Boy) Alexandros Voulgaris (The Boy)

Greece 2025

OV Greek σ./p. 153

18:15 Q&A MtN+

Helen Walsh UK 2025 OV English σ./p. 53

Mihai Mincan Romania, France, Denmark, Greece, Bulgaria 2025 OV Romanian σ./p. 53 20:00

THE ENEMY WITHIN, 107΄

Yorgos Tsemberopoulos Greece 2013

OV Greek σ./p. 162

Tribute Event to Yorgos Tsemberopoulos

23:00

THE CURRENTS, 104΄ Milagros Mumenthaler Switzerland, Argentina 2025

19:15

BEFORE / AFTER, 79΄

Manoël Dupont

Belgium 2025

OV French, English, Turkish σ./p. 63 16:00

OV Spanish σ./p. 82 22:00

DON’T LET ME DIE, 108΄ Andrei Epure

Romania, Bulgaria, France 2025

OV Romanian σ./p. 56

JIMPA, 113΄ Sophie Hyde Australia, The Netherlands 2025 OV English σ./p. 86

Jun Li

Hong Kong, USA 2025

OV English, Mandarin σ./p. 96 23:00

LATE FAME, 96΄

00:00 Q&A RM

FUCK MY SON!, 94΄

Todd Rohal

USA 2025

OV English

σ./p. 105

Kent Jones USA 2025 OV English σ./p. 88

11:00 FFC

THE CHRONOLOGY OF WATER, 128΄

Kristen Stewart France, Latvia, USA 2025

OV English

σ./p. 63

13:30 Q&A FR ΚΡΑΥΓΕΣ CRIES, 87΄

Petros Sevastikoglou

Greece 2025

OV Greek

σ./p. 149

16:00 Q&A SV

TORNES

09:00-13:00 NG

SCHOOLS ONLY

σ./p. 165-170

14:00 Q&A FR

MARICEL, 120΄

Elias Demetriou

Cyprus, Greece 2025

OV Greek, English, Tagalog

152

Vasilis Kekatos

Greece, France, Belgium, Germany 2025

OV Greek σ./p. 155

19:00 Q&A FR

WINTER SEA , 108΄

Nikos Kornilios

Greece 2025

OV Greek, German σ./p. 154

PLAINCLOTHES, 95΄

Carmen Emmi

USA 2025 OV English

Yorgos Lanthimos

Greece 2005

OV Greek σ./p. 128

LITTLE MAN-EATER, 101΄

Yannis

Fagras

Greece 2025

OV Greek σ./p. 151

A PRIVATE LIFE, 105΄

Rebecca Zlotowski

France 2025

OV French

The film will be shown without English subtitles

EAGLES OF THE REPUBLIC, 129΄

Tarik Saleh Sweden, France, Denmark

2025 OV Arabic σ./p. 132

14:00

Joachim Trier

OV English, French σ./p. 139 12:00

LOUDER THAN BOMBS, 109΄

Norway, France, Denmark 2015

A HOUSE WITH TWO DOGS, 99΄ Matías Ferreyra

Argentina 2025

OV Spanish σ./p. 114

THE BLUE TRAIL , 86΄ Gabriel Mascaro

Brazil, Mexico, Chile, The Netherlands 2025

OV Portuguese σ./p. 111

23:00

DRACULA, 169΄

Radu Jude

Romania, Austria, Luxembourg, Brazil 2025

OV Romanian, English, German σ./p. 131 ΜΑΚΕΔΟΝΙΚΟΝ MAKEDONIΚON

11:30 IH

ΦΡΑΝΚΙ FRANKIE, 100΄

Ira Sachs

France, Portugal 2019

OV English, French, Portuguese

σ./p. 138

14:00 Q&A

COTTON QUEEN, 94΄

Suzannah Mirghani

Germany, France, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan 2025

OV Arabic

σ./p. 51

17:00 Q&A ΙC FR

BEARCAVE, 127΄

Krysianna B. Papadakis, Stergios Dinopoulos Greece, UK 2025

OV Greek

σ./p. 51, 149

20:15 OH

ΡΟΔΟΝ

ΔΑΣ ROSE OF NEVADA , 114΄

Mark Jenkin

UK 2025

OV English

σ./p. 98

23:00 SS

A POET, 124΄

Simón Mesa Soto Colombia, Germany, Sweden 2025

OV Spanish σ./p. 118

JOAN OF ARC, 61΄ Hlynur Pálmason

Iceland, Denmark, France 2025 OV Icelandic σ./p. 114 13:30 DISFF

13:00 OH

CACTUS PEARS, 113΄

Rohan Parashuram

Kanawade

India, UK, Canada 2025

OV Marathi σ./p. 82

DRAMA ISFF AWARDED FILMS, 116΄

OV Greek Πρόγραμμα #4 Program #4 σ./p. 156-161

16:15 Q&A S7

EPILOGUES, 89΄

Ari Alexander Ergis Magnússon

Iceland, Belgium, Norway

2024

OV Icelandic σ./p. 108

19:00

ΑΡΙΕΛ ARIEL , 108΄

Lois Patiño

Spain, Portugal 2025

OV Spanish, Portuguese, Galician σ./p. 80

22:00

ΕΜΙ, 93΄

Ezequiel Erriquez Mena

Argentina, Uruguay 2025

OV Spanish σ./p. 84

14:00 Q&A

MAYSOON, 121΄

Nancy Biniadaki

Germany, Greece 2025

OV German, Arabic σ./p. 53

16:00 Q&A MtN+

DON’T LET ME DIE, 108΄

Andrei Epure

Romania, Bulgaria, France 2025

OV Romanian σ./p. 56

17:00 Q&A ΙC

STRANGE RIVER, 105΄

Jaume Claret Muxart Spain, Germany 2025

OV Catalan, German, English σ./p. 55

19:00 Q&A MtN+ NG

ΓΛΥΚA ΜΟΥ SWEETHEART, 93΄ Margherita Spampinato Italy 2025 OV Italian σ./p. 60, 169

22:00 FFC

BARRIO TRISTE, 89΄ Stillz

Colombia, USA 2025 OV Spanish σ./p. 62

00:00 RM

ΟΓΚΟΣ BULK, 91΄

Ben Wheatley

UK 2025

OV English

σ./p. 104

MAD BILLS TO PAY (OR DESTINY, DILE QUE NO SOY MALO), 100΄

Joel Alfonso Vargas USA, UK

OV English, Spanish σ./p. 91

23:00 SS ROMERÍA, 112΄

Carla Simón Spain, Germany 2025 OV Spanish, Catalan, French σ./p. 119

13:00 Q&A MtN+ FR

LIFE IN A BEAT, 93΄

Αμέρισσα Μπάστα

Amerissa Basta

Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Montenegro, France 2025

OV Greek, Albanian

σ./p. 51, 151

09:00-13:00 NG

SCHOOLS ONLY

165-170 14:00 Q&A FFC ΠΡΙΝ /

BEFORE / AFTER, 79΄

Manoël Dupont

Belgium 2025

OV French, English, Turkish σ./p. 63

16:00 Q&A FFC FR

REGAN, 84΄

Panos Katsimperis

Greece 2025

OV Greek

σ./p. 65, 153

LEFT-HANDED GIRL , 109΄

Shih-Ching Tsou

Taiwan 2025

OV Mandarin, Taiwanese

σ./p. 88

19:00 Q&A FR

ΑΠΕΙΡΗ ΓΗ ENDLESS LAND, 80΄

Vassilis Mazomenos

Greece 2025

OV Greek σ./p. 150

22:00 Q&A MtN+ FR

ΝΟΒΑΚ NOVAK, 110΄

Harry Lagoussis

Greece, Switzerland 2025

OV English, Greek σ./p. 59, 152

11:00

ΤΟΠΑΖ TOPAZE, 142΄

Marcel Pagnol

France 1951

OV French

σ./p. 148

VHS - KAHLOUCHA, 80΄

Néjib Belkadhi

Tunisia 2006

OV Arabic

σ./p. 129

TRAVEL

ESSENTIALS, 105΄ Kamila Tarabura

Poland, Germany 2024

OV Polish

σ./p. 110

ΥΠΑΡΧΩ STELIOS, 132΄

Yorgos Tsemberopoulos

Greece 2024

OV Greece σ./p. 163

OV Georgian σ./p. 131 19:30

DRY LEAF, 186΄ Alexandre Koberidze

Germany, Georgia 2025

THE BOTANIST, 96΄

Yi Jing

China 2025 OV Kazakh, Mandarin

12:00 NG

ΜΕΡΙ ΑΝΙΝΓΚ MARY ANNING, 73΄

Marcel Barelli Switzerland, Belgium 2025

OV French σ./p. 167

14:30 SS

ΜΑΓΙΑ, ΠΕΣ ΜΟΥ ΕΝΑΝ ΤΙΤΛΟ MAYA, GIVE ME A TITLE, 62΄

Michel Gondry France 2024

OV French σ./p. 117

17:00 ΙC

PILLION, 106΄

Harry Lighton

UK 2025

OV English σ./p. 54

11:00-12:30 PE

THE DIRECTOR AS MIDWIFE

Masterclass με

Masterclass with Yorgos Tsemberopoulos σ./p. 201

13:30 DISFF

TONIA MARKETAKI

13:00 Q&A MtN+ NG

ΓΛΥΚΟ ΜΟΥ SWEETHEART, 93΄

Margherita Spampinato

Italy 2025

OV Italian σ./p. 60, 169

DRAMA ISFF AWARDED FILMS, 116΄

OV Greek Πρόγραμμα #5 Program #5 σ./p. 156-161

16:15

WEIGHTLESS, 97΄

Emilie Thalund

Denmark 2025

OV Danish σ./p. 102

19:00

20:00 Q&A SS

ΟΙ ΔΟΚΙΜΑΣΤΡΙΕΣ THE TASTERS, 123΄

Silvio Soldini Italy, Belgium, Switzerland 2025

OV German σ./p. 120

23:00 SS

Ο ΦΡΑΧΤΗΣ THE FENCE, 109΄

Claire Denis France

OV Yoruba, English σ./p. 112

11:30 SS

THE MASTERMIND, 110' Kelly Reichardt USA 2025 OV English σ./p. 116

14:00 Q&A FR

ENDLESS LAND, 80΄

Vassilis Mazomenos

Greece 2025

OV Greek σ./p. 150

15:45 Q&A S7

ΚΡΕΑΣ MEAT, 104΄

Dimitris Nakos

Greece 2024

OV Greek, Albanian σ./p. 110

18:45 Q&A OH

ΠΟΥ

JONE, SOMETIMES, 80΄

Sara Fantova

Spain 2025

OV Basque, Spanish σ./p. 87

17:00 Q&A ΙC

COTTON QUEEN, 94΄ Suzannah Mirghani

Germany, France, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan 2025 OV Arabic σ./p. 51

LOST LAND, 99΄ Akio Fujimoto Japan, France, Malaysia, Germany 2025

OV Rohingya σ./p. 90

21:30 Q&A MtN+ ΣΑΝ

FEELS LIKE HOME, 124΄

Gábor Holtai

Hungary 2025

OV Hungarian

22:00 Q&A FFC FR

ZEALOTIS, 84΄

Stelios Repanis

Greece 2025

OV Greek σ./p. 66, 154

00:30 RM

OBEX, 91΄

Albert Birney

USA 2025

OV English σ./p. 106

20:00 Q&A SS

ΠΑΛΑΙΣΤΙΝΗ 36 PALESTINE 36, 119΄

Annemarie Jacir Palestine, UK, France, Denmark, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan 2025

OV Arabic, English σ./p. 118

23:45 Q&A RM

Todd Rohal USA 2025

OV English σ./p. 105

11:00 NG Ο

THE SECRET FLOOR, 96΄

Norbert Lechner

Germany, Austria, Luxembourg 2025

OV German σ./p. 168

13:30 NG

ΚΕΛΑΗΔΩΝΤΑΣ

THE SONGBIRDS’ SECRET, 77΄

Antoine Lanciaux France 2025

OV French σ./p. 169

15:30 Q&A SE STEPNE, 112΄

Maryna Vroda

Ukraine, Germany, Poland, Slovakia 2023

OV Ukrainian, Russian σ./p. 134

12:00 NG

A GIRL NAMED WILLOW, 100΄

Mike Marzuk

Germany, Austria 2025

OV German σ./p. 166

14:30 NG

SLACKERS, 75΄

Sorina Gajewski

Germany 2025

OV German σ./p. 168

16:15 Q&A OH

JONE, SOMETIMES, 80΄

Sara Fantova

Spain 2025

OV Basque, Spanish σ./p. 87

13:00 Q&A SS

36 PALESTINE 36, 119΄

Annemarie Jacir

Palestine, UK, France, Denmark, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan 2025

OV Arabic, English σ./p. 118

19:30 SS

ΚΟΤΑ HEN, 96΄

György Pálfi

Germany, Greece, Hungary 2025

OV Greek σ./p. 114

CLOSING CEREMONY

19:00 SS

JOAN OF ARC, 61΄ Hlynur Pálmason

Iceland, Denmark, France 2025

OV Icelandic σ./p. 114

22:00 OH

TO THE VICTORY!, 106΄ Valentyn Vasyanovych Ukraine, Lithuania 2025

Admission by Invitation and Limited Ticket Sale

OV Ukrainian σ./p. 100

16:00 Q&A MtN+

FEELS LIKE HOME, 124΄

Gábor Holtai

Hungary 2025

OV Hungarian σ./p. 57

LESBIAN SPACE PRINCESS, 87΄

Emma Hough Hobbs, Leela Varghese

Australia 2025

OV English σ./p. 89

16:30

PILLION, 106΄

Harry Lighton

UK 2025

OV English σ./p. 54

19:00 SS ΕΝΑ

A HOUSE WITH TWO DOGS, 99΄

Matías Ferreyra Argentina 2025 OV Spanish σ./p. 114

22:00 OH

LITTLE TROUBLE GIRLS, 89΄

Urška Djukić

Slovenia, Italy, Croatia, Serbia 2025

OV Slovenian σ./p. 90

20:00

THREE GOODBYES, 122΄ Isabel Coixet Italy, Spain 2025

OV Italian σ./p. 100

23:00

SUNFISH (& OTHER STORIES ON GREEN LAKE), 88΄

Sierra Falconer

USA 2025

OV English σ./p. 99

13:00

ΖΩΝΤΑΝΩΝ DANCE OF THE LIVING, 92΄

José Alayón

Spain, Colombia 2025

OV Spanish σ./p. 83

THE TIME THAT REMAINS, 110΄

Elia Suleiman

Palestine, France 2009

OV Arabic, Hebrew σ./p. 129

BOTANIST, 96΄

Yi Jing

China 2025

OV Kazakh, Mandarin σ./p. 81

16:00 Q&A MtN+ FR

ΝΟΒΑΚ NOVAK, 110΄ Χάρης Λαγκούσης

Harry Lagoussis

Greece, Switzerland 2025

OV English, Greek σ./p. 59, 152

RECEPTIONS, 104΄

Filippos Tsitos

Greece, Bulgaria 2025

OV Greek σ./p. 152

19:00 Q&A FFC

ΖΗΛΩΤΗΣ ZEALOTIS, 84΄

Στέλιος

Stelios Repanis

Greece 2025

OV Greek σ./p. 66, 154

22:00 Q&A

RIDICULOUS LOVES, 73΄

Dimitris Katsimiris

Greece 2025

OV Greek

σ./p. 153

REAL FACES, 90΄

Leni Huyghe

Belgium 2025

OV Dutch, French σ./p. 98

STORY OF WOMEN, 108΄

Claude Chabrol

France 1988

OV French σ./p. 141 17:00 S7 HANAMI, 96΄

Denise Fernandes

Switzerland, Portugal, Cape Verde 2024

OV Cape Verdean Creole, Japanese, French, English σ./p. 109

OUT OF LOVE, 111΄

Nathan Ambrosioni

France 2025

OV French σ./p. 94

QUEERPANORAMA, 87΄

Jun Li

Hong Kong, USA 2025

OV English, Mandarin

IC International Competition

BEACHCOMBER

ΜΠΙΤΣΚΟΜΠΕΡ

Αριστοτέλης Μαραγκός Aristotelis Maragkos

Ελλάδα Greece 2025, 92’

Elias dreams of building a boat from scrap metal, chasing the shadow of his sailor father’s legacy. But as his creation crumbles, so does the myth he’s built around himself – forcing him to confront the fragile truth of who he really is.

ON-SITE 1/11 Olympion 17:00, 2/11 Cassavetes 13:00 ONLINE 2–9/11

BEARCAVE

ΑΡΚΟΥΔΟΤΡΥΠΑ

Krysianna B. Papadakis, Stergios Dinopoulos

Ελλάδα, Ηνωμένο Βασίλειο Greece, UK 2025, 127’

Η Αργυρώ

Argyro and Anneta are two best friends living in the Greek mountain village of Tirna. Once Anneta reveals that she’s pregnant and planning to skip town with her cop boyfriend, Argyro, devastated, dares her to embark on a hike into the legendary Bearcave.

ON-SITE 7/11 Olympion 17:00, 8/11 Cassavetes 13:00 ONLINE 8–9/11

COTTON QUEEN

France, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan 2025, 93’

Young Nafisa lives in a village in Sudan, on the banks of the Nile. The granddaughter of the so-called “Cotton Queen”, an elderly woman – seemingly centuries old – who has taken on legendary dimensions due to her resistance against the British and her alleged ability to see the future, is of marriage age. Currently, Nafisa works in her grandmother’s fields picking cotton, diving into the river, and falling in love with a young man. But the arrival of a wealthy entrepreneur from London upends everything, and everyone (including her parents and her grandmother) makes plans for her, without her knowledge. Somewhere between a critique of colonialism and an Oriental fable, between realism and magical realism, the film unfolds as a commentary on the juxtaposition of tradition and modernity, but first and foremost, as a story about the stifling of women’s wants in Africa – before building up to a fiery, cleansing climax. Subdued, slow-burning, and aptly elliptical, Suzannah Mirghani’s Cotton

Queen, which left quite an impression at this year’s Venice Film Festival, is one of the finest film debuts of the year.

ON-SITE 7/11 Olympion 14:00, 8/11 Liappa 17:00

GORGONÀ

Εύη Καλογηροπούλου Evi Kalogiropoulou

Ελλάδα, Γαλλία Greece, France 2025, 96’

Σε ένα άχρονο δυστοπικό

In a timeless dystopian future, in a patriarchal city-state plagued by violence and environmental pollution, two women rebel and fight for their freedom and identity, transforming themselves into symbols of resistance and transformation.

ON-SITE 3/11 Olympion 17:00, 5/11 Cassavetes 13:00 ONLINE 4–9/11

KARLA

ΚΑΡΛΑ

Κριστίνα Τουρνατζή Christina Tournatzès

Γερμανία Germany 2025, 105’

Μόναχο, 1962. Σε μια κοινωνία

Munich, 1962. In a society bound by silence and shame, 12-year-old Karla makes a remark-

able yet unusual decision: she brings her abusive father to court. Refusing to be silenced, she insists on telling her story in her own way, choosing what to reveal and what to leave unsaid. Based on a true story, the film lays bare both the courage of a child seeking justice and the societal taboos that conspire to keep her quiet. Christina Tournatzès' film portrays this landmark court case with restraint and emotional precision, transforming it into a deeply human exploration of trauma, truth, and agency. In the leading role, Elise Krieps, daughter of international star Vicky Krieps, leaves a lasting impression, embodying Karla's quiet defiance with extraordinary depth.

ON-SITE 4/11 Olympion 16:45, 5/11 Liappa 16:45

A LIGHT THAT NEVER GOES OUT

Lauri-Matti Parppei

Finland, Norway 2025, 111’

In the aftermath of a personal crisis, unable to manage the weight of expectations placed upon him, 29-year-old Pauli, a talented and successful flutist, returns to his family home in a small town in Finland. There, almost unwillingly, he connects with a group of young musicians, pariahs in the suffocating, provincial environment, who, fueled by wonderful madness, compose experimental music through improvisation. The debut of Finnish filmmaker

Lauri-Matti Parppei, as well as according to The Guardian “one of the most interesting films in this year’s Cannes Film Festival,” A Light That Never Goes Out unfolds an exquisite, liberating parable on the necessity of rejecting the false self and embracing weakness, fragility, and our authentic nature. Balancing delicately between drama and bizarre roundabout humor, the film leads both its main character and the audience into the inextinguishable, comforting glow of a purifying fire, from which one is reborn different, young, and open to embracing life.

ON-SITE 3/11 Olympion 14:00, 4/11 Liappa 16:30

MAYSOON

Νάνσυ Μπινιαδάκη Nancy Biniadaki Γερμανία,

Germany, Greece 2025, 121’

A relationship falls apart, a passport expires – and suddenly everything is at stake: Egyptian archaeologist Maysoon lives in Berlin with her partner Tobi and their two children when her past catches up with her: once politically active before the Arab Spring, returning to Egypt could cost her her freedom. As she fears the loss of her home, her family, and her sense of control, Maysoon begins a battle.

ON-SITE 6/11 Olympion 17:00, 7/11 Liappa 14:00

MILK TEETH

Mihai Mincan

Romania, France, Denmark, Greece, Bulgaria 2025, 104’

1989.

Romania, 1989. During the last days of Ceaușescu’s dictatorship, in a small, isolated town, ten-year-old Maria becomes the last witness to her sister’s mysterious disappearance. Torn apart by the loss, she struggles to make sense of a new and terrifying reality. She withdraws into herself and refuses to speak. Has she lost her voice – or is it that she simply can’t find the right words? An atmospheric portrait of childhood on the threshold of historical change, but also a personal transformation. Through the gaze of a child caught amid the ruins of a waning regime, the film captures the terrifying beauty of growing up as the edges of her world seem to shift. A coming-of-age story etched in darkness and hope, as well as a loud confirmation that the personal can’t be other than political.

ON-SITE 5/11 Olympion 14:00, 6/11 Liappa 17:00

ON THE SEA

In a village on the mist-shrouded coast of Wales, where life is dictated by the same centuries-old conservative, patriarchal values, a man abruptly finds himself at odds with a small-minded community and, most importantly, himself: at 48, married, and a father to a defiant teen, Jack, a mussel farmer upholding the family legacy, will connect with an attractive young man arriving in the region as a seasonal worker. Whatever follows will unearth unuttered, suppressed desires, thus changing himself and his family forever. Set against the backdrop of the wintry and damp landscape of Wales, the second feature of filmmaker and novelist Helen Walsh, On the Sea, unfolds as a heavy, charged, and poignant drama, skillfully shifting between social drama and a profoundly human love story. Suggestive yet subtle, with the narrative fully exploiting looks, gestures, nods, and the imposing nature of Wales, On the Sea touches the audience in the same manner that humidity caresses the skin: imperceptibly, and discreetly.

ON-SITE 5/11 Olympion 17:00, 6/11 Liappa 14:00

PILLION Χάρι

Harry Lighton

UK 2025,

Harry Lighton adapts Adam Mars-Jones’s novella Box Hill into a film, delivering a queer coming-of-age story as unexpected as it is disarmingly romantic. Colin (Harry Melling), a timid young man in the British countryside, leads an almost insignificant life up until he meets Ray (Alexander Skarsgård), a mysterious biker who introduces him to a relationship of dominance and submission. The film follows this relationship without moralizing, offering a clear-eyed gaze and tender understanding, blending humor with truth. It transforms what some might see as a “shocking” dynamic into a catalyst for a profound exploration of desire, loneliness, trust, the rejection of certainty, and the need for belonging. Constructing a seemingly asymmetrical love affair free of stereotypes, Pillion unearths, above all, an intimate love story, while portraying with striking honesty a side of the queer experience that we rarely encounter on the big screen.

ON-SITE 8/11 Olympion 17:00, 9/11 Liappa 16:30

SATISFACTION ΕΥΧΑΡΙΣΤΗΣΗ

Alex Burunova

USA, Greece, Ukraine, Italy 2025, 97’

ANOTHER MAN

ΕΝΑΣ

Νταβίντ

Ισπανία Spain

2025,

David Moragas

They are young, handsome, in love, and living together in a bustling neighborhood in Barcelona, while considering moving to a bigger house since their toilet is constantly leaking and it refuses to be fixed. When their sexy new neighbor appears on the balcony across the street, the delicate balance between them will shatter with a resounding crash. Queer cinema rarely delivers such a poised and honest depiction of homonormativity and the elements that define the modern urban queer identity, through the lens of a relationship between two men – literally your next-door neighbors – who are going through incredibly familiar and relatable experiences. Light-hearted without being overly sentimental, pressing and surprisingly hopeful, even when touching upon difficult issues such as parental trauma, suicide, monogamy in a manner we have yet to become accustomed to (especially in gay love stories), this small Catalan gem reminds us, in the best possible way, that life is filled with bittersweet moments.

ON-SITE 4/11 Tornes 19:30, 5/11 Liappa 14:00

DON’T LET ME DIE

Romania, Bulgaria, France 2025, 108’

A woman wanders through the city's desolate streets at night. We know neither where she comes from nor where she goes. She ends up at the entrance of an apartment building, rings a bell, and utters some indecipherable sounds. The following morning, she is found dead on the threshold by the tenants. None of them has any time to spare investigating; they all have work to do. It falls to Maria, the reclusive neighbor of the deceased, to undertake funeral procedures. This is only the beginning of a Kafkaesque nightmare, filled with bursts of awkward humor, characters who seem to have leapt out of Kaurismäki's cinema and a haunting cameo from Hal Hartley's muse, Elina Löwensohn, in the feature film debut of Romanian filmmaker Andrei Epure, who aspires to find the point of convergence between Romanian New Wave and Greek Weird Wave, a movement that directly influences his work.

ON-SITE 6/11 Marketaki 18:15, 7/11 Marketaki 16:00

ONLINE 7–9/11

Kukla

βασίζεται στη βραβευμένη μικρού μήκους Sisters της Κούκλα,

A woman is kidnapped by a family who claim that she is their missing daughter. She must impersonate this other woman in order to survive while she tries to find a way out of this nightmare. Hungarian director Gábor Holtai builds a taut psychological thriller from this unsettling premise. With slow-burning tension and claustrophobic precision, Feels Like Home shifts between domestic intimacy and menace, holding viewers in a state of unease. At once a survival story and a chilling allegory about belonging, it is a meticulous, devoted study of how families, and the roles they impose, can both provide shelter and lead to suffocation.

Three best friends in their 20s living in Slovenia, tomboys who refuse to conform to the conservative system they are surrounded by, meet Fantasy, a transgender woman, and their world is turned upside down. Together, they embark on a journey that explores the complexities of gender, desire, and self-discovery. The film is based on her acclaimed short film Sisters, thus expanding the filmmaker’s exploration of female friendship and identity. In Fantasy, where the roles are mostly portrayed by first-time actors, the filmmaker crafts a vibrant, empathetic portrait of queer self-discovery and solidarity.

ON-SITE 5/11 Liappa 19:45, 6/11 Marketaki 12:45

FEELS LIKE HOME

Gábor Holtai

Hungary 2025, 124’

ON-SITE 8/11 Marketaki 21:30, 9/11 Marketaki 16:00

Χάνα Γιούσιτς

Σλοβενία Croatia, Italy, Romania, Greece, France, Slovenia 2025, 137’ Στη δεύτερη

Χάνα Γιούσιτς δημιουργεί ένα ιστορικό

δράμα που διαδραματίζεται στις ορεινές περιοχές της Κροατίας των αρχών του 20ού αιώνα. Μια Χιλιανή γυναίκα, η Τερέσα, φτάνει ξαφνικά

είναι η χήρα του μεγαλύτερου αδερφού τους, του Μάρκο,

rector Hana Jušić crafts a brooding period drama set in the early 20th-century highlands of Croatia. A Chilean woman, Teresa, suddenly arrives in a remote shepherding family, claiming to be the widow of their eldest brother, Marko, who emigrated years before. Speaking only Spanish, she faces suspicion and silence while trying to integrate into the family’s daily rhythms, where buried traumas, and visions of the dead quietly surface. With its rigorous pacing and evocative atmosphere, Jušić’s film is a striking exploration of belonging, communication barriers put by religion, language, and manly devices, and the uneasy encounter between tradition and otherness.

ON-SITE 3/11 Marketaki 18:15, 4/11 Tornes 12:00

IN THE LAND OF ARTO

Tamara Stepanyan

France, Armenia 2025, 105’

Céline travels to rural Armenia in search of her late husband’s paper trail in his native village, after his suicide, so that their children, who live with her in France, may obtain his Armenian citizenship. Her journey will lead her to the heart of a country amidst an ongoing armed conflict, where she will be confronted by well-kept secrets, long buried in the past.

Tamara Stepanyan’s film, screened at Piazza Grande for the opening ceremony of this year’s Locarno Film Festival, employs the familiar

trope of the clueless Westerner thrust outside their comfort zone and to the transference from personal trauma to collective wound, only to unveil, in a very subtle and cinematically eloquent manner, the truths of the too recent conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Camille Cottin and Zar Amir Ebrahimi reaffirm their status as two of the most compelling actresses in global arthouse at present, while Denis Lavant features in one of this year’s most unexpected cameos.

ON-SITE 2/11 Marketaki 19:00, 3/11 Liappa 13:45

THE LAST ONE FOR THE ROAD

Francesco Sossai

Italy, Germany 2025, 100’

A soulful, bittersweet fable that drifts through the foggy landscapes of Veneto, soaked in retro warmth, quiet melancholy, wry humor, and nostalgic charm. The Last One for the Road follows two middle-aged men, Carlobianchi and Doriano, bound by the ritual of a final drink. Their days unfold bar to bar, glass to glass, story to story until they pick up Giulio, a shy architecture student, and take him along on their wandering, woozy pilgrimage. Daringly shot on film stock with a “back seat” state of mind, this homage to the golden years of Commedia all’italiana introduces us to a larger-than-life holy trinity. Enjoy it responsibly, sip by sip, and with an eye for what wrongly seems still half-empty.

ON-SITE 31/10 Tornes 17:00, 2/11 Marketaki 13:00

LIFE IN A BEAT Αμέρισσα

Amerissa Basta

Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Montenegro, France 2025, 93’

ROQIA

France, Algeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia 2025, 94’

και απειλητικά γεγονότα

συσσωρεύονται, ο άνδρας υποπτεύεται

Lena is a 20-year-old woman who lives in Athens, works at a local supermarket, and lives with her family. As their home is poor, always messy, and full of tension, she wants to move out and start a life of her own.

Everything changes for Lena when she gets fired from her job and, at the same time, she finds out that she is pregnant.

ON-SITE 5/11 Cassavetes 22:00, 7/11 Cassavetes 13:00

NOVAK

Harry Lagoussis

Greece, Switzerland 2025, 110’

Dr. Novak, a former Croatian neuroscientist, lives closed off from the world in the heart of Athens, haunted by a mysterious past. When a group of idealistic young scientists revive his forgotten work, he is drawn into their collective, driven by a bold mission to live in a world shielded from the unseen forces of electromagnetic pollution.

ON-SITE 7/11 Cassavetes 22:00, 9/11 Cassavetes 16:00 ONLINE 8–9/11

After a car crash, a man returns home to his family with his face covered in bandages and suffering from amnesia. His youngest son fears him and cannot recognize him any longer, while a voice in his head haunts him, repeating words in an unknown tongue. As mysterious and threatening events accumulate, the man begins to suspect he is possessed. Adopting an unexpected approach to the exorcism-themed horror subgenre, this captivating, intensely evocative debut with its intricate storytelling reminds us that Evil is often shrouded where we rarely look; within our innermost selves. Maintaining an impressive balance between psychological thriller and family drama in tone, Roqia develops its eerie allegory about the daemons of –religious and ideological – fanaticism, who devour defenseless souls, in order to address one of the darkest pages in the history of contemporary Algeria. Simultaneously, the question arises; what carries greater weight in shaping our sense of self, actions, or memories?

ON-SITE 4/11 Marketaki 18:30, 5/11 Marketaki 13:00

SMARAGDA – I GOT THICK SKIN AND I CAN’T JUMP

Emilios Avraam Κύπρος Cyprus 2024, 99’

Smaragda is broke, lovelorn, and stuck in the past—with only a guide dog for company. Desperate for change, she dives into the chaotic world of social media while reluctantly working as a children’s entertainer at a tourist resort, encountering both fame and backlash as she embarks on a journey of self-discovery.

ON-SITE 31/10 Cassavetes 22:00, 1/11 Cassavetes 13:00 ONLINE 1–9/11

SWEETHEART ΓΛΥΚΟ

Spampinato

Ιταλία Italy 2025, 93’

Young Nico leaves the big city for a short while, along with the comforts afforded to him by technology, and goes to Sicily for the summer, to stay at his aunt’s house: a devout woman, who lives in an old house, spending her days with friends her own age and their insignificant yet sweet everyday life. Adapting is, at first, quite difficult and fraught with tension, akin to a case study on the so-called “generation gap.” But gradually, shared experiences and budding emotions bridge the disconnect, showcasing the singular beauty of each unforeseen bond. A delicate debut, brimming with pure emotion, that masterfully intertwines vast and inexhaustible themes such as family, a child’s psyche, and the transition to different cultures. The aunt’s traditional, nearly mythical world collides with the fast and cynical rhythm of a child growing up in contemporary times, creating fertile ground for comparison and emotional connection. Claudio Cofrancesco’s cinematography enhances the film’s otherworldly and almost spiritual atmosphere, illuminating the exquisite performances of a fresh cast in the warm Mediterranean light, while the editing – signed by the director herself –maintains a balance between meditative and vibrant, with the characters’ interactions adding depth and momentum to the narrative.

ON-SITE 7/11 Marketaki 19:00, 8/11 Marketaki 13:00 ONLINE 8–9/11

Film Forward International Competition

1001 FRAMES

ΧΙΛΙΑ

Mehrnoush Alia ΗΠΑ, Ιράν USA, Iran 2025, 87’

μετά το διαζύγιο. Όσο περνά η ώρα, ο σκηνοθέτης, τον οποίο

of the country’s most illustrious male directors. Serving as an excellent commentary on the inherently authoritarian relationship between a filmmaker and an actor, the recurring roles Iranian women are forced to play, and the oppression they endure even within artistic circles that are, theoretically, more progressive, the film delivers an emotional crescendo and a cathartic plot twist that will stay with you long after the end credits.

ON-SITE 5/11 Tornes 17:00, 6/11 Zannas 13:00 ONLINE 6–9/11

AGON

ΑΓΩΝ

Giulio Bertelli

Italy, United States, France 2025, 100’

ιδρυμάτων και των θεατών; Το

παρακολουθεί τρεις αθλήτριες του τζούντο, της ξιφασκίας και της σκοποβολής, καθώς προετοιμάζονται για

τους πλασματικούς Αγώνες Ludoj 2024. Ο

σκηνοθέτης συνδυάζει την αμεσότητα της

ντοκιμαντερίστικης παρατήρησης με στιλιζαρισμένες, ψηφιακά βελτιωμένες σκηνές, σε μια μίξη που ο ίδιος ορίζει ως «τεχνορεαλισμό». Δημιουργεί έτσι ένα αγωνιώδες και

συναρπαστικό

An acclaimed Iranian filmmaker holds a casting call for the role of Scheherazade in a new film adaptation of One Thousand and One Nights – the most renowned Arabian collection in the Western world. The actresses auditioning for the role parade in front of the camera lens, along with his ex-wife, whose career went up in flames after the divorce. As time goes by, the filmmaker, a figure we never get to see, becomes increasingly coercive, gradually unveiling his true intentions. Filmed without a permit in Iran and with a non-professional cast, the feature debut of the Iranian-American filmmaker Mehrnoush Alia is an innovative mockumentary of experimental form, emerging in the aftermath of the #MeToo movement and the recent plagiarism accusations against some

How do athletes construct and present themselves under the gaze of coaches, institutions, and imagined spectators? Agon tracks three women athletes, specialists in judo, fencing, and shooting, as they prepare for the fictional Ludoj 2024 Games. The director combines the immediacy of documentary observation with stylized, digitally enhanced sequences that he defines as “techno realism”. Thus, he creates an unsettling yet captivating portrait of competition, where physical discipline collides with doubt, sacrifice, and fragile identity.

ON-SITE 3/11 Liappa 16:45, 4/11 Marketaki 13:00

Spain, France 2025, 75’

No shooting location in the history of cinema has ever been so idyllic yet simultaneously so menacing, or so laden with symbolism and subtle social critique, as a swimming pool.

This is the inexhaustible reservoir from which Balearic’s unique energy springs forth, propelled by a sequence straight out of a horror film: a group of photogenic teens from working-class families slip into an abandoned villa, swim in the pool, and descend into delirium when rabid hunting dogs attack them and maul an unsuspecting young girl. A violent cut transports us to a water-themed cocktail party of a wealthy Spanish family, unfolding with a subdued yet inexplicable metaphysical tension, while a forest a few miles away is engulfed in flames. Casting a sideways glance at Ruben Östlund's cinema, Lucrecia Martel's debut, and Luis Buñuel's The Exterminating Angel, this remarkable film invites us to dive into a narrative world that at first seems strictly de-

fined, yet gradually reveals itself as boundless, akin to a portal leading to another dimension. Transcending the confines of a parable, a class critique, and pure entertainment, Balearic welcomes us into its own cinematic universe.

ON-SITE 3/11 Marketaki 21:30, 4/11 Liappa 14:15

BARRIO TRISTE

Stillz

Κολομβία, ΗΠΑ Colombia, USA 2025, 89’

Ο Stillz, η

Bad Bunny

Stillz, the enigmatic figure behind the music videos of some of the biggest artists in the music industry, such as Bad Bunny and Rosalía, makes a powerful transition to cinema with a DIY-textured feature debut of hallucinatory intensity that uniquely blends found footage with sci-fi elements and a (doomed from the very start) coming of age theme. Set in Medellín in the late 1980s, a group of teen outcasts snatches a camera from a news reporter as he relays residents' testimonies about the appearance of some peculiar flashes of light in the sky. From that moment on, they relentlessly document their lives in the favela, and the violent predicaments they become entangled in. In brief interludes, we see them struggling to find the words to articulate their feelings or their experiences in one-on-one moments with the camera, which

feel more like confessions than interrogations. Enhanced by Arca's psychedelic musical touch and produced by Harmony Korine, the psychotropic and profoundly evocative Barrio Triste insists on searching for hope in the most unexpected of places. And it transmits its signal from the VHS analog era straight into the heart of the digital age.

ON-SITE 7/11 Marketaki 22:00, 8/11 Tornes 23:00

BEFORE / AFTER

Manoël Dupont

Two thirty-year-old loners discover, following a chance encounter, their shared desire to see their reflections in the mirror differently and decide to embark on a journey together from Belgium to Istanbul (in the days after Erdogan's recent re-election) to undergo hair transplant procedures. Medical tourism meets reincarnation, and ultimately the need for communication and connection between two young men who simply wish to feel good about themselves again. On the way, they develop a fleeting yet tender (b)romance, in Manoël Dupont's original, unclassified feature debut. Imbued with a strange beauty through its simplicity and its premise, which is entirely unsuitable for cinema, the film tests, among others, the line between fiction and its documentary-like texture as it puts its two amateur

protagonists through the actual aesthetic procedure. Winner of a Special Mention at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

ON-SITE 6/11 Zannas 19:15, 7/11 Tornes 14:00 ONLINE 7–9/11

THE CHRONOLOGY OF WATER

Γαλλία,

France, Latvia, USA 2025, 128’

πίσω από την κάμερα για

να ζωντανέψει –με όλη τη σημασία

Σε αυτά, η Αμερικανίδα

την παραβιασμένη αυτονομία του, την υπόσταση ενός θρυμματισμένου εαυτού

που δεν χάνει την πίστη και τον τρόπο

In The Chronology of Water, Kristen Stewart steps behind the camera to bring to life – in every sense of the word – Lidia Yuknavitch’s eponymous memoirs. In the books, the American writer spoke out about her abusive father, her trauma, and all that it eclipsed, but above all, how she managed to navigate life despite everything. The film’s integral component, water – both timeless and fleeting – is loaded with symbolic connotations by everything Yuknavitch saw reflected in its surface ever since she was a child and a promising swimmer. Propelled by Imogen Poots’ pivotal appearance in the lead role and by a narrative approach serving as a series of associations that give tone and form to the

heroine’s experience, everything culminates here in a subjective dimension of truth spouting from the screen. A mature and relevant directorial debut, a cinematic experience about the body and its violated autonomy, about the essence of a fractured self that never loses faith and always finds a way to strike back, while casting a universal gaze upon women and the feminine at large, irrespective of age.

ON-SITE 5/11 Marketaki 21:30, 6/11 Cassavetes 11:00

DON’T LET THE SUN

ΜΗΝ ΑΦΗΝΕΙΣ

Ζακλίν Τσουντ Jacqueline Zünd

Ελβετία, Ιταλία Switzerland, Italy 2025, 98’

Μια καθηλωτική, δυστοπική ιστορία, που δι-

αδραματίζεται

A hauntingly intimate story set in a desolate, futuristic city with no name. As the sun’s relentless heat drives people to live only by night, isolation deepens, echoing both the solitude of pandemic lockdowns and the climate catastrophes saturating today’s headlines. Within this uncanny world, Jonah works for an agency that provides surrogate relationships, offering comfort to strangers who crave human connection. When he is asked to act as a father for nine-year-old Nika, his carefully maintained life begins to unravel. Through sparse dialogue, luminous nightscapes, and a delicate balance of realism and allegory, Zünd explores the fragility of human bonds and the possibility of hope in an otherwise downbeat world.

ON-SITE 1/11 Zannas 16:00, 2/11 Tornes 12:00

ONLINE 2–9/11

FEMALE

Menelaou

Ελλάδα Greece 2025, 81’

Konstantinos

Alice was an iconic figure in Greek film and theater, an enigmatic pop culture phenomenon, a woman trapped between her public image and her personal reality. Through a multifaceted approach, the film unveils the truth behind her meticulously constructed persona, while exploring the contradictions and social dynamics that shaped her journey.

ON-SITE 31/10 Zannas 22:00, 1/11 Tornes 12:00 ONLINE 1–9/11

KINGDOM

ΒΑΣΙΛΕΙΟ

Πολωνία

Michał Ciechomski

“Now what’s going to happen to us without barbarians? / Those people were a kind of solution.”: The final verses of C. P. Cavafy’s emblematic poem launch the cinematic debut of a sensational new talent from Central Europe. In the melancholic territory of the Kingdom, the ties between two brothers are put to the test as the noose of war tightens around their family. The eldest son is fired by one of the few remaining corporations in the deserted land, while the youngest joins the ranks of a paramilitary organization dedicated to protecting the territory from the enemy - whoever that may be. But the younger brother is injured, and as such, the firstborn takes his place within this small, radicalized society that abides by the rule of a charismatic leader, and ends up experiencing an unfamiliar sense of purpose, even though he claims “there is no future.” Akin to a cyberpunk rendition of a painting by Hieronymus Bosch, or a biblical tale we learn to read anew with a different alphabet, or an addictive, explosive industrial song we dance to until the end of History; this remarkable thriller seeks new visual and narrative ways to address fanaticism, violence, masculinity, bigotry, and the sense of futility experienced by an entire generation.

ON-SITE 2/11 Liappa 17:00, 3/11 Zannas 13:00 ONLINE 3–9/11

LAST NIGHT I CONQUERED THE CITY OF THEBES

Spain, Portugal 2025, 111’

Once submerged beneath a reservoir, the Roman baths of Bande have reappeared, drawing visitors eager to witness this rare revelation of history. By day, the site is crowded with onlookers, but by night it becomes a threshold where longing, affection, and the traces of the past converge. A group of Portuguese friends crosses the border into Spain to wander through the ruins. As they trek across fields and marshes, their conversation drifts from playful banter to the war games they play online, where ancient battles unfold across digital landscapes. Later, António and Jota slip into the hot waters beneath the stars, carried by the visceral intimacy of late-night talk. The boundary between past and present erodes, and Roman soldiers Aurelius and Pompey drift into view. In the steam and twilight, the voices of the living mingle with the echoes of the dead, gestures stretch into confessions, fears long held in silence are spoken aloud, and attraction hovers at the edge of touch. A nocturnal lyrical poem, a meditation on male intimacy, vulnerability, and desire, tender and unguarded, where myth and memory entwine and time seems to dissolve.

ON-SITE 4/11 Liappa 19:15, 5/11 Liappa 11:00

A troubled young woman, an artist and a painter, gives birth to a deformed infant, following an unwanted pregnancy forced upon her. She now has to come in terms with herself, living in two parallel realities.

ON-SITE 5/11 Zannas 22:00, 7/11 Cassavetes 16:00 ONLINE 6–9/11

ZEALOTIS

Film Forward Special Screenings

THE LAKE

Fabrice Aragno

Ελβετία Switzerland 2025, 80’

A woman and a man set out on a five-day sailing race across a large lake. As they navigate its shifting waters, the competition transforms into an elemental confrontation; with nature, with one another, and with themselves. They long to reach the opposite shore, yet remain suspended between movement and stillness, absence and presence. Fabrice Aragno, longtime collaborator of Jean-Luc Godard, gets inspired by artworks

Iosif and Vicky go to his parents’ house to clean it up. In the outdoor space, they find Antonis, with whom Iosif develops a friendly but also tense relationship.

ON-SITE 8/11 Zannas 22:00, 9/11 Cassavetes 19:00

ONLINE 8–9/11

that uniquely depict Geneva’s Lake and treats the breathtaking landscape as the third character of the film, by contrasting its grandeur with the emotions it stirs within.

ON-SITE 1/11 Tornes 20:00

LITTLE, BIG, AND FAR

ΜΙΚΡΟ,

Τζεμ

Αυστρία, ΗΠΑ Austria, USA 2024, 122’

Jem Cohen’s epistolary and associative docufiction is an ode to science and streetcorner stargazing that is haunted by the extinction anxieties of an Anthropocene age. Austrian astronomer Karl is at a crossroads in his life and work. He finds his physicist wife growing distant and his job being reshaped by environmental crises as thoughts about science, fascism, and his grandson’s future spin above his head. After attending a conference in Greece, Karl decides not to return home and heads for a small island in hopes of finding a dark enough sky to reconnect with the stars. Abandoned at a remote mountain trail, he ascends and waits for darkness to fall. A film that combines the urge of a meteorite with the unorthodox, long-term, low-budget production strategies of this significant figure of American independent cinema, dives into the cosmic to explore the most minuscule facets of human and non-human existence.

ON-SITE 3/11 Makedonikon 23:00 ONLINE 30/10–9/11

MACDO

Ρακορνέλια Racornelia

Μεξικό, Ελλάδα Mexico, Greece 2025, 118’

To MACDO

home movie aesthetics to deliver a sharp exploration of family power dynamics and the mechanisms of domination within a household. Evoking a Christmas Eve in late 1990s Mexico City, the film unveils the hidden tensions beneath a seemingly warm gathering, revealing how proximity and affection often mask control.

ON-SITE 4/11 Makedonikon 20:00

MARE’S NEST

Μπεν Ρίβερς Ben Rivers Ηνωμένο

UK, France, Canada 2025, 98’ Ένα

MACDO draws from both telenovela and

εφορμά σε νέα, απάτητα πεδία αφηγηματι-

κής αναζήτησης. Με κεντρικό άξονα/πυρήνα

τη σαγηνευτική ερμηνεία της πρωτοεμφα-

νοζόμενης Μουν Γκούο Μπάρκερ, αυτή η

αινιγματική και χαμαιλεοντική ταινία δρόμου

αποκρυσταλλώνει επιπλέον την υποβλητι-

κή ματιά του Ρίβερς στον φυσικό κόσμο,

όπως αυτός αποκαλύπτεται μέσα από μια σειρά σκηνών, πότε διασκεδαστικών, πότε ανησυχαστικών και

A child emerges from a crashed car and picks up a turtle to whom no less than the origin of humanity is explained during an extended walk-and-talk set against a gorgeous sunset. This child is Moon, who wanders a post-apocalyptic world conspicuously devoid of adults, a mystery the movie never answers. The latest feature by Ben Rivers deepens the filmmaker’s longstanding preoccupations (freedom and utopia, alternative existences and imagined futures). Anchored by newcomer Moon Guo Barker’s magnetic performance, this enigmatic, ever-shifting road movie is also a showcase for Rivers’s awe-inspiring view of the natural world, in-

habited by his charismatic young actors across a panoply of sequences – some amusing, some unnerving, and in the case of a Don DeLillo adaptation, both.

Screening in collaboration with Athens Avant Garde Film Festival

ON-SITE 1/11 Tornes 17:00

MEMORY OF PRINCESS MUMBI Η

Ντάμιεν

Damien Hauser

Kenya, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia 2025, 79’

2094 ένας

In 2094, an aspiring filmmaker, Kuve, films a documentary on the Great War of the 2070s, which entirely erased modern technology and revived kingdoms. Expecting to find despair and desperation in Umata, he is surprised to discover a village that has found peace. There, he meets Mumbi, a girl who wishes to become an actress, and falls for her. But Mumbi is destined to marry a prince. A visually stunning and formally adventurous amalgamation of fantasy, sci-fi, sociopolitical allegory, and romantic drama, the wonderful Memory of Princess

Mumbi is a bittersweet ode to the power of storytelling, of fables, of dreams. A heartfelt homage to cinema itself, and to the passion of creation (here, the filmmaker is also in charge of the script, editing, cinematography, and even the costumes!) which, through his enchanting frames, the power of imagination and his continually inventive cinematic language, celebrates the human ability of turning memory (and suffering) into an inexhaustible source of beauty.

ON-SITE 31/10 Makedonikon 23:00

PARTITION

ΔΙΧΟΤΟΜΗΣΗ

Diana Allan

Lebanon, Palestine, Canada 2025, 61’

Partition fuses archival footage from the British occupation of Palestine with audio recordings of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, tracing lines of continuity left by seismic displacement. Silent films gathered in imperial collections hold histories that have barely been told, and ways of colonial seeing that seep into the present; Partition uses dialectical montage and asynchronous sound to examine both. Recovering Palestinian presence through story, voice and song, unraveling colonial pasts through soundscapes of the precarious present, Partition is a meditation on what bodies remember and empires forget.

ON-SITE 31/10 Makedonikon 15:00

Immersive – All Around Cinema

THE EXPLODING GIRL

ΤΟ

Caroline Poggi, Jonathan Vinel

Γαλλία,

For the past three months, Candice has been exploding every day. Sometimes even two or three times a day. Her record is seven times. She currently has 192 explosions. Through a visceral VR spectacle, a visionary directorial duo from France portrays Candice’s unstoppable anger as a haunting reflection of a world on edge; an experience that captures the anger of an entire generation facing helplessness and collapse, while pushing the boundaries of cinematic language and emotional immersion.

ON-SITE 30/10–9/11 WAREHOUSE C 13:00–21:00

THE GATE

Anisha Cornips

Germany

In a ruined and forgotten landscape, two border outposts are separated by a creaking gate. After countless years of loneliness, the old and nihilistic watchman Hugo is taken by surprise by the arrival of the young and disciplined Didot on the other side of the border. Will the dark past repeat itself? A whimsical, mesmerising glimpse of the dark European past with a new vision, immersing us in the cinematic world of German expressionism.

ON-SITE 30/10–9/11 WAREHOUSE C 13:00–21:00

THE GREAT ESCAPE

Joren Vandenbroucke

Βέλγιο

στο σπίτι του Πάτρικ, λαχταρώντας τον έξω κόσμο, ενώ εκείνος παραμένει παγιδευμένος στη ρουτίνα. Όταν κλέβουν το καινούργιο του smartphone και

τον παρασύρουν σε μια ανταλλαγή φυτών, έρχεται επιτέλους η ελευθερία. Μαζί της καταφθάνουν

In The Great Escape, three bored geraniums sit on Patrick’s windowsill, yearning for the world outside while he remains trapped in routine. When they steal his new smartphone and lure a plant swap, freedom finally comes. But so do harsh truths, an existential crisis, and a surprising new home.

ON-SITE 30/10–9/11 WAREHOUSE C 13:00–21:00

LICHTUNG

Άρια Βολφ Aria Wolf Γερμανία Germany 2025, 9’

You enter a calm yet unfamiliar world, lying dormant as you arrive. As you explore its surroundings, the world gradually opens up, revealing its light. The more you engage with it, the more you become enveloped in a soothing yet lively awakening, full of surprises.

ON-SITE 30/10–9/11 WAREHOUSE C 13:00–21:00

A LONG GOODBYE

Kate Voet, Victor Maes

Belgium, Luxembourg, The Netherlands 2025, 30’

ories and conversations help Ida to rediscover herself. But we also discover Daniel’s struggles, as he hopes to stay connected and realises their remaining time together may be short. A Long Goodbye is a poetic experience about the impact of dementia, but above all it is about love and the long goodbye of two lovers who shared a life together.

ON-SITE 30/10–9/11 WAREHOUSE C 13:00–21:00

THE SAD STORY OF THE LITTLE MOUSE WHO WANTED TO BECOME SOMEBODY

Nicolas Bourniquel

France, Germany, Belgium 2025, 27’

A Long Goodbye tells the story of Ida, a 72-year-old pianist living with dementia. In this animated, interactive VR experience, we walk in Ida’s shoes. We experience a day in her life, as her reality is fading. The apartment, where she spent a lifetime with her beloved husband Daniel, first feels empty and undefined. When we interact with objects and play the tape recordings of her husband, her playful world gradually comes to life, as if drawn in paint before our eyes. Like pieces of a puzzle, mem-

Once upon a time, there was a little mouse who worked relentlessly to achieve a single goal: becoming somebody. Driven only by her ambition, she slowly became mean and arrogant, pushing away everyone else. Until one day, she accepted a job offer from the most prolific toymaker in the world: Santa Claus. The little mouse was about to find out that climbing the corporate ladder was not all that she hoped it would be… The sad story of the little mouse who wanted to become somebody is a biting satire of corporate life in the form of a VR Christmas tale.

ON-SITE 30/10–9/11 WAREHOUSE C 13:00–21:00

SENSE OF NOWHERE

A woman is generating her ideas on the bus until she comes back to the present. Where do we go when we zone out, and how do we return? Sense of Nowhere is a journey from no-where to now-here, blending Taoism, Buddhism, and Jungian imagination. Fragmented sounds and visuals invite the audience to explore the subconscious and slowly find their way back to the present moment.

ON-SITE 30/10–9/11 WAREHOUSE C 13:00–21:00

XIAN’ER (CHINESE IMMORTALS)

XIAN’ER (ΚΙΝΕΖΟΙ

Chinese immortals descend to a glitching, digitally scanned world, competing to inhabit statues that mirror China’s collapsing class mobility, pragmatic faith, and viral worship culture. Each statue reflects a social stratum – from state power to forgotten rural elders. A VR fable where traditional culture collides and coexists with modernity.

ON-SITE 30/10–9/11 WAREHOUSE C 13:00–21:00

POD

Podcast Competition Διαγωνιστικό

AZATHOTH

Kyratzes, Christos Christodoulou

Greece 2025,

To Azathoth Blues

Azathoth Blues is an audio drama inspired by 1970s noir, H.P. Lovecraft, and Paul Auster. It follows three police officers as they investigate a series of mysterious cold cases, only to discover an increasingly surreal web of corruption, decay, and sheer madness.

Marilou Vomvolou, Kostas Vomvolos, Flora Fousteri

Greece 2025,

The interviews with Natassa Papadopoulou-Tzavella, Babis Karapetis (grandson of

Giorgos Batis), and Vangelis Totsis intertwine with poems and prose, weaving a strange tapestry of songs and narratives. This is not a historical overview of rebetiko and political songs. Only small fragments of life or memory, the ones that later come to be called history.

ΤHE CITY’S GHOSTS

Γιάννης Ντεμογιάννης Giannis Demogiannis

Ελλάδα Greece 2025, 30΄

Οι

ώστε

πόλη,

As the narrator wanders through a temporally multilayered Thessaloniki, he is led to reconsider his relationship with the city, with time, with belonging, with love, and ultimately with himself.

ΜΗ

DON’T WHISTLE THROUGH THE NIGHT

Τάσος Θεοφιλάτος Tasos Theofilatos

Greece 2025, 24΄

I long for a world that no longer exists. They say that if you whistle through the night, you summon the spirits, but who said they are always wicked?

ΕΚΔΟΧΕΣ – ΗΧΩ ΤΟΥ ΕΑΥΤΟΥ ENTITIES – ECHOES OF SELF Πρόδρομος

Prodromos Tarasis

Greece 2025, 21΄

burger, ξυράφι,

Six figures live in repetitions. Symbolic objects: burger, razor, fan, violin, wardrobe, door. Daily amulets of their wounds, mirrors of childhood cracks, social burdens. Everything they touch speaks of what was never said.

An almost illiterate woman publishes her autobiography at 90. She’s my grandma Eleni, resisting the passing of time with curiosity, directness, and humor. An audio documentary about how I owe her my stories, and about our need to narrate, to understand, and to love.

Evangelos Makris, Panos Apokoritis

Ελλάδα Greece 2025, 30΄

The podcast A Guy from Tyrnavos narrates the work of Thanasis Papakonstantinou, with stories and songs through the voices of people who have accompanied him artistically, from the beginning of his journey to this today.

ΑΫΠΝΙΑ (ΣΕ ΕΞΙ ΜΕΡΗ)

INSOMNIA (IN SIX MOVEMENTS)

Νεφέλη

Nefeli Livieratou Ελλάδα Greece 2025, 21΄

A sound recording, unclear whether it belongs to the future or the past, describes the events that led to the end of the world, as experienced by the narrator; a recorded letter addressed to someone close to her, in a last attempt to reach them.

THE LIVES OF OTHERS – WAKE UP, MAN! IT’S A DICTATORSHIP. Βασίλης

Vasilis Zampikos

Ελλάδα Greece, 2025, 29΄

An audio documentary about the life of Yannis Kaounis, a member of the Student Organization of the Democratic Youth of Lambrakis and a founding member of the organization Rigas Feraios. A journey from his childhood to his student years, his anti-junta activism, imprisonment, and torture.

In contrast to the harmonious society of cicadas, people sink deeper into isolation. The creator wanders through Kokkinia, Ilia, Epidaurus, and Mani, seeking the wisdom of four women at the peak of their lives. Their stories hold solitude, strength, and temperament – just like the summer of the cicadas.

ΧΡΩΜΑΤΟΠΟΛΕΜΟΣ WARFETTI

Νάλια Ζήκου Nalia Ziku

Ελλάδα Greece 2025, 24΄

Christos Georgoudakis Ελλάδα Greece 2025, 26΄

Merkos Psipsikas lived before online streaming, when a love for music would send you on an endless hunt from record store to record store. His enormous collection of 9,500 vinyl records was inherited by the Public Central Library of Veria, which strives to keep it relevant in today’s digital age.

Two women, one younger, one older, unfold a shared story through carnival parades, secret desires, grief, and love. In a small town, bodies remember, ache, celebrate, and rename the world from scratch, on their own terms, in their own language.

ΟΣΑ

WHAT LIES WITHIN THE PAGES:

“THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME”

Πέτρος Σαββαΐδης Petros Savvaidis

Ελλάδα Greece 2025, 30΄

Ένα

Greece 2025,

A dog is found dead. A teenager sets out to solve the mystery. This story becomes a journey of understanding. What Lies Within the Pages podcast adapts The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time with immersive narration, bringing neurodiversity to the forefront and highlighting the unique value of every human story.

ΤΟ ΨΩΜΙ THE BREAD

Ελένη Ντάντζελο, Αλεξάνδρα Θεοδωράκη

(συνδημιουργός),

(συνδημιουργός) Eleni Ntantzelo, Alexandra

Theodoraki (co-creator), Dimitris Sakalis

Ελλάδα Greece 2025, 29΄ Ένας

A young man, struggling financially, decides to leave Athens and spend his summer holidays in his village. How can a bread and a red bicycle turn out to be enough to trouble him and change him? A fiction podcast inspired by stories from Zevgolatio, Serres.

ΤΟ

THE CAFÉ OF YOUR HEART

Άρτεμις Γαβριηλίδου Artemis Gavriilidou

Ελλάδα Greece 2025, 20΄

Ένα προσωπικό, ονειρικό επεισόδιο

A personal, dreamlike episode that invites listeners to explore “The Café of Your Heart.” Through storytelling and vivid imagery, it creates a space of inspiration and self-discovery, where coffee becomes a metaphor for dreams, connections, love, and the essence of human connection.

THE CITY: REVOLUTION

Bίκι

Price, Marcus Brown

The UK Government has centralised resources and walled off the City of London. Behind the walls is everything: power, privilege, safety. Outside, people fend for themselves in a nation without infrastructure, electricity, or technology. Can a band of rebellious inventors break through the city walls and reset the balance?

COLD WAVES

Ιόλη

Ioli Apostolou, Evgenia, Maria Kalliontzi, Dimitris Kouvaras, Despina Pilou, Irena Popova, in collaboration with Arghyro Paouri

Ελλάδα Greece 2025,

In this brief episode, we explore the intertwined top-down and bottom-up power dynamic of radio during the broadly defined period of the Cold War, focusing on radio emissions broadcast in Greek.

ΜΕΡΑ ΜΗΔΕΝ DAY ZERO

Antigoni Iliadi

Day Zero is the sound the world makes when it fractures. When it turns into an inhospitable tunnel, with no obvious exit. An alien being visits Earth in the distant future, when it has been deserted. It explores a fragment of it and walks around until it discovers some old radio recordings. It tries to mimic human intelligence, to understand the world that has been lost, but finds nothing standing, nothing alive. The planet has been ravaged; life has almost vanished, leaving only fragments behind, scattered remnants, traces of what once existed. Through this short wander, it realizes what was always missing: peace. Disheartened, it vanishes back into the universe, unable to communicate with nature, leaving behind a silence that screams the absence. When time ceases to exist, then the day is zero.

The podcast Diplomatic Bag by Kostis Tsiachas is based on texts collected by the French diplomat Catherine Bernard Rissien. Lost since 2012 on Mount Hallasan, she left behind handwritten testimonies. Inside the bag, four stories are uncovered: a journey through Thessaly, a confession from Lebanon, a dreamlike encounter on the Oder River, and an allegory from Uruguay. All reflect the passage between radiance and shadow – the place where the truest stories are born.

ECLIPSE OF THE HUMAN

Fassois

Theodora Tsakiridi, Georgios Kamtziridis

Ελλάδα Greece 2025, 21΄

Time, Cronus, who devours his children. We travel with him, from Einstein’s perception and the muons to the critical perspective of the Indigenous peoples on modern Western man. What is artificial intelligence’s view on its passage and on humanity’s existential questions? What are we, in the end? Let us leave it to the poets to speak!

The life that comes and the life that will go, words that appear revealingly, experiences that testify to my gaze, small bloody lines, syllables lost in the dust of time that governs them. The eclipse of people also means the absence of bodies. It is the time when the Guardians of the self come.

COFFIN HOMES,

THE EMPIRE OF ONE SQUARE METER: COFFIN HOMES, WHERE PEOPLE LEARNED TO LIVE HUNCHED

(Tsolimon)

Rafaela Martinez, Konstantinos Papantonis, Nikos Tsolis (Tsolimon)

Greece 2025,

A podcast about the Coffin Homes of Hong Kong, tracing the trajectory from the Opium War to today’s housing crisis. It highlights how poverty was reframed in aesthetic terms and transformed from design into a way of life. A phenomenon now re-emerging in the urban fabric of Europe and Greece.

ΨΑΡΟΪΣΤΟΡΙΕΣ:

FISH STORIES; THE SEA OF ALEXANDROUPOLIS

Χρυσούλα

Chrysoula Kontaraki

Ελλάδα Greece 2025, 24΄

Fishermen of Alexandroupoli and their relatives recount to a fisherman’s granddaughter how they once lived with their boats, the nets, and the sea, and how much the city and their work have changed. Today, with the depletion of fish stocks, the profession is in decline; the few who remain keep memories and tradition alive.

ΑΠΟ ΤΟΝ

FROM SEPARATION TO ORGASM

Αλεξάνδρα

Alexandra Pagiataki

Greece 2025, 22΄

A personal audio journey through pain, betrayal, and self-rediscovery. From the shock of separation and emotional abuse to the strength of healing and new beginnings. A podcast about courage, love, and the beauty of life reborn.

On a quiet afternoon, in his famous Garden, the great Greek philosopher Epicurus converses with friends and develops his philosophy on the dominant fears that torment man and the possibility of liberation from them. An interesting discussion that reveals how timely, useful, and subversive Epicurean reflections remain.

WAS TRULY THERE

Mediha Didem Türemen

Τουρκία Turkey 2025, 20΄

A journey following memory: from Icarus’ wings to binding the Sun at Machu Picchu, from watching Earthrise on the Moon to wondering about truly being there. Through a timeless narrative, curiosity, and exploration, the podcast traces mythology and art, connecting childhood dreams to today while looking at the planet anew.

I WILL DIE ON THE HOTTEST DAY OF THE YEAR ALONE AND THE LAST PERSON I WILL THINK ABOUT WILL BE ANDREAS

PAPANDREOU

Maria Apostolakea

Greece 2025, 21΄

In the midst of a merciless heat wave, Andreas Papandreou makes a woman reminisce about the time when he was still alive. Or maybe not. But maybe a little bit.

LANDSCAPES

Lykourgos Porfyris

Greece-Norway 2023, 22΄

των έργων Songs of Chaos και Landscape Unaccessible ώστε να μπορούν να προβληθούν ως πόντκαστ.

Landscapes Unaccessible: The Podcast consists of spoken-word soundscapes. Porfyris contemplates landscapes, finding alternative ways to comment on issues of accessibility, hierarchy, and power structures. The work is a modified version of the pieces Songs of Chaos and Landscape Unaccessible, adapted so they can be presented as a podcast.

ΖΩΗ ΣΑΝ ΣΚΑΘΑΡΙ LIFE AS A BEATLE

Αλέξανδρος

Alexandros Diamantis Balaskas, Dominikos Diamantis Balaskas, Nikos Kamtsis, Ourania Gagastathi, Michalis Schinoplokakis

Ελλάδα Greece 2025, 22΄

Ζωή σαν σκαθάρι. Όχι, δεν αναφερόμαστε

στη ζωή των συμπαθέστατων εντόμων που ανήκουν στην οικογένεια των κολεοπτέ-

ρων. Αλλά στη ζωή τη δική μας. Μοναξιά, έρωτας, θάνατος,

THE MAN WHO SOWED HOPE Γιώργος

Giorgos Evgenikos Ελλάδα Greece 2025,

Life as a beetle. No, we are not referring to the life of these charming insects belonging to the Coleoptera family. But to our own lives. Loneliness, love, death, loss, liberation, alienation, optimism, despair, and optimism again. Lyrics and sounds that accompany and describe moments of our lives. The words and music of the Beatles. Five different moments, five different stories inspired by the lyrics of the Beatles that describe our lives.

The man who sowed hope and saved more lives than anyone else in history, believed a single seed could change the world. Norman Borlaug gave bread and hope to millions, showing that for peace to exist, we must cultivate justice for security and fields to provide food for all.

MYTHPLAYS: TALES OF GODS & MORTALS

MythPlays: Tales of Gods & Mortals

The story of Prometheus comes alive through narration and music. From the Titanomachy to his punishment and liberation by Hercules, MythPlays: Tales of Gods & Mortals reimagines ancient myths in the style of radio theatre.

The impending death of one of the participants’ father finds a group of men delving into issues such as fear, success, age, and emotional expression. The General is gone... but how many generals are there within us?

NUCLEAR POWER NAP

Ιωάννα

Ioanna Lioutsia, Panos Tsamouras

Ελλάδα Greece 2025, 21΄ Μια

A journey into the depths of coveted SLEEP. Like in dreams, sounds and words interweave, forming – at times – seemingly strange combinations. What happens within and around us during this most personal hour? What power might Sleep hold? Ultimately, who wants to sleep our Sleep?

Erisychthon, king of Hubris, destroyer of the sacred forest, is lost by his own hands, while Sebastião Salgado, the man who planted trees, creates the sacred forest in the Valley of Sweet Water. The two sides of human nature, destruction and creation. Hubris and reverence.

SPARTAMERIKA

Ντάνης

Dannis Koromilas

POLITICAL SONGS – WOLF BIERMANN & THANOS MIKROUTSIKOS

Katerina Zachu

Greece 2025,

Spartamerika is a history podcast that explores the leadership and character of 13 American Presidents who led the U.S. into war or steered it away from it. We examine how the Athenian ideals of Democracy have, over the last 25 year,s turned to gaze at the Ancient Spartan code of ethics. The podcast opens in 1945 at the beginning of the Cold War, and culminates in the staggering comeback to power for President Trump.

The transition to democracy in Greece after the dictatorship (1967-1974) and the political songs. “The earth will turn red anyway”; unlikely collaborations at a time when everyone hoped that fascism was over and art would change the world. From Loizos and Kilaidonis to Theodorakis and Bakalakos. A West German troubadour — years before changing his political beliefs — moves to the German Democratic Republic, his songs are set to music by Thanos Mikroutsikos, and sung by Maria Dimitriadi.

SACRED FORESTS

Maria Tsouknaki, Konstantinos Kosta, Michalis Flouris

Greece 2025,

A documentary podcast about the use of technology in old age. It features views on the use of mobile photos, the feelings and doubts associated with them since their first appearance. Children help older people adapt, and

as technology advances, new concerns and expectations arise. Ο

THE TEENAGER WHO READ KANAFANI

Παναγιώτης

Panagiotis Thomas

Greece 2025,

A Palestinian teenager, Amir, recalls memories and fragments of life, holding as talismans a book by Ghassan Kanafani and a dried orange from Jaffa. Amid the ruins of genocide, his personal story transforms into collective memory and political testimony, where life and death meet on the back of a truck.

Omar is 25 years old and lives in Ramallah. One day, Omar finds a photograph. A man wearing a kippah! Omar discovers that scientists have known for years that Jews and Palestinians share common genetic roots! What if DNA wrote history? Would there be any room left for war?

THE TRIAL THAT ATE THE TRUTH

Kleoniki Drougka, Thanasis Bililis

Ελλάδα Greece 2025, 22΄

In a courtroom, the perpetrator is tried for committing violence. The justice system acquits him. The victim is ordered to apologize. In the end, there is a feast, literally. The listener experiences the madness not as a mere spectator, but as a witness who is also part of the problem.

OH Open Horizons

ARIEL

ΑΡΙΕΛ

Λοΐς Πατίνιο Lois Patiño

Ισπανία,

2025, 105’

Μια

Spain, Portugal

BEGINNINGS

ΞΕΚΙΝΗΜΑΤΑ

An Argentinian actress travels to the Azores to participate in Shakespeare’s play The Tempest Upon her arrival on the island, she finds no one from the troupe; there is not even a theater. After encountering Ariel, the air spirit of The Tempest who longs to be freed from its master, Prospero, the actress discovers that the curtain has already risen, the entire island has become a stage, and its inhabitants have morphed into Shakespearean characters. In his fourth feature film, Spanish director Lois Patiño creates a magical universe, where the dreamlike landscapes of the Portuguese Azores play the role of the desert island on which The Tempest is set. The film is a play-within-a-play, a meta-narrative with elements from the theater of the absurd, which derives from the director’s desire to reflect on how and from where, the poetry, humanity and deepness of Shakespeare’s texts can still challenge us today.

ON-SITE 7/11 Zannas 19:00

ONLINE 30/10–9/11

Jeanette Nordahl

Denmark, Sweden, Belgium

2025, 96’ Πέντε

Five years after the astonishing Wildland (61st TIFF), a unique drama that secured distribution in our country during the pandemic, Jeanette Nordahl returns, one more time, to the Scandinavian tradition of the chamber drama, only to revamp it and take it to new heights. Her beacon is the ultimate star of Danish cinema, Trine Dyrholm, known to the festival audience for the Oscar-nominated The Girl with the Needle, in yet another once-in-a-lifetime role. A dissolving marriage seems to let loose Aeolus’s winds for Ane and Thomas, who are about to get divorced, even though their children are unaware. Thomas is ready to move in with his new partner, when Ane suddenly suffers a stroke. Until she recovers, the soon-to-be-divorced couple decide to live together again under the same roof. As they face this new reality, they discover hope in the most unexpected of ways. Direct, daring, tender and relentless, the filmmaker’s mature gaze traces the inexhaustible

potential of each ending to turn into a new beginning.

ON-SITE 1/11 Marketaki 21:00

BLUE HERON

ΓΑΛ

Σόφι

Sophy Romvari Καναδάς,

Canada, Hungary 2025, 91’ Η

luminous and shrouded memory fragments. Eight-year-old Sasha, the only girl in a family of seven who, in the late 90s, relocates from Hungary to Vancouver Island, tries to adapt to the new environment while simultaneously observing, though without truly comprehending, her beloved older brother slow descent further into the grip of a disorder, while the “adults” are paralyzed with fear and discomfiture. Twenty years later, her more mature self emerges from a bold cut, gathering scattered whispers, zooming in on unassuming objects, consulting expert opinion so as to encounter a beneficial analytical interpretation, while distancing herself from the trauma without forgetting its root cause – all these, with the tools only cinema can bestow, and featuring raw imagery of low fidelity but profound faith. Picking up the thread from films such as Charlotte Wells’s Aftersun and Courtney Stevens’s Invention, though unfolding the unique voice of a talent that came here to stay, Blue Heron reminds us that healing is a journey; one that begins with the admission that full recovery is unattainable.

ON-SITE 4/11 Tornes 22:30, 05/11 Zannas 13:00

THE BOTANIST

Home, they say, is found in the summers of our childhood. But there are summers that demolish any sense of belonging and drain every last reserve of carefreeness and innocence, even from the deepest, most concealed wells. In her subdued, yet deafening debut, filmmaker Sophy Romvari continues the autobiographical attempts of her award-winning short films, and returns to a liminal era, weaving together both

γη, στην αυτόνομη, πολυεθνοτική Σιντζιάνγκ στα

Did you know thistles produce thorns instead of leaves out of necessity - to conserve water as they grow in the most barren of landscapes?

In such a dry land in the autonomous, multinational Xinjiang, on the boundary between China and Kazakhstan – a region plagued not only by drought but also by the underlying violence of intolerance – we meet Kazakh Arsin; a young boy who knows what it means to grow up in a fragile world living in an insulated community where it is believed that the souls of the dead are endemic to grass. Introverted by nature, Arsin finds solace in the company of plants and the recollections of his family tree, which, inevitably, seem to be fading. But the thorns keeping the outside world at arm’s length bloom once he meets Meiyu, a Chinese girl, with whom he cultivates their own nuanced language. Together, they will explore the sparse vegetation of the countryside, reimagine the open fields as a vast ocean, learn to converse about botany and family to articulate their feelings, and experience separation. And whereas it seems as though stored in the filmmaker’s anthology are precious images of Terrence Malick and Abbas Kiarostami, he cultivates an entirely different hybrid, splicing fiction with autobiography, tradition with modernity, the Chinese mainland with the promise of the sea in a vast expanse, in an unparalleled feature debut sprouting from a crack between fantasy and reality – exactly as dreams do.

ON-SITE 7/11 Tornes 23:00, 9/11 Tornes 14:00

CACTUS PEARS

Rohan Parashuram Kanawade

India, UK, Canada 2025, 113’

They grew up together in the village, but now one of them lives in the city. When he is forced to return, their childhood love will be rekindled. What does it truly mean to be queer in rural India, where the word meant to encompass your identity doesn’t even exist? What force do you need to discover within yourself to be able to defy the norms imposed by a strictly binary society and live your own truth? Winner at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, the feature debut by Rohan Parashuram Kanawade -another emerging talent from India’s vast film production, and most certainly one to watch- is the first film in the Indian language, Marathi, to ever participate in the history of the American festival. This is a kaleidoscopic queer gem, both vulnerable and gentle, about the revolutionary act of being unapologetically oneself.

ON-SITE 30/10 Liappa 20:00, 7/11 Marketaki 13:00

THE CURRENTS

Milagros Mumenthaler

Switzerland, Argentina 2025, 104’

After surviving a near-fatal fall into the icy waters of a Swiss lake, celebrated Buenos Aires fashion designer Lina is thrust into a haunting journey through trauma, memory, and motherhood. As she recovers, her perception of reality fractures. Through dreamlike imagery, the film captures the fluidity of memory and the vulnerability of healing. At once, it is also an exploration of female identity, artistic creation, and the invisible forces, emotional, familial, and historical, that shape the course of a life.

ON-SITE 6/11 Olympion 23:00

DANCE OF THE LIVING

Spain, Colombia 2025, 92’

Mariana, a teenager, longs to become a wrestler, like her parents once were. But an impulsive decision during the match, unresolved issues in her relationship with her father, who is still dealing with his wife's death, as well as a one-sided amorous attraction towards her father's friend, will delineate her personal palaestra, an arena from which she must come out standing.

The interplay between dreams and looming disillusionment sets the tone in José Alayón's film, which unfolds in the Canary Islands, with the long-lasting local tradition of wrestling that predates Spanish rule on the islands as its backdrop. In Dance of the Living, wrestling is used as a storytelling device, granting our heroes a physical form of expression, a language to readily replace the words that often fall short. Through Mariana’s story, we are called upon to weigh in on not only the value of fair play, but also on the importance of acknowledging limitations, weaknesses or loss, without allowing them to define one’s trajectory.

ON-SITE 30/10 Marketaki 19:00, 9/11 Cassavetes 13:00

ONLINE 30/10-9/11

DONKEY DAYS ΠΕΡΙ

Rosanne Pel

The Netherlands, Germany 2025, 107’

αγάπη της μητέρας

τους για έναν γάιδαρο. Θα καταφέρουν να

συμφιλιωθούν; H Ολλανδή σκηνοθέτρια

Ροζάν Πελ δημιουργεί ένα στοιχειωτικό, σκοτεινά χιουμοριστικό πορτρέτο των οικογενειακών δεσμών που πληγώνουν και

ενώνουν ταυτόχρονα. Καθώς η Άννα και η

Σάρλοτ εξερευνούν θαμμένες αναμνήσεις

και αντιμετωπίζουν το αδύνατο έργο της

συμφιλίωσης με το παρελθόν, το Περί όνου

σκιάς γίνεται,

Sisters Anna and Charlotte have always fought for their mother’s attention. As old wounds reopen and suck them back to their family home, they unravel mesmerizing mysteries, including anonymous ashes and their mother’s love for a donkey. Will they come to terms with each other? Dutch filmmaker Rosanne Pel crafts a haunting, darkly humorous portrait of family ties that both wound and bind. As Anna and Charlotte navigate buried memories and confront the impossible task of reconciling the past, Donkey Days

becomes what the director calls “a fractured female triangle in meltdown”. A meditation on sibling rivalry, maternal love, and the fragile possibility of forgiveness.

ON-SITE 3/11 Makedonikon 20:00, 5/11 Zannas 16:00

ΕΜΙ

Εσεκιέλ Ερίκες Μένα Ezequiel Erriquez Mena

Αργεντινή, Ουρουγουάη Argentina, Uruguay 2025, 93’

Emi lives with his adoptive parents in the suburbs of Buenos Aires. He is trying to find a job to cover his expenses and, at the same time, beginning a search for his biological parents. Over time, he will find work at a repair shop and start associating with both his employer and his family. However, this is no coincidence... A slow-burning, honest, and straightforward drama which (based on an exceptional lead performance) balances between a realistic portrayal of facts and their subjective interpretation, while tracing notions such as the journey of self-discovery, human connection, and the fundamental right to love, inclusion, and happiness, with great sensitivity.

ON-SITE 7/11 Zannas 22:00, 8/11 Makedonikon 17:00

ERUPCJA

Pete Ohs

USA, Poland 2025, 71’

Bethany travels along with her boyfriend, Rob, from London to Warsaw, where she meets her old crush, Nel, and decides to dump him in order to party with her during the weekend. However, every time the two girls hang out, a volcano – quite literally – erupts somewhere on the planet and this time, it is Etna’s turn. This is the secret project filmed under the direction of Pete Ohs (The True Beauty of Being Bitten by a Tick) by pop superstar Charli xcx in the Polish capital, while her album, brat, was defining last summer both musically and aesthetically. A short European urban story, shrouded in gorgeous melancholy, featuring cabin bags, Airbnbs, parties, nomadic artists, and an authentically funny narrator. Erupcja practically marks Charli’s transition to acting, in which she wishes to invest, given that soon we are going to see her in seven very different films (for their upcoming projects, she has been chosen by filmmakers such as Gregg Araki and Takashi Miike!). A real treat in compact form, with a runtime of 71 minutes.

ON-SITE 4/11 Zannas 16:30, 5/11 Olympion 23:00

FOLLIES

Eric K. Boulianne

After sixteen years together and raising two children, a couple decides to open their relationship in the hope of reigniting passion without dismantling the life they’ve built. Over the course of several months, their experiment unfolds in six chapters, each exploring a different type of encounter and the emotional consequences that follow. What begins with curiosity soon exposes the fragility of their bond, as moments of desire, jealousy, and tenderness collide. Shot on a micro-budget and inspired by the mumblecore movement, Judd Apatow’s humor, 1970s European dramas, and even the playful cabaret spirit of the 1920s, Eric K. Boulian, who also stars in the film, crafts a raw and deeply endearing dramatic comedy. A bittersweet portrait of a modern couple.

ON-SITE 1/11 Olympion 23:00, 2/11 Zannas 16:00

GIOIA

Η ΧΑΡΑ

Νικολάντζελο

Nicolangelo Gelormini Ιταλία Italy 2025, 109’

Gioia, portrayed masterfully by Valeria Golino, is a high school teacher who has never known love beyond the suffocating grip of her parents, with whom she still lives. Her life shifts when she encounters Alessio, a student who uses his body as a means to get a few hundred euros to help his struggling mother. Between them grows a fragile and forbidden bond, unexpected, tender, and yet urgently necessary for both. Gioia offers him disarming sweetness, perhaps the only true love he has ever known, but he cannot embrace it. In his restlessness, he destroys the one connection that might have saved him. Premiering in the Giornate degli Autori section at the 2025 Venice Film Festival, Gioia is a daring and unsettling fable about desire, fragility, and the cost of redemption.

ON-SITE 4/11 Zannas 22:00, 5/11 Tornes 14:00

HOMO SAPIENS?

HOMO SAPIENS

Γκαστόν Ντουπράτ, Μαριάνο Κον Gastón Duprat, Mariano Cohn Αργεντινή, Ισπανία,

Argentina, Spain, Italy 2025, 98’

Στο Homo Sapiens

In Homo Sapiens?, Gastón Duprat and Mariano Cohn deliver a caustic comedy that transcends the borders of their country and touches upon a universal human truth. With Guillermo Francella embodying 16 different characters, the film brings to life on the big screen figures and personalities we all recognize: the hypocrite who brandishes the banner of social justice, or moral superiority, exclusively for self-serving purposes, the self-proclaimed expert who speaks with unwarranted assurance about all the matters he is ignorant of, the citizen who, behind a facade of courtesy, has no qualms about exploiting anyone. Their biting, hilariously irreverent satire targets not only specific social or political structures, but also the enduring human tendency of turning our ideals into tools of display and power. With ingenuity, rhythm, and acuity, Duprat and Cohn turn laughter into a commentary on the contradictions of our time and on all those things that even the bravest among us at times don’t have the courage to admit, even to ourselves.

ON-SITE 31/10 Tornes 23:00

THE IVY Ο

Ana Cristina Barragán

Ecuador, Mexico, Spain, France 2025, 99’ Η

Azucena, a solitary woman in her thirties, works in a clothing store, takes care of her elderly grandfather, and most recently, has begun spying on some teenagers living in an orphanage close to her house. One of them, Julio, who is approaching the age of 18 and the time to leave, catches her attention: a strange intimacy develops between them that will soon expand into different parameters for reasons that even Julio’s unable to imagine. The winner of the Best Screenplay Award in the Orizzonti section at Venice IFF, The Ivy by Ecuadorian filmmaker Ana Cristina Barragán tells a heart-wrenching tale that wisely utilizes silences, gestures, and the power of allusions. As the story ceremoniously, and step by step, approaches its climax, a devastating revelation stirs the audience in a way that only the highest quality of storytelling can. It is, undoubtedly, one of the finest Latin American films of the year.

ON-SITE 8/11 Tornes 16:45

ONLINE 30/10–9/11

JIMPA

Σόφι Χάιντ Sophie Hyde Αυστραλία, Ολλανδία Australia, The Netherlands 2025, 113’

teenager, Frances (Aud Mason-Hyde), to Amsterdam to visit their grandfather Jim, affectionately called Jimpa. Frances is immediately drawn to the freedom of Jimpa’s world and longs to stay for a year, forcing Hannah to question her own ideas about parenting while confronting the unresolved wounds of her past. Directed by Sophie Hyde, winner of the World Cinema Directing Award at Sundance for 52 Tuesdays (2014), the film paints a vivid portrait of intergenerational bonds within queer life. Jimpa, played with charismatic bravado by John Lithgow, is a hedonistic yet bighearted patriarch who lives loudly and unapologetically in Amsterdam’s vibrant gay community. With Colman’s moving subtlety and Lithgow’s mercurial energy, Hyde crafts a warm, insightful drama about identity, legacy, and the courage to live authentically.

ON-SITE 6/11 Marketaki 21:15

JONE, SOMETIMES

Spain

During the Semana Grande annual festival, amidst the festive and enchanting atmosphere of blissful unconcern, twenty-year-old Jone falls in love with Olga. And while experiencing the heady rush of joy and vibrancy that only such a feeling can provide, she is simultaneously tormented by the fear of

losing her father, who suffers from Parkinson disease. Can love, this innate affirmation of vitality, which by its very nature contends with death (in all of its forms), dispel the shadows of reality? Or, at the end of the festivities, will it prove to be as fragile as a beautiful dream?

ON-SITE 8/11 Marketaki 18:45, 9/11 Zannas 16:15

ΚΙΚΑ

Αλέξ Πουκίν Alexe Poukine Βέλγιο, Γαλλία Belgium, France 2025, 111’

H Κίκα, νεαρή μητέρα και κοινωνική λειτουργός

και

εμπόδια που ανακύπτουν στην πορεία. Έτσι η Κίκα ανάγεται στην απόλυτη ηρωίδα του καιρού μας, γνήσια εκπρόσωπο μιας γενιάς που, όσο κι αν επιμένουν να τη χαρακτηρίζουν χαμένη, εκείνη

Kika, a young mother and social worker, finds love knocking at her door once again but soon everything will be turned upside down. When her new partner passes away unexpectedly, she, now pregnant with his child, will be left homeless and without sufficient income to support her growing needs. Determined to stand on her own two feet and earn money quickly, the solution she finds might be unconventional, but it will most certainly be effective, even if it includes dildos, BDSM services, and dirty underwear for sale. In her first venture into a feature-length fiction film, Alexe Poukine ties in an optimistic attitude towards life with a sex positive approach to sex work, without ever disconnecting from reality and the hurdles that emerge along the way. Thus, Kika grows into

an utterly contemporary heroine, representing a generation that people often dismiss as lost, and casts aside that label, along with all the stereotypes that accompany it.

ON-SITE 1/11 Liappa 16:45, 2/11 Liappa 14:00

KOKUHO

Σανγκ-ιλ Λι Sang-il Lee

Ιαπωνία Japan 2025, 174’

Set against the backdrop of a rapidly changing Japan, Sang-il Lee’s latest epic begins in Nagasaki, 1964, when 14-year-old Kikuo, son of a slain yakuza boss, is taken in by a celebrated Kabuki actor. Alongside Shunsuke, the actor’s only son, Kikuo commits himself to the discipline of this centuries-old art. From the rigors of training school to the splendor of the grand stage, the two grow into adulthood together, bound by brotherhood yet divided by rivalry. Across decades marked by scandal, triumph, loyalty, and betrayal, one of them will ascend to become the foremost master of Kabuki. Visually sumptuous and emotionally charged, Kokuho intertwines personal destiny with cultural heritage. Premiering in 2025, it has already become a box-office phenomenon in Japan, and was chosen as Japan’s submission for the 98th Academy Awards, cementing Sang-il Lee’s reputation as one of Japan’s leading storytellers.

ON-SITE 6/11 Zannas 22:00

ONLINE 30/10–9/11

LATE FAME

Forgotten New York poet Ed Saxberger, magnificently played by Willem Dafoe, lives a modest life working at the post office, until a young admirer unexpectedly appears, hailing him as a visionary whose work has been unjustly overlooked. Drawn into a group of twentysomething artists and intellectuals who treat him as their rediscovered muse, Saxberger is seduced by their flattery, their feverish energy, and the mysterious Gloria, the circle’s self-styled “tragic heroine”, portrayed by Greta Lee (Past Lives). But as admiration curdles into self-interest, he begins to question the sincerity of their devotion, and his own need for recognition. Set in Manhattan’s West Village and SoHo, this thoughtful, witty film, adapted by Samy Burch from a 1895 novella by Arthur Schnitzler, is a wistful yet unromantic look at a lost idea of downtown New York.

ON-SITE 6/11 Liappa 23:00

LEFT-HANDED GIRL

A young mother and her two daughters return to Taipei, after years in the countryside, to open a stall in the city’s bustling night market. Adapting does not come easily for any of them, especially as they strive to make a living. An old-fashioned grandmother, hell-bent on stopping her left-handed granddaughter’s habit of using the “wrong” hand, enters the picture. Thus, three generations of women must find common ground and reach equilibrium amidst a whole new environment. In her directorial comeback following the mesmerizing Take Out, which was filmed twenty years ago with Sean Baker, Shih-Ching Tsou, a long-time collaborator of the leading American filmmaker, crafts a disarmingly tender and emotionally charged Taiwanese film exploring fresh starts and personal space in the big city, with the Academy Award-winning creator of Anora decisively contributing as editor, co-producer, and co-writer. Before Left-Handed Girl, no other film had engaged in dialogue with the singular The Florida Project better. With this badge of honor, Shih-Ching Tsou’s equally commendable film is primed to advance from Cannes’ Critics’ Week to the upcoming Academy Awards.

ON-SITE 7/11 Tornes 17:00

LESBIAN SPACE PRINCESS

Emma Hough Hobbs, Leela Varghese

Αυστραλία Australia 2025,

καταρρακώνεται όταν

η εκρηκτική σύντροφός της, η κυνηγός

κεφαλών Κίκι, τη χωρίζει μετά από μόλις δύο εβδομάδες σχέσης, αποκαλώντας την απλώς βαρετή. Η απαγωγή της Κίκι από μια

συμμορία incel εξωγήινων, τους Straight White Maliens, αναγκάζει

ξέφρενη, πολύχρωμη διαστημική οδύσσεια

γεμάτη λάμψη, λέιζερ και παλμό, η ταινία

μάς προσφέρει μια απολαυστικά campy ιστορία ενηλικίωσης, τόσο τρυφερή όσο

και πληθωρική. Αυτό το τολμηρά αστείο,

εικαστικά συναρπαστικό και έντονα οικείο ντεμπούτο αποθεώνει την queer ταυτότητα, τη συναισθηματική ανθεκτικότητα και την αποδοχή. Ένα σουρεαλιστικό animation που συνδυάζει στοιχεία επιστημονικής φαντασίας, μιούζικαλ

23-year-old Saira, the anxious, introverted, and profoundly insecure only daughter of the fierce ruling queens of Clitopolis, a queer utopia, is left heartbroken when her dazzling bounty-hunter girlfriend, Kiki, breaks up with her after just two weeks of dating, dismissing her as simply boring. But once Kiki is abducted by a gang of extraterrestrial incels, the Straight White Maliens, Saira is forced out of her comfort zone and thrust into the dizzying chaos of a neon-drenched galaxy where everything is amplified: the colors, the stakes, the emotions. With only 24 hours to act, Sai-

ra must confront her most daunting fears, not just intergalactic battles and grotesque alien monsters, but a crippling self-doubt, a wavering sense of identity, and the haunting conviction that she is simply not enough. To save Kiki, she will have to step into her power, trust her instincts, and rise as the unlikely heroine of her own story. A riotous, candy-coated space odyssey bursting with glitter, lasers, and heart, the film delivers a wildly campy coming-of-age tale, as tender as it is extravagant. This boldly funny, visually electric, and deeply relatable debut feature celebrates queer identity, emotional resilience, and fearless self-acceptance. Wrapped in animated sci-fi musical absurdity, it reminds us that loving oneself is the most radical adventure of all.

ON-SITE 1/11 Makedonikon 23:00, 9/11 Liappa 14:00

LITTLE TROUBLE GIRLS

Slovenia, Italy, Croatia, Serbia 2025, 89’

«Sixteen, clumsy and shy» – οι στίχοι των

Smiths

“Sixteen, clumsy and shy” – the lyrics by The Smiths fit Lucia, the main character of Little Trouble Girls, the impressive debut of Slovenian filmmaker Urška Djukić, like a glove: in the prime of her adolescence, the introverted Lucia is accepted into the choir of the Catho-

lic school she attends, where she will meet Ana-Maria, the complete opposite of her personality-wise. Amidst rehearsals, experiments, and guilt, Lucia will get in touch with her sexuality and ultimately her own self, leaving her extended childhood behind. Equally suggestive and sensual, subtly grounded in reality but dreamy, realistic but with an imaginative, poetic aesthetic, Djukić’s film remains etched in memory thanks to the subtleties of her emotions, the faces of the young protagonists lusting for life, as well as the tender, emancipatory climax. Little Trouble Girls, winner of the FIPRESCI Award at Berlin and the Best Cinematography Award at Tribeca, is one of this year’s greatest debuts.

ON-SITE 31/10 Olympion 17:00, 9/11 Marketaki 22:00

LOST LAND

Japan, France, Malaysia, Germany 2025, 99’

After living in a Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh, four-year-old Shafi and his nineyear-old sister Somira embark on a perilous journey to Malaysia with a group of fellow Rohingya in the hopes of reuniting with their scattered family. They spend seemingly endless days on an overcrowded smugglers’ boat until an incident at sea leaves them alone and lost in Thailand. But the kindness of the Rohingya they meet along the way, and their own indomitable spirit, give them hope that

they might finally find a place that feels like home. Directed by Japanese filmmaker Akio Fujimoto, Lost Land traces the children’s hazardous journey with a quiet urgency and a humanistic gaze, while revealing the solidarity offered by the Rohingya community at the same time. Anchored by the siblings’ courage and innocence, Lost Land is a moving portrait of survival and hope.

ON-SITE 30/10 Zannas 19:00, 8/11 Zannas 19:00

MAD BILLS TO PAY

(OR DESTINY, DILE QUE NO SOY MALO)

Joel Alfonso Vargas

USA, UK, 100΄

doesn’t wait; not for anything. A debut director returns to his neighborhood, casting passersby on lead roles while capturing the angelic and black light of New York through the lens of an off-center gentleness and delivering a suspenseful yet lighthearted thriller (or, to be more apt, a tragic comedy) crafted with the most humble materials: those given freely by the need to survive in the world’s most photographed metropolis, which, here, feels as if it is being filmed for the very first and final time.

ON-SITE 7/11 Liappa 20:00

MASPALOMAS

ΜΑΣΠΑΛΟΜΑΣ

José Mari Goenaga, Aitor Arregi

Ισπανία Spain 2025, 116’

Rico is about to become a father. There are, however, several problems. He is only 19 years old, of Dominican origin, and his small family home in the Bronx can’t even accommodate his mother and sister, let alone the chaos that is brought about by such a major life change. On top of that, he is out of work – making nothing more than pocket change by selling homemade cocktails on the street. As for Destiny, the girl he impregnated, she doesn’t fascinate him nearly as much as the other girls he chases after on the New York beaches. The restless City That Never Sleeps

όλα όσα κάποτε πάλεψε να κερδίσει. Το γηρο-

Vicente, now 76, came out of the closet and left his wife and daughter when he was 50. For the past 25 years, he has lived happily with his partner in LGBTQ+-friendly Maspalomas (Gran Canaria). Everything changes when a stroke leaves him in a coma. Upon waking, he discovers he’s been moved back to Donostia, where his daughter has placed him in a nursing home. Choosing silence, Vicente decides not to reveal his sexual orientation - at first, it seems unnecessary. Almost without realizing it, he returns to where he began: back in the closet, renouncing everything he once fought for. The residence

becomes a quiet metaphor for the system itself: a world that erases individuality for the sake of order and comfort. But how can one reclaim their sexual identity in a place where they must first reclaim their identity, plain and simple?

ON-SITE 5/11 Tornes 23:00

MOSQUITOES

ΠΙΤΣΙΡΙΚΕΣ

Βαλεντίνα

Valentina Bertani, Nicole Bertani

Ιταλία, Ελβετία, Γαλλία Italy, Switzerland, France

2025, 110’

Το

The summer of 1997 was indelibly marked by the deaths of Gianni Versace and Princess Diana. But for eight-year-old Linda, daughter – and often “mum” - of the young Eva, it was the summer when the two of them decided to escape from their oppressive grandmother’s imposing Swiss manor and embark on a journey to Ferrara. There, Linda’s chance encounter with sisters Azzura and Marta, who are the same age as her, will prove decisive in the inevitable loss of their childhood innocence. Freedom, friendship, sex, sexuality, gender expression, substances, motherhood, everyday challenges about the female identity, concepts, and realities, as seen through the eyes of the three girls, fit splendidly within the filmmakers’ colorful frame, as ‘90s nostalgia, the three talented young protagonists, and the carefully

painted strokes of magical realism compose a peculiar, utterly refreshing film, captivating from start to finish, and accompanied by the perfectly matched soundtrack of Robert Miles’s ‘90s mega hit “Children.”

ON-SITE 1/11 Marketaki 15:00, 2/11 Makedonikon 20:00

ONLINE 30/10–9/11

MOTHER

ΜΗΤΕΡΑ

Τεόνα Στρούγκαρ Μίτεβσκα,

Teona Strugar Mitevska, Vuk Mitevski

Βέλγιο, Βόρεια

Belgium, North Macedonia, Sweden, Denmark, Bosnia & Herzegovina 2025, 104’

Kolkata, 1948. Teresa, Mother Superior of the Sisters of Loreto convent, anxiously awaits the letter that will free her to leave the monastery and follow the divine call to create a new order. Yet, on the threshold of this historic step, she faces a profound dilemma, one that forces her to question her ambitions, convictions, and faith. The director, Teona Strugar Mitevska, spent over fifteen years researching Mother Teresa’s early years, recording the direct testimonies from the order’s first sisters, excerpts of which were directly transcribed into the film’s dialogue. Mother delves into young Teresa’s interior world during a week in her life, while

touching upon issues of power, ambition, and gender roles. The Swedish actress Noomi Rapace intensely embodies Mother Teresa’s spiritual fire, in a film that steers clear of hagiography and daringly reexamines one of the 20th century’s most iconic, complex women.

ON-SITE 31/10 Makedonikon 20:00

ON THE ROAD

ΣΤΟΝ

Mexico 2025, 93’

David Pablos

20-year-old Veneno, a pariah and a wanderer, calls Mexico’s highways home, sleeps with truck drivers, and sells drugs. When he meets Muñeco, a taciturn middle-aged truck driver, the two of them will compose a seemingly ill-matched duo, initially bonded by drug dealing, but gradually brought together by love, and mostly a shared feeling of homelessness and loneliness. Somewhere between a road movie, a western, and a witty subversion of the stereotypes that govern a mainly macho universe, that of truck drivers, On the Road, despite telling a gritty, violent story, doesn’t focus on cruelty: at the heart of the film, unfolding with restraint and simplicity, dwells the profound longing of two souls -of every one of us, in truth- for

tenderness and touch, for a home and a place of refuge. Winner of the Best Film in the Orizzontisection and the Queer Lion at this year’s Venice Film Festival, On the Road by David Pablos, one of the most important Mexican filmmakers of our time, moves the audience effortlessly in a delightfully unanticipated way.

ON-SITE 2/11 Olympion 23:15, 3/11 Zannas 16:00

ONCE UPON A TIME IN GAZA

Ταρζάν Νάσερ, Άραμπ Νάσερ Tarzan Nasser, Arab Nasser

Γαλλία, Παλαιστίνη, Γερμανία, Πορτογαλία,

France, Palestine, Germany, Portugal, Qatar, Jordan 2025, 90’

Πριν

Before the (most recent) war, before the fear, the hunger, and the violence, how did real life look like on Palestinian land? Nobody can depict it more eloquently and cinematically than brothers Arab and Tarzan Nasser who, following Dégradé and Gaza Mon Amour, continue the social chronicle of Gaza and win the Best Director Award in the “Un Certain Regard” section at the Cannes Film Festival. In Gaza in 2007, young Yaya is working at Osama’s shop, selling falafel and illegal painkillers, a line of business that will lead the latter to his demise. Yaya swears to avenge him but upon encountering his “target,” his view of him and of his own fate changes. Action and tension collide with popular comedy in a film with characters un-

der unprecedented pressure, ready to explode at any given moment.

ON-SITE 3/11 Tornes 18:45, 4/11 Marketaki 15:30

ONLINE 30/10–9/11

OUT OF LOVE

ΑΠΟ ΕΡΩΤΑ

Νατάν

Nathan Ambrosioni

Two sisters, estranged for years, reunite. Jeanne is relearning how to be alone after the end of a long relationship. Suzanne shows up at her house out of the blue. The following day, she disappears, leaving behind a farewell note, and her children. Jeanne’s world turns upside down overnight, as summer gradually gives way to fall. The ever-fragile balance between family ties, motherhood, and the price of our choices are some of the themes explored by the compassionate lens of the 25-year-old Nathan Ambrosioni in his third feature which had its world premiere at the Competition Section of the Karlovy Vary Film Festival. According to Vogue, this is one of the year’s most long-awaited French films; a story that quietly touches the soul and remains etched in memory for a long while, with yet another incredibly fitting role for Camille Cottin that showcases her versatile talent.

ON-SITE 31/10 Olympion 14:00, 9/11 Makedonikon 20:00 PETER HUJAR’S DAY

USA, Germany 2025, 75’

On December 19, 1974, writer Linda Rosenkrantz (Rebecca Hall) sits with her friend, photographer Peter Hujar (Ben Whishaw), in a quiet New York apartment. She invites him to recount, in minute detail, the events of the day before. What emerges is a candid, fragmented portrait of an artist at once ordinary and extraordinary - sharing sharp wit, erotic candor, and aching vulnerability. Beyond the room’s stillness, the restless energy of 1970s New York lingers in the background: a portrait session with Allen Ginsberg, a call with Susan Sontag, fleeting touches and half-remembered gestures. Originally intended for an unrealized book project, Rosenkrantz’s transcripts resurfaced in 2019, decades after they were presumed lost. Director Ira Sachs transforms these words into the collective portrait of a city and an era, a cinematic love letter to the act of being truly seen.

ON-SITE 3/11 Olympion 23:00, 8/11 Makedonikon 14:30

THE PIANO ACCIDENT

Adèle Exarchopoulos turns into a self-absorbed, filthy rich influencer who, upon capitalizing on a genetic mutation that renders her impervious to pain, earns fame and fortune by making a spectacle out of surviving all forms of deliberately outrageous self-harm. But an accident she becomes involved in soon puts her in a tight spot, as a journalist threatens her with imprisonment if she doesn’t agree to an exclusive interview. This new film, made by the tireless supporter of reflective comedy, Quentin Dupieux (Incredible but True, Mandibles), features Exarchopoulos, who, reminiscent of a Shyamalan heroine, becomes an Unbreakable. Although physically indestructible, she proves to be just as vulnerable as any mere mortal once the demands of public scrutiny become unbearable. Behind its deceptively lighthearted black humor and bloody twists, The Piano Accident never wastes a single opportunity to wryly criticize the frenzied pursuit of virality, the annihilation of personal space, and the complete desensitization of society in the face of spectacle, in the years of social media domination.

ON-SITE 30/10 Liappa 17:00, 4/11 Makedonikon 17:00

PLAINCLOTHES

Κάρμεν

USA 2025, 96’

In suburban New York of the ‘90s, young Lucas is a police officer, involved in undercover operations, in which he acts as “bait” to lure gay men in public restrooms to arrest them. His professional duty and his own repressed homosexuality clash irreparably when, during one of these operations, he meets the mysterious Andrew. Inspired by the practice of cottaging, inherent to queer history, the captivating, tender, and at times poignant feature debut of director and scriptwriter Carmen Emmi is an insightful exploration, based on true accounts, of toxic masculinity within the police, the trauma of repressed identity, the fear of outing, as well as the guilt and the stigma that defined entire generations of gay men. Russell Tovey and Tom Blyth captivate as they lead the award-winning (Special Award at this year’s Sundance) cast, the non-linear editing intensifies the dramatic climax, while the scattered VHS footage contribute to the revival of an era, both fascinating and undeniably harsh and oppressive for the LGBTQIΑ+ community.

ON-SITE 5/11 Marketaki 16:00, 6/11 Tornes 17:00

A

PRIVATE LIFE

France 2025,

Rebecca Zlotowski

Is there any greater mystery than other people’s lives? A stupefying enigma crosses Lilian’s path - an American psychiatrist living in Paris who makes a living through tracing (and clinically diagnosing) the innermost aspects of the human psyche - when one of her patients is found dead. Evidence suggests it’s a suicide - but could a different methodology, one that questions the saying “one should not air one’s dirty laundry in public,” lead to a different conclusion? And could it be that the audio recording used by Lilian to document her sessions contain messages that call for a different kind of deciphering? By inviting the ever-exquisite Jodie Foster to deliver a performance in her second language (the charismatic actress attended a French school, and even voices her own films in French if the need arises) and surrounding her with a harmonious blend of the old and new vanguard of French cinema (Daniel Auteuil, Virginie Efira, Mathieu Amalric), Rebecca Zlotowski unlocks our subconscious, as if we were entranced under a hypnotist’s spell. Keep an eye out for the iconic documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman,

who is making his first appearance in front of the camera lens here, in a surprise role.

ON-SITE 6/11 Tornes 20:00

PUNKU

Χ. Ντ. Φερνάντες Μολέρο

J.D. Fernández Molero

Περού, Ισπανία Peru, Spain 2025, 133’

Βρισκόμαστε

Set in the heart of the Peruvian Amazon, the film follows Meshia, a determined young woman who discovers Iván, a boy who has been missing for two years. She brings him to the city for urgent eye surgery, but what begins as an act of compassion evolves into a complex relationship marked by trust, fragility, and unspoken wounds. As Iván struggles to confront his trauma and the haunting dreams that follow him, Meshia grapples with her own ambitions and illusions of a brighter future. Juan Daniel Fernández Molero, known for blending intimate storytelling with political and psychological depth, crafts a dreamlike yet raw portrait of survival and desire. Punku explores the space between healing and exploitation, hope and delusion, against the backdrop of a society negotiating modernity and tradition.

ON-SITE 8/11 Tornes 19:45

ONLINE 30/10–9/11

QUEERPANORAMA

Τζουν Λι Jun Li

Hong Kong, USA 2025, 87’

A young gay man, an unknown in the crowded desolation of Hong Kong, meets up with other men through online dating apps for casual, no strings attached, hook ups. Except that, after each one, as he moves on to the next, he adopts the identity of his previous lover. From one night to the next, from one body to another, the film – subtly, melancholically, and through the boundless distance despite the physical proximity – crafts the portrait of a lonely man and at the same time, the collective portrait of a country and an era: episodic in its plot (similar to the protagonist’s fragmentary life), featuring vivid black-and-white cinematography, witty dialogues between the lovers, and sequences infused with the silence of urban isolation, the film addresses the impossibility of connection in the era of digital cosmopolitanism, the grief over the loss of personal identity – and at times the desire for that loss –, and the necessity of reinventing oneself with great maturity. Independent and bold both in spirit and format, Queerpanorama delivers what its title suggests: a panorama of carnal desire in the here and now.

ON-SITE 6/11 Liappa 20:00, 9/11 Tornes 23:00

RAINS OVER BABEL

Colombia, Spain, USA

2025, 113’ Μια

A group of exiles from the suburban notion of “normality” gathers at “Babel,” a legendary bar where decadence is lauded in all its glory, which also doubles as an unusual purgatory; there, the embodiment of Death dons a human – and utterly unexpected –facade, and his power is absolute. In this peculiar place, souls play games with death, reclaiming years from their lives, or their loved ones’ lives, in an attempt to cheat fate. This is a proudly flashy, stylistically fiery, fearlessly passionate, boldly unconventional, and colorful queer manifesto for liberation, inspired by the Divine Comedy. The epitome of a film acquiring cult status and a fanatical following, Rains Over Babel interprets Dante and the western myths revolving around life and death in an entirely idiosyncratic manner, spares no effort in visual ingenuity, and insists on the intimate interplay of pleasure and danger, transforming – through all of its intriguing dimensions – into a resounding proclamation of freedom: existential, sexual, artistic, cinematic.

ON-SITE 30/10 Marketaki 22:00, 31/10 Marketaki 18:00

Leni Huyghe

Βέλγιο Belgium 2025, 90’

The debut of Belgian filmmaker Leni Huyghe, Real Faces, tells the story of Julia, a young photographer who arrives in Brussels, aspiring to carve out a life for herself in the big city. Julia gets a job at an advertising company, finds a roommate, a PhD candidate specializing in lichen, and attempts to convince herself she belongs in the bustling art world, even though something within her weights her down – some kind of loneliness, unfamiliar, and quite undefinable. During the making of a commercial, the dissent she feels comes to light, leaving her adrift and alone. Real Faces, an understated, slow-burning, and allusive film, is exactly what its title suggests: an attempt to trace the authentic emotions of real people, set against the backdrop of the multicultural, rainy, impersonal life of Brussels. Touching and touched, genuine in its sentiments, with a grainy texture enveloping the visuals and the harsh loneliness of the protagonists (as well as the unrequited love they feel), the film preserves a true slice of life in today’s Western Europe.

ON-SITE 31/10 Marketaki 13:00, 9/11 Tornes 20:00

RENOIR

Chie Hayakawa

Japan, France, Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia, Qatar 2025,

In the summer of 1987 in suburban Tokyo, 11-year-old Fuki Okita lives between hope and grief. Her father, Keiji, is battling terminal cancer, frequently in and out of hospitals; her mother Utako works full-time, stretched thin both by work and the emotional labor of caring for him. Left largely to her own devices, Fuki turns inward, fascinated by telepathy and other mystical escapes, deploying her vivid imagination to make sense of loss and distance. Written and directed by Chie Hayakawa, Renoir is a comingof-age drama deeply rooted in her own experience of having a father with a terminal illness. The film premiered in Competition at the 78th Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for the Palme d’Or. With Yui Suzuki’s natural, hauntingly sincere performance as Fuki, it becomes an elegiac meditation on childhood, mortality, and the fragile bond between imagination and reality.

ON-SITE 2/11 Marketaki 16:00

ROSE OF NEVADA

In a decaying Cornish fishing village, hope has long since faded from everyone’s lives, until one morning, a boat appears in the old harbor. The Rose of Nevada, lost at sea with all hands three decades earlier, has mysteriously returned. For the few who still remember it, it’s a clear sign; the vessel must sail again if the village’s curse is to be broken. Nick (George MacKay), struggling to provide for his family, signs on as crew, joined by the restless newcomer Liam (Callum Turner), eager to outrun his past. Their voyage begins in promise, but when they return to shore, time itself has shifted, and the villagers greet them as ghosts from another age. Filmmaker Mark Jenkin crafts a haunting seafaring parable steeped in myth, superstition, and the raw textures of 16mm film, a story adrift between the living and the lost, the present and the eternal.

ON-SITE 7/11 Olympion 20:15

THE SOUFFLEUR

At the twilight of his career, Lucius Glantz -played by a captivating Willem Dafoe- has served as the director of Vienna’s Intercontinental for the past 30 years. Aged, a mere relic of its former grandeur and of an entire century, the hotel is on the verge of financial collapse until it is sold to a young newly rich Argentinian man who plans to radically change its character. All that follows – narrated with a tinge of bittersweetness, (self-directed) sarcasm, and a pervasive melancholy for what is hopelessly gone and past- is the tragicomic, futile struggle of a man, Lucius, against the advent of a sweeping, merciless era. Sharpened by Dafoe’s irresistible presence, traversing the labyrinthine, dimly lit corridors of the Intercontinental like a modern Buster Keaton, this new film by non-conformist Gastón Solnicki is a farewell to the values of a bygone era, an homage to his beloved Vienna, as well as a highly intriguing aesthetic concept that blends formalistic audacity with an idiosyncratic sense of humor, all shadows and undercurrents of sorrow.

ON-SITE 1/11 Olympion 20:00, 2/11 Tornes 14:30

SUNFISH (& OTHER STORIES ON GREEN LAKE)

A 14-year-old girl is forced to spend the summer with her grandparents, and to escape the boredom, she takes up sailing; a child prodigy, a violin virtuoso is pressured by his mother to keep rising higher and higher; a fisherman becomes fixated on trying to catch a gigantic fish; two sisters, co-owners of a convenience store, attempt to put their life in order: The brilliant film, Sunfish (& Other Stories on Green Lake), intertwines four different stories set around a lake, uniquely capturing and depicting the idleness of summer, the undefined feeling of time passing at a different pace, the nearly enchanting unraveling of a daily life that may appear ordinary at first glance, yet conceals much within - its own marvels. In her debut, Sierra Falconer tethers people (as well as their wishes, fears, and dreams) to the landscape that shapes them, offering an episodic film of unique visual beauty, imbued with rare sensitivity, and boundless tenderness. Four bittersweet vignettes show us that reality’s music is always polyphonic.

ON-SITE 1/11 Makedonikon 17:00, 9/11 Liappa 23:00

THREE GOODBYES

Isabel Coixet

Italy, Spain 2025, 122’

Fitness instructor Marta and chef Antonio separate after a seven-year relationship – without a serious cause. Now, Marta must learn to let go of their shared life, to discover what to love in the outside world, and to learn to converse with Jirko, the paper cutout of a K-pop star keeping her company in the empty house. Until Marta will eventually need to learn something even more important: whether life holds any greater meaning. The multi-award-winning Catalan filmmaker Isabel Coixet journeys to Rome and, using a carefully selected cast, led by Alba Rohrwacher, tells a romantic love story about a couple, but mainly, about a woman falling in love with herself. And she does it in her signature style, with a mosaic of drama, humor, Super-8 intermissions, jazz, Italian flavors, small eccentricities, and big truths, honoring the fleeting nature of human existence with every single moment.

ON-SITE 4/11 Olympion 23:00, 9/11 Liappa 20:00

TO THE VICTORY!

queer ερωτισμό, το χιούμορ του

παραλόγου, και την υποβόσκουσα αγωνία

που χαρακτη-

ρίζει τις ταινίες Οι γυναίκες του

Set in Ukraine in the near future, the film portrays a country where the war is over but the wounds remain. Its protagonist, a film director played by Vasyanovych himself, is out of work, estranged from his wife and daughter who have started new lives in Vienna, and clinging to the hope that things will improve. Confused and restless, he drifts through a fragile peace, caught between memory, disillusionment, and the stubborn belief in renewal. Blurring fiction and autobiography, Vasyanovych infuses the film with fragments of his own life and those of his peers, crafting what he calls a “collective biography” of a generation shaped by war. With his characteristic precision, long takes, and painterly compositions, he captures both intimacy and alienation. Alongside Atlantis (2019) and Reflection (2021), To the Victory! completes a loose war-inspired trilogy. The film won the Platform Award at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival.

ON-SITE 2/11 Makedonikon 23:00, 9/11 Zannas 22:00

THE TRUE BEAUTY OF BEING BITTEN BY A TICK

Grieving and adrift after a recent tragedy, Yvonne flees the city for the countryside refuge of her friend Camille, where she encounters her new circle: Isaac, a quick-witted real estate agent, and A.J., his wellness-obsessed partner. Surrounded by organic produce, natural wine, candlelit parlor games, and a sense of rural camaraderie, Yvonne attempts to unplug from her chaos-ridden urban routine and immerse herself in Camille’s surprising, back-to-earth lifestyle. But a tick bite disrupts this idyll, transforming an atmosphere of pastoral beauty into something far stranger and more ominous. Developed collaboratively, the film embraces a DIY spirit, blending mumblecore naturalism with queer eroticism, absurdist humor, and the creeping disquiet of folk horror. Echoing the domestic unease of The Stepford Wives and Rosemary’s Baby through a distinctly 2020s lens, it harnesses sound, silence, and atmosphere to capture the anxieties of a generation navigating adulthood in an era of detachment, emerging as a haunting anti-thriller: playful, claustrophobic, and profoundly resonant in its reminder that no matter how meticulously we curate our lives, the wildness of the world will always find a way back in.

ON-SITE 3/11 Liappa 19:30, 4/11 Zannas 14:00

WE BELIEVE YOU

Charlotte Devillers, Arnaud Dufeys

Βέλγιο Belgium 2025,

πρεμιέρα στο Φεστιβάλ Βερολίνου, με

σκηνοθεσία τόσο ευαίσθητη και αγωνιώδη

Ιt is the day of the court hearing (in a closed chamber, with only the lawyers present) regarding the custody of two children, 17-yearsold Lila and 11-year-old Etienne. The mother, Alice, is trying to restrain her rage against the father, while being on the brink of collapse –the camera almost never leaving her face. A debut that premiered at the Berlin Film Festival, directed in a sensitive and anxiety-inducing manner that has no need for exterior shots.

A raw suspense story with no tricks, no storytelling device, only uncompromising honesty and an astonishing performance delivered by Myriem Akheddiou, a longtime partner of the Dardenne brothers. A direct glimpse into child abuse within the family that forces the audience to step into the role of a judge, oscillate between objective and subjective truth, between horror and defense, in an immersive and merciless psychological game.

ON-SITE 1/11 Liappa 19:45

WEIGHTLESS

Emilie Thalund

Fifteen-year-old Lea wants to lose weight, which is why she’ll spend her summer vacation at a summer camp dedicated to healthy nutrition and exercise for teens. Instead of focusing on her peers, she starts developing romantic feelings for their instructor, the fit, approachable adult Rune. However, when Rune starts reciprocating her interest, Lea will struggle to evaluate his intentions. A film unfolding in a place surrounded by nature, under the warm summer light that both soothes and exposes. Teenage insecurity, body shaming, competition, dreams for the future, the struggle with personal identity, and the anxiety over the numbers on the scale intertwine in a gray area of underage seduction and the uncertainties of inexperience, making you feel as if you carry the weight of the entire world upon your shoulders.

ON-SITE 31/10 Makedonikon 13:00, 8/11 Zannas 16:15

ONLINE 30/10–9/11

WHAT MARIELLE KNOWS

Frédéric Hambalek

Germany 2025, 87’

Julia and Tobias seem to be the perfect couple, yet problems keep piling up. Their fragile balance is shattered when their daughter Marielle suddenly develops telepathic abilities, giving her the power to see and hear everything her parents do, day and night. Confronted with a child who cannot be deceived, Julia and Tobias spiral into a battle of revelations. As Julia and Tobias’ most uncomfortable secrets come to light, they engage in a manipulative game, leading to increasingly awkward, absurd situations and unleashing unexpected consequences… With a sharp eye, director Frédéric Hambalek cuts through the absurdities of modern relationships, crafting a sly, satirical portrait of a family undone by its own secrets, and by a child’s relentless clarity.

ON-SITE 2/11 Tornes 23:00

WHITE SNAIL

Austria, Germany

In the quiet, sleepless nights of Minsk, two strangers cross paths: Masha, a young Belarusian model dreaming of a career in China, and Misha, a morgue worker who secretly transforms the dead into countless opulent oil portraits. Their meeting sparks an unexpected connection between two people from contrasting worlds: one defined by surface and appearance, the other by silence and mortality. The fragile intimacy developed between them, becomes both refuge and rebellion. Based on the real lives of its first-time actors, the film blends fictional elements with reality, bringing to the forefront the conflicting facets of the human body; beauty and decay, exposure and shame. With poetic restraint and raw emotional honesty, the directorial duo Elsa Kremser and Levin Peter craft a fragile love story of two contemporary outsiders who discover they are not alone.

ON-SITE 1/11 Zannas 19:00, 2/11 Olympion 14:00

RM

Round Midnight

All films from the Round Midnight section are strictly unsuitable for minors. May contain scenes and/or themes that some viewers may find disturbing. Enter at your own risk!

BULK

ΟΓΚΟΣ

Μπεν

Ben Wheatley Ηνωμένο

EXIT 8

Genki Kawamura

Ben Wheatley’s new film is the epitome of a midnight movie. A delusional clash of genres and realities, a cinematic experience not easily summarized. The story begins with a failed String Theory experiment that leads to chaotic situations, sending Corey Harlan (Sam Riley) to a labyrinthine manor governed by the enigmatic, multidimensional Aclima (Alexandra Maria Lara). Each door opens onto a different universe, filled with noir conspiracy plots, post-apocalyptic desolate places, and surreal romances. Wheatley draws inspiration from an eclectic range of influences: Airfix’s handmade models, the retro sci-fi series Thunderbirds, the universe of author Philip K. Dick, and the imaginary world of Zelda, intertwining each of these into a hallucinatory film that is dark, funny, and unpredictable, all at the same time.

ON-SITE 4/11 Marketaki 23:45, 8/11 Marketaki 00:00 (midnight of 7/11)

A man finds himself unwittingly entrapped in an endless loop in the desolate subway passageways. But if he wishes to take the highly coveted Exit 8, he must be extremely cautious and follow certain rules, which despite appearing simple, are not so in the least: “Do not overlook anything out of the ordinary. If you discover an anomaly, turn back immediately. If you don’t, carry on.” Because searching for a way out is not only exhausting, but also perilous. Based on the successful videogame of the same name, Exit 8 takes the gaming experience several steps further, evolving into a haunting Japanese thriller that upholds the tradition of the most memorable cinematic enigmas in full. Inherently claustrophobic and evocative from the very first

scene, Genki Kawamura’s inescapable puzzle, which had the audience at the Cannes Film Festival enthralled, constantly toys with the spectator’s mind and perception. Just as it does with the film’s hero.

ON-SITE 6/11 Marketaki 00:00 (midnight of 5/11)

FUCK MY SON!

ΓΑΜΩ

Τοντ Ρόχαλ Todd Rohal

It’s not a request; it’s an order! And it will be enforced no matter what, in the film that will forever put us off eating sausage – or anything like it – ever again… A weary elderly mother (expertly portrayed by Robert Longstreet) wants to find the woman who will bring her son Fabien a little joy: by having sex with him for the first time. So what if Fabian is a mutated beast covered in pusfilled blisters and over-sized warts (which is not the only over-sized thing about him!)?

He also has a soul. The mother’s wish will be forcibly «carried out» by a young mother, so as to spare her own daughter’s life. With a racy aesthetic reminiscent of 70s porn, plenty of bodily fluids and disgust that would make John Waters green with envy, as well as viewing instructions even funnier than the film itself, this is an unbridled sacrilege that simultaneously elicits hysterical laughter,

dread, and nausea. It is a transcendental adaptation of Johnny Ryan’s underground comic of the same name that can be seen with eyes shut.

ON-SITE 7/11 Marketaki 00:00 (midnight of 6/11), 8/11 Liappa 23:45

THE HOLY BOY

ΤΟ

Πάολο

Paolo Strippoli

Ιταλία, Σλοβενία Italy, Slovenia 2025, 122’

A substitute P.E. teacher is assigned to a remote village in Northern Italy, which had been struck by an unspeakable tragedy a few years earlier. He has his own cross to bear, a personal Golgotha which seems inescapable, until he encounters an unbelievable phenomenon: a young student who has the ability to expel sadness and sorrow from his fellow human beings. In the village, he is revered as a modern saint, with the actions of the inhabitants having consequences for both the boy himself and the community he belongs to. A fascinating psychological horror film that meticulously and accurately adheres to the conventions of the genre, unfolding a ghost story at first glance, while simultaneously offering a profound allegory about coping with grief and emotional turmoil. The haunting atmosphere, as well as the sense of inevitability it emits, resonates

deeply with the viewer, lingering even after leaving the theater.

ON-SITE 1/11 Marketaki 23:45, 2/11 Liappa 23:45

IT ENDS

ΤΕΛΕΙΩΝΕΙ

Αλεξάντερ

ΗΠΑ United States 2025, 89’

Alexander Ullom

OBEX

A group of friends who have just graduated go out for dinner, hoping to spend one last relaxed evening together prior to parting ways and embarking on their own journeys into adulthood. But on their way home, something goes terribly wrong; they miss a turn and are unable to exit a road that seems to go on indefinitely. Somewhere between metaphysical allegory, youthful road movie, and psychological horror, the remarkable It Ends manages to become atmospheric, claustrophobic, anxiety-inducing, and intellectually stimulating at the same time, showing what happens when elevated horror draws inspiration from existentialism, Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, and Samuel Beckett. Could adult life be a young person’s nightmare about what the world they are stepping into would look like without carefreeness, friends, joy, and freedom? And ultimately, could the self merely be the way each of us chooses to rationalize (or come to terms with) the existential Absurd?

ON-SITE 1/11 Marketaki 00:00 (midnight of 31/10)

Set in the eerily bygone year of 1987, reclusive oddball Conor Marsh lives with his beloved dog, Sandy, his only true companion, spending his days crafting dot-matrix portraits and his nights retreating into horror flicks. His quiet, solitary world is upended once he stumbles upon OBEX, an enigmatic computer game promising more than idle escapism and seducing him with its strange allure. When Sandy vanishes without a trace, the screen becomes a portal, drawing Conor into a surreal digital realm, a shadowy dimension where the line between reality and game blurs. He embarks on a perilous quest through glitching dreamscapes, haunted circuits, and encounters with uncanny guides, figures both tender and terrifying, beguiling and otherworldly. Each step through this mesmerizing lo-fi nightmare, fragile, feverish, and fleeting, collides with nostalgia, wonder, and desire. Shot in shimmering black-and-white and pulsing with retro-game energy, the film unfolds as a melan-

cholic and sensual odyssey, a hypnotic fusion of fantasy, horror, and longing that beckons audiences to surrender to its spell.

ON-SITE 3/11 Marketaki 00:15 (midnight of 2/11), 9/11 Marketaki 00:30 (midnight of 8/11)

QUEENS OF THE DEAD

σε αποθήκη καλά κρατούν, κι ας κρέμονται από μια κλωστή. Κανέν@ όμως από τ@ παρευρισκόμεν@ δε θα

μπορούσε να φανταστεί

Night has fallen over Brooklyn, and frenetic preparations for an epic drag show party in a warehouse are well underway, though everything seems to be hanging by a thread. No one in attendance could have guessed that, outside, a zombie apocalypse has just erupted. Drag queens, queer and non-binary individuals, frenemies and colossal “egos” soon find themselves trapped inside, not to party, but to escape the hordes of the undead, salivating for a taste of their flesh. In her debut, Tina Romero, daughter of the father of the zombie lore, George Romero, both honors and pokes fun at her father’s legacy through a glittering queer lens. Brimming with ideas, unapologetically colorful, inclusive and camp, starring Gen Z zombies moving in a trance, their finger glued to social media, and the awe-inspiring Katy O’Brian (Love Lies Bleeding) who stands out among the cast, Queens of the Dead becomes the unanticipated outcome that the classic Shaun of the Dead could never have predicted. As attested by the Audience Award it received at the Tribeca Film Festival.

ON-SITE 4/11 Marketaki 00:00 (midnight of 3/11)

Smart7

LesGaiCineMad.

Blending fiction with realism, and professional with non-professional actors, Spanish director Sandra Romero makes her cinematic debut with a story that brings family tensions to the surface, in a documentary style. The dissipated intimacy between two brothers begins to resurface when Antonio returns to his town in Andalusia for Easter holidays, to a collapsing family home, to help his twin brother Javier, who suffers from a congenital disease. They will have to face conflicts from the past, feelings of loneliness, and reproaches that will culminate in a tension-filled confrontation. Antonio must confront the dilemma of whether to stay and try to fix things or go back to his own life. The main roles are portrayed by two brothers, professional actor Antonio Araque and amateur actor Javier Araque, who lays bare the illness afflicting him in front of the camera. The film premiered at the San Sebastián International Film Festival and won the Special Jury Prize and the Best Actor Award at the Almería Film Festival, as well as the Jury Award for Best Film at the LesGaiCineMad Festival.

ON-SITE 31/10 Liappa 14:00 ONLINE 30/10–9/11

DROWNING DRY

Lithuania, Latvia 2024, 88’

A carefully wrought drama about two sisters, Justė and Ernesta, whose countryside weekend with families unravels in the wake of a tragedy. At first a relaxed gathering by a shimmering lake, the weekend becomes haunted by layers of memory, withheld truths, guilt, and jealousy. Bareiša, who also serves as cinematographer, uses non-linear storytelling, sparse close-ups, and moments of stillness to probe how grief distorts perception. Shot with patient, unflinching clarity, the film’s images ripple like a summer lake, serene on the surface, yet heavy with unseen depths. The film premiered in Competition at the 77th Locarno Film Festival, where Bareiša was awarded Best Director and the central cast won Best Performance. It was selected as Lithuania’s entry for Best International Feature at the 97th Academy Awards.

ON-SITE 3/11 Makedonikon 15:00

EPILOGUES ΕΠΙΛΟΓΟΙ

Ari Alexander Ergis Magnússon

Ισλανδία,

Iceland, Belgium, Norway 2024, 89’ Ένα

A haunting, dreamlike journey across grief, love, and memory, crafted by the Icelandic filmmaker Ari Alexander Ergis Magnússon, known for his daring explorations of identity, spirituality, and the line between reality and fantasy. The story follows an 85-year-old widower who mixes his late wife’s ashes into a cup of warm water and drinks it, recalling shared memories from their life together. With the assistance of his cheerful neighbor, he embarks on a journey into the realm of the living and the dead, encountering a series of eccentric companions: a self-centered doctor, a smooth-talking coffin salesman, a yoga teacher, mysterious nuns, a young Faroese bride-to-be, and the small faithful dog, Shadow. At once tender and full of black humor, Epilogues explores loneliness, love, and renewal. The film is based on a novel by the renowned Icelandic author Guðbergur Bergsson — described by Milan Kundera as "a great European novelist."

ON-SITE 7/11 Zannas 16:15 ONLINE 30/10–9/11

HANAMI

Ντενίζ

Denise Fernandes

Switzerland, Portugal, Cape Verde 2024, 96’ Ένα

Cineasti

A lyrical coming-of-age debut with touches of magical realism, directed by Swiss filmmaker Denise Fernandes, whose delicate visual narrative draws inspiration from her own roots in Cape Verde. On a remote volcanic island, filmed beautifully by Fernandes, a place most yearn to leave, young Nana discovers the power of staying. When Nana becomes gravely ill, she is sent to the foot of the island’s volcano for treatment, in a world suspended between dreams and reality. Years later, as a teen, she must face her mother’s sudden return and reconcile with the emotional distance that has shaped her. The film’s title is an allusion to the Japanese tradition of hanami, the fleeting, yet radiant cherry blossom, serving as a metaphor for Nana’s journey through absence, love, and rebirth. Internationally acclaimed, the film won the Prize for Best Emerging Director and a Special Mention in the Cineasti del Presente competition at the Locarno Film Festival in 2024.

ON-SITE 9/11 Makedonikon 17:00

INTERNAL ZERO

In his sophomore film, following his award-winning debut Poppy Field (61st Thessaloniki IFF, International Competition), Romanian director Eugen Jebeleanu explores the issue of identity with courage and emotional depth in this cinematic adaptation of Lavinia Branişte’s best-selling novel. The main character, Cristina, a thirty-year-old secretary, is living in hostile Bucharest, trying to understand what it means to be a bills-paying, social-ladder-climbing grown-up, while also desperately yearning to remain the devoted daughter of her single mother. At the same time, her life becomes the focus of a theater director’s film, and as rehearsals start, the lines between Cristina’s real life and her fictional alter-ego begin to blur. Numerous actresses portray her, interweaving their own personal stories with the script, until neither fantasy nor reality remains constant. This meta-narrative unfolds as a riveting combination of psychological realism and playful self-reflection, posing the pivotal question: Who is playing whom?

ON-SITE 30/10 Makedonikon 20:30

MEAT

ΚΡΕΑΣ

Greece 2024, 104’

Dimitris Nakos

In a village in the Greek countryside, Takis prepares the opening of his new butcher shop. The day before, his son Pavlos kills their neighbor who claims part of their land. The only witness is Christos, a young man from Albania, who has worked for Takis since his childhood.

Takis has to decide who will take the responsibility.

ON-SITE 8/11 Marketaki 15:45

TRAVEL ESSENTIALS

ΑΠΑΡΑΙΤΗΤΑ

Καμίλα Ταραμπούρα Kamila Tarabura

Πολωνία, Γερμανία Poland, Germany 2024, 105’ Σε

In her moving, complex cinematic debut, Kamila Tarabura delivers an elegy on the exploration of memory, identity, and survival as well as two of the most elaborate female characters in contemporary European cinema. Ada, a respected Αmerican journalist of Polish descent, is about to go on maternity leave in Hamburg. One day, she receives a mysterious book describing her childhood trauma – signed by an old school friend of hers, Roksana, with whom she lost contact years ago – she embarks on an emotional journey back to her homeland. Together, the two women confront Roksana’s mother, in her quiet complicity, and long-buried truths of their shared past. As tensions rise and personal stories clash, Ada must navigate through the undefined boundaries between truth, empathy, and her own painful recollections.

ON-SITE 7/11 Makedonikon 17:00

ONLINE 30/10–9/11

SS Special Screenings

THE BLUE TRAIL

ΓΑΛΑΖΙΟ ΜΟΝΟΠΑΤΙ

Γκαμπριέλ Μασκάρου Gabriel Mascaro

Βραζιλία, Μεξικό, Χιλή, Ολλανδία Brazil, Mexico, Chile, The Netherlands 2025, 86’

μια ξεχωριστή πολιτική αλληγορία. Ταυτόχρονα,

Neon Bull (2015).

In a road movie that ventures not on paved highways, but along the world’s largest river, Τhe Blue Trail – the only horizon of freedom in a country asphyxiating under the weight of contemporary totalitarianism – a 77-year-old working-class woman decides to alter the course of her life to fulfill a seemingly simple yet extremely difficult life-long desire. In an unspecified present, Brazil’s government has established enor-

mous senior housing colonies, supposedly designed to “improve” quality of life, but serving, in reality, the revival of the country’s economy, ravaged by the pandemic. Tereza, who has spent her entire life in a small, industrialized town, refuses to conform to this horizontal measure and when the age limit drops, threatening to confine her in a “penal colony” in just a few days, she flees, riding the flow of the water. Her dream is to broad a plane for the very first time… The winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 75th Berlinale tells a singular tale of transformation set in the heart of the Amazon, where dystopia becomes an incubator of revolt and radical change, delivering a special political allegory. At the same time, it serves as an introduction to the wonderful artist Gabriel Mascaro, a prominent representative of the “Recife School,” whom we first met in Thessaloniki with the fearless Neon Bull (2015).

ON-SITE 6/11 Makedonikon 20:00

CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON

China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, USA 2000, 120’

wuxia στο δυτικό κοινό, συγκέντρωσε δέκα υποψηφιότητες

brought, at the dawn of the new millennium, the wuxia genre back into fashion for the Western audience, gathered ten Academy Award nominations and won four - including one for the iconic soundtrack crafted by composer Tan Dun which will preface the screening - and remains to this day the most commercially successful non-English film in the history of the U.S. box-office. Inconceivably well-choreographed action and martial arts scenes, an impressive recreation of 19th century Imperial China, elements of drama and romance, as well as the fascinating story of two warriors –exceptionally portrayed by Chow Yun Fat and Michelle Yeoh - who must recover a stolen sword, compose an unforgettable film that is rightfully included among the best films of the 21st century in every relevant ranking.

Screening in collaboration with Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra

ON-SITE 5/11 Cassavetes 16:00

TAΙΝΙΑ

OPENING FILM

FATHER MOTHER SISTER BROTHER

Τζιμ Τζάρμους Jim Jarmusch

ΗΠΑ, Ιρλανδία, Γαλλία USA, Ireland, France 2025, 110’

Το Father Mother Sister Brother είναι

προσεκτικά

τους, και μεταξύ τους. Κάθε ένα από τα τρία

κεφάλαια διαδραματίζεται στο παρόν και σε

διαφορετική χώρα. Το Father διαδραματίζεται

THE FENCE

Κλερ

Claire Denis

France 2025, 109’

Father Mother Sister Brother is a feature film, though carefully constructed in the form of a triptych. The three stories all concern the relationships between adult children, their somewhat distant parent (or parents), and each other. Each of the three chapters takes place in the present, and each in a different country. Father is set in the Northeast US, Mother in Dublin, Ireland, and Sister Brother in Paris, France. The film is a series of character studies, quiet, observational and non-judgmental – a comedy, but interwoven with threads of melancholy.

ON-SITE 30/10 Olympion 19:30, 3/11 Tornes 21:30

Returning to Africa, the inspiration behind some of her most iconic films, Claire Denis brings Bernard-Marie Koltès's play, Combat de nègre et de chiens, to the big screen, immersing us in a situation akin to a powder keg waiting to explode. At a British-owned construction site, Horn (Matt Dillon), the white site manager, must deal with an employee's death, along with the deceased's brother (Isaach de Bankolé), who shows up demanding answers. The arrival of his young wife, incapable of comprehending the circumstances and the dynamics of a place poisoned by the insidious and oppressive shadow of colonization, adds fuel to the fire. Inequalities, exploitation, racial animosity, and toxic masculinity escalate the tension in this claustrophobic drama, this understated eruption of excellent cinematic craftsmanship that reminds us why Denis's cinema was, and continues to be, relevant and remarkable.

ON-SITE 8/11 Olympion 23:00

GRAND PRIX

John Frankenheimer

The most daring drivers in the world have gathered to compete for the 1966 Formula One championship. After a spectacular wreck in the first of a series of races, American wheelman Pete Aron is dropped by his sponsor. Refusing to quit, he joins a Japanese racing team. While juggling his career with a torrid love affair involving an ex-teammate’s wife, Pete must also contend with Jean-Pierre Sarti, a French contestant who has previously won two world titles. All the glamour and greatness of the world’s most exciting drama of speed and spectacle: this is the unique artistic vision of director John Frankenheimer (in his first attempt in color), who chose to film a real Grand Prix to capture the right level of drama and speed – with modified cameras attached to the cars, giving the first Cinerama audiences the viewpoints of the drivers. With frantic montage and moving titles by the legendary Saul Bass, the greatest racing film of all time and one of the best studio efforts of the ‘60s stands as a unique testament to a dazzling era.

HAMNET

The screening is held with the support of OPAP, member of Allwyn ON-SITE 31/10 Marketaki 20:30

In Hamnet, Chloé Zao brings Maggie O’Farrell’s acclaimed novel to the big screen and looks at the life of William Shakespeare through the eyes of his wife, Agnes. In 16th-century England, Agnes, a free-spirited, deeply perceptive woman, falls in love with William, the young Latin teacher, and together, they build a family full of life, children, and ineffable love. When their son, Hamnet, dies at the age of 11, the loss will fracture both their marriage and their own selves, but it will also become the inspiration behind one of the most celebrated works of world literature. Zao follows her characters on a journey from love to loss, and from sorrow to creation, with lyricism and passion. Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal bring their characters to life in a way that roots them in humanity, and the combination yields something truly rare and remarkable. Hamnet is a wonderful film about grief, memory, and the transformative power of art – about how an intimate farewell can resonate as something timeless and profoundly human.

ON-SITE 31/10 Olympion 20:00

ΚΟΤΑ

Γκιόργκι

Γερμανία,

György Pálfi

Germany, Greece, Hungary 2025, 96’ Η

A HOUSE WITH TWO DOGS

Matías Ferreyra

Argentina 2025, 99’

και κοινωνι-

κοπολιτικό σχόλιο, αλλά και ένα γοητευτικά

μακάβριο θριλερικό twist για κορύφωση. Ο

Ούγγρος Γκιόργκι

The exciting, quirky, funny, touching story of a hen’s survival becomes a wholly original and genre-defying film in the most imaginative of ways; it is simultaneously a family drama with comedic bursts, a feminist satire, and a sociopolitical commentary, culminating in a wonderfully macabre twist reminiscent of a thriller. The Hungarian filmmaker of Taxidermia and Free Fall, György Pálfi, collaborates with a Greek cast (Yannis Kokiasmenos, Maria Diakopanagiotou, Argyris Pantazaras, Antonis Tsiotsiopoulos, and Antonis Kafetzopoulos in a delightful cameo) and with Giorgos Karvelas as cinematographer, in this unanticipated Greek co-production that had its world premiere at the Toronto IFF. The adorable hens steal the show as Pálfi admirably balances between real animals on-screen and visual effects. And here is a promise: after the screening, Manolis Angelopoulos's song “Ta mavra matia sou” (“Your Black Eyes”) will never sound the same!

ON-SITE 9/11 Olympion 19:30

As Argentina experiences an unprecedented economic crisis, in the early 2000s, young Manuel’s parents are unable to pay rent and move, along with him and his two younger brothers, into their grandmother Tati’s house. The house is in disrepair, full of relics from bygone eras and piled objects that should have been thrown away years ago, rotting more by the minute. There, Manuel, who seems to differ from the other children, will reconnect with his eccentric grandmother, herself now touched by the metaphysical, while his family disintegrates much like the food in the fridge. An allegory about inner instability, the dissolution of human equilibrium and dignity, and ultimately of a country, as seen through the eyes of a boy in search of his own identity. With cinematography as warm as the summer heat, this is a debut with an atmosphere so thick that it sears itself into memory and emotions.

ON-SITE 6/11 Makedonikon 17:00, 9/11 Marketaki 19:00

JOAN OF ARC

With Joan of Arc, Hlynur Pálmason continues his cinematic exploration of landscape, time, and memory, delivering a work which balances between family portrait, allegory, and cinematic poem. The film follows three children who, on an isolated Icelandic coast, make a human figure out of mud and wood, a knight, or perhaps all things considered, Joan of Arc, unleashing a barrage of arrows from their bows upon her, as time passes, seasons change, and their game takes on an almost existential quality. Pálmason crafts a film that stands on its own (much like his children's Joan), but also engages in dialogue with his latest film, The Love That Remains. In truth, it is a parallel, accompanying piece – a cinematic “appendix” which draws from the same material, the same characters, and the same landscape, though it transforms them into a distinctive experience, full of rhythm, lyricism, and the sense that time does not merely pass us by, but rather that it observes us as we watch it quietly slip past.

ON-SITE 7/11 Zannas 12:00, 9/11 Zannas 19:00

LOVE ME TENDER

Αννά

Anna Cazenave Cambet

Γαλλία France 2025, 133’

Α deeply charged story about identity, motherhood, and the fight for autonomy, delivered by french filmmaker Anna Cazenave Cambet, in an adaptation of Constance Debré’s 2020 novel. At summer’s end, Clémence (Vicky Krieps) shocks her ex-husband by revealing she has relationships with women. In response, he seeks to strip her of custody of their son, setting off a years-long legal and emotional struggle as Clémence fights to be both mother and woman, free to live openly. Cambet balances intimate realism with emotional lyricism, allowing small silences and private moments to carry weight. Love Me Tender premiered in the Un Certain Regard section of the 78th Cannes Film Festival (2025), where it was also nominated for the Queer Palm Award. Anchored by Krieps’s quietly powerful lead performance, the film draws strength from its vulnerability and moral insistence.

ON-SITE 31/10 Liappa 23:00

THE LOVE THAT REMAINS

Iceland, Denmark, Sweden, France 2025, 109’

Hlynur Pálmason, one of Iceland’s most distinctive contemporary filmmakers, turns his poetic eye toward the fragility of family bonds in this tender chronicle of a year in transition. The film follows a couple as they navigate the painful terrain of separation while continuing to raise their children together. Through playful interludes, quiet confrontations, and the rhythms of daily life across the shifting seasons, Pálmason evokes the bittersweet textures of faded love, lingering memory, and resilience amidst change. Blending his signature attention to landscape and intimacy, the film becomes both a portrait of endings and a celebration of what endures. The film has been selected as Iceland’s official submission for the 98th Academy Awards.

ON-SITE 31/10 Liappa 17:00

MADE IN EU Στέφαν

Germany, Czech Republic 2025, 109’

In the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, a woman working at a clothing factory in a provincial Bulgarian town receives a positive diagnosis. Blamed by her employers and local society for her “irresponsible actions that put her fellow colleagues and townspeople at risk” (after being the first officially documented case of a patient with Covid-19), she is stigmatized, and both she and her son are regarded as enemies of the community. The director behind the remarkable Blaga’s Lessons returns with another sharp social drama, mercilessly exposing the inhumanity of capitalist profiteering, the defenses that are put up out of fear when people turn into a frightened herd, the violent instinct to ostracize that impairs all sound judgment when confronted with the looming shadow of death. A heart-wrenching film that urges us to ponder the circumstances under which a man ceases to be human and the beast within enters the fray (or makes a comeback), so that we may resist and overturn them. Made in EU sounds the alarm yet doesn’t succumb to despair. Because those who fight, even in darkness, keep the beacon of hope alight for all.

ON-SITE 1/11 Liappa 22:15

THE MASTERMIND

ΙΘΥΝΩΝ

Reichardt

Set against the backdrop of a quiet Massachusetts suburb in 1970, a traditional heist film turns into an introspective study on ambition, failure, and the moral cracks hidden beneath the American dream. Josh O’Connor delivers a compelling performance as James Blaine Mooney, an out-of-work carpenter from a respectable family whose restless spirit leads him to a reckless decision. He assembles a mismatched crew to rob a small-town museum of its prized Arthur Dove paintings. But the plan, meant to be simple and victimless, spirals into chaos. With her signature directorial precision and empathy, Kelly Reichardt turns the mechanics of a simple crime story into a meditative exploration of social class issues, masculinity, and the allure of risk. The film unfolds not as a tale of triumph or tragedy, but as a quiet reckoning with the choices that define a life.

ON-SITE 31/10 Olympion 23:00, 8/11 Liappa 11:30

MAYA, GIVE ME A TITLE ΜΑΓΙΑ,

France 2024, 62’

Michel Gondry

The perpetually ingenious Michel Gondry, a person whose legacy will endure due to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, embellishes his already prime filmography with an animated film that couldn’t have been more personal. And this because it is the outcome of the imaginative way that father Michel and daughter Maya bridged the vast distance between them, across the ocean that separated them, back when they lived on different continents. Michel would ask her to give him a title, an idea, and depending on her answer, he would come up with a short, animated story. The compilation of these stories, this bittersweet give-and-take between father and daughter, includes action, car chases, earthquakes, fairies, many bottles of ketchup, and even more emotions. Maya, Give Me a Title began when Maya was only four years old and it went on for six entire years. It is surely impossible for this handcrafted expression of love and intimacy to leave your heart untouched.

ON-SITE 8/11 Olympion 14:30

MIRRORS No. 3

After music student Laura survives a deadly car crash, she’s taken in by Betty, a middle-aged woman who witnessed the accident. Betty’s home is calm and centring for the traumatised Laura, whose presence seems to have a similarly healing effect on Betty and, despite some initial resistance, on her husband and son. But the centre cannot hold; why is Betty so willing to let a stranger live in her home? Why does Laura so compliantly play along? And what will happen when the past comes back to haunt both women’s present? Working again with muse Paula Beer (Afire, Transit), effortlessly mysterious here as the emotionally adrift Laura, Christian Petzold composes another intimate story of personal grief and human connection. Named after the Ravel piano suite that Laura plays in the final act, Mirrors No. 3 is as tantalisingly ambiguous as it is sweetly humorous, and – like all his works – elegant, intriguing, restrained and deeply human.

ON-SITE 2/11 Marketaki 22:00

PALESTINE 36

ΠΑΛΑΙΣΤΙΝΗ 36

Ανμαρί

Annemarie Jacir

Palestine, UK, France, Denmark, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan 2025, 119’

Επίσημη

Palestine’s official submission for this year’s Academy Awards, Palestine 36 is set nearly a century earlier, although it sheds light on the present day like few films currently in production do. Epic in its conception and form, blending poignant period drama, archival footage, and a powerful political statement all at once, this film transports us to Palestine in 1936, when the crumbling British Empire sought to suppress the yearning and struggle of the Palestinian people for liberation and national self-actualization by every possible means, while the Jewish settlers arrived in the region to make way for the establishment of their own nation.

Following the stories of three ordinary people thrust in the relentless tide of History through alternating and intertwining narrative threads, and with a cast that includes first-class stars such as Jeremy Irons and Hiam Abbas, the filmmaker Annemarie Jacir composes something much greater than a mere panorama of an era: through a meticulously studied and finely executed multi-faceted yet intimate drama, she vividly illuminates the roots of a conflict that shape the past and present of our world.

ON-SITE 8/11 Liappa 20:00, 9/11 Marketaki 13:00

A POET

ΕΝΑΣ

Simón Mesa Soto

Colombia, Germany, Sweden

Oscar, a fifty-year-old poet living off his mother’s pension, an alcoholic, and bitter man, finds himself facing a personal and financial stalemate. Through acquaintances, he manages to land a job at a high school of a marginalized neighborhood, and meets a student innately talented in poetry. Oscar becomes her self-appointed mentor and tries to introduce her to his literary circle, but her reluctance and a series of unfortunate circumstances will turn his life upside down, providing him with the opportunity to acknowledge his mistakes for the very first time. Awarded the Jury Prize in the “Un Certain Regard” section at Cannes, shot on vivid 16mm film, directed with confidence, and edited with exceptional restraint, the second film of Colombian filmmaker Simón Mesa Soto is one of the finest of the year. Hilarious yet deeply poignant at the same time, A Poet is much more than the witty portrait of a whimsical artist, or a biting satire of the literary world: in Oscar’s face, the face of a character painfully familiar, one sees a tragic hero of our time, who commits, almost ceremoniously, one blunder after the other until the final catharsis. And all this, with an unstoppable, bitter laugh.

ON-SITE 7/11 Olympion 23:00

RE-CREATION

Jim Sheridan, David Merriman

Ireland, Luxembourg 2025, 95’

2019,

In 2019, British journalist Ian Bailey was found guilty of the murder of French television producer Sophie Toscan Du Plantier at her vacation home in West Cork, Ireland, thus archiving one of the most sensational cases in the history of Northern Europe. This took place in France in absentia of Bailey, since Ireland refused to allow his extradition, over 20 years after the violent attack resulting in 50 stab wounds and the hasty attribution of blame without DNA testing, or even significant circumstantial evidence. The six-time Academy Award nominee, Jim Sheridan, responsible for one of the most powerful legal thrillers in cinema history (In The Name of the Father) and dedicated to exploring stories of “the next day,” (The Boxer), reexamines the legal proceedings, not to reinstate the truth, but rather, to sow doubt. Permitting us access into the jury chamber, he keeps us on the edge of our seats and leaves us at the capable hands of one Vicky Krieps so she can steer our judgment through uncharted routes.

ON-SITE 2/11 Liappa 20:00

ROMERÍA

Κάρλα

Warmth, sweetness, nostalgia, melancholy, dynamic characters, family relationships, universal concerns – this is the cinema of Catalan filmmaker Carla Simón and Golden Bear-winner at Berlinale, an intoxicating -for the audienceway to exorcise her experiences. This time, premiering at Cannes, she makes a pilgrimage to the far from holy places of her homeland. The 18-year-old orphan Marina embarks on a journey to Galicia in 2004 in search of her father’s family and her identity, drawing on haunted recollections of her enamored, impassioned, scarred parents. Through the handheld camera with which Marina captures everything and Hélène Louvart’s masterful lighting, a twofold summer memory emerges, harsh on the soul, yet delicate in appearance.

ON-SITE 7/11 Liappa 23:00

SILENT FRIEND

Ildikó Enyedi

Germany, Hungary, France 2025, 147’

In Silent Friend, Ildikó Enyedi weaves a story that unfolds over three different time periods centered around a towering Ginkgo tree, located in the botanical garden of a German town, which becomes both a symbol of eternity and a silent observer of human history. In 1908, Grete is fighting for admission to the Botany School of a German University only to be faced with the insurmountable limitations imposed on her gender. In 1972, Gundula studies what plants sense, with the assistance of her anti-social classmate, in a field where science intertwines with unspoken desire. In 2020, neuroscientist Tony Wong and renowned botanist Alice Sauvage seek the unseen connections between nature and man – and perhaps, between themselves. Imbued with aesthetic excellence and the emotional sensitivity inherent in her works, Enyedi constructs a nuanced film of subtle beauty that captures the eternal and the ephemeral like the rustling of leaves. Like fleeting moments in human lives, we seem condemned to live only a small leaf of this tree which represents time, or humanity itself, our very own world.

ON-SITE 2/11 Olympion 19:45, 3/11 Tornes 12:30

THE TASTERS

Silvio Soldini

Italy, Belgium, Switzerland 2025, 123’

The twelfth feature by acclaimed Italian filmmaker Silvio Soldini transforms Rosella Postorino’s international best-selling novel, At the Wolf’s Table, into a gripping and profoundly human wartime drama set during World War II. Autumn 1943: Rosa, a young Berliner fleeing the ruins of her city, takes refuge in a remote village near the eastern border, where her husband’s family lives. But beneath the village’s tranquil surface lies a sinister truth: the existence of the nearby Wolf’s Lair, Hitler’s hidden headquarters. There, Rosa and other young women are forced to risk their lives as food tasters each day, ensuring the Führer’s meals are safe from poison. Between gnawing hunger and constant fear, fragile bonds of solidarity, rivalry, and desire emerge among the women. Rosa, initially mistrusted as an outsider, finds her place within the group, only to be shaken by the forbidden attraction she feels towards an SS officer, a perilous reminder of her own yearning to feel alive amid the suffocating grip of war.

ON-SITE 8/11 Olympion 20:00

THE THING WITH FEATHERS

In his debut feature, British director Dylan Southern delivers a poetic study of mourning, survival, and the bonds that hold families together. After the sudden death of his wife, a young father (Benedict Cumberbatch) retreats with his two children to a remote lakeside cabin. Isolated from the outside world, the father’s hold on reality crumbles and a strange presence begins to stalk him from the shadowy recesses of the apartment he shares with his two young sons. A manlike crow, seemingly brought to life from the father’s work as an illustrator, is about to become a very real part of all of their lives, ultimately guiding them towards the new shape their family must take. Filmed with striking natural light and an unhurried rhythm, Southern captures both the fragility and endurance of human connection.

ON-SITE 1/11 Marketaki 18:00

TWO PROSECUTORS

ΔΥΟ

Σεργκέι Λοζνίτσα Sergei Loznitsa Γαλλία,

Ρουμανία, Λιθουανία France, Germany, The Netherlands, Latvia, Romania, Lithuania 2025, 118’

1937.

Soviet Union, 1937. Thousands of letters from detainees falsely accused by the regime are burned in a prison cell. Against all odds, one of them reaches its destination, upon the desk of the newly appointed local prosecutor, Alexander Kornev. Convinced of the prisoner’s innocence and guided by faith in the revolutionary ideals he swore to uphold, Kornev begins an investigation that leads him from his provincial office to the labyrinthine corridors of Soviet power in Moscow. In the age of the great Stalinist purges, his devotion to justice collides with a system built on terror and silence. Filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa explores moral courage under totalitarianism and the integrity of one person that becomes an act of rebellion.

ON-SITE 5/11 Olympion 20:00

WHITETAIL

The Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland 2025, 103’

As the ranger overseeing a thickly forested patch of southern Ireland, the woman at the heart of Nanouk Leopold’s seventh feature is a formidable presence in her community. Played with all due tenacity and ferocity by Natasha O’Keeffe, Jen is equally unlikely to suffer fools as tolerate the poachers who’ve been encroaching on her territory under cover of

night. But when she learns that Oscar (Aaron McCusker), a boyfriend from her youth, has returned to town, her stern facade begins to crack. Along with the growing mystery about the dangers lurking in her forest and new developments in her relationship with her beloved father, Daniel (Andrew Bennett), Jen must contend with the repercussions of the tragic event that changed the course of her life and Oscar’s, too.

ON-SITE 31/10 Liappa 20:00, 1/11 Marketaki 12:00

WILD AT HEART

ΑΤΙΘΑΣΗ

ΗΠΑ USA 1990, 125’

Americana.

David Lynch

A tweaked and unorthodox road movie with intermediate stops in Americana’s innermost depths. A trippy, quirky, yet loveable homage to the Wizard of Oz. An anarchist romance taken straight out of the most unconventional amour fou handbook, a hallucinogenic rock ballad of sex and violence. An underground feminist manifesto, as well as a deconstruction

of the sanctity of motherhood, thanks to one of the most disturbed mothers in the history of American cinema (the Academy Award nominee Diane Ladd, the real-life mother of lead actress Laura Dern, in an entirely Lynchian casting choice). A delightful fetishization of scattered symbols and of the cinematic image itself, where even a snakeskin jacket becomes a “symbol of individuality and commitment to personal freedom.”

David Lynch’s Wild at Heart, misunderstood during its time but favored by a subsequent

SSS

Series Special Screenings

THE DANISH WOMAN

Benedikt Erlingsson

France, Iceland 2025, 103’

Ditte has just retired from the Danish Secret Service and moves to Iceland in the hopes of cultivating a calm existence in an apartment in Reykjavik. Old habits, however, do die hard and as such, she is unable to hide who

revaluation, is all the above and many more, having forged an almost legendary pop legacy over the course of time. Sailor and Lula, two beloved “schizophrenic lovebirds” at the dawn of the unrestrained cinematic ’90s, are being hunted by gods and demons alike. In this whirlwind ride, in their very own “yellow brick road,” the destination is but one and the same; true love, with a soundtrack by King Elvis.

ON-SITE 5/11 Tornes 20:00

she really is; an agent with exceptional skills, if perhaps a touch too drastic ones when measured by the standards of civic tranquility. Unbidden, she sets out to resolve any issue that arises in the neighborhood, taking the saying “the end justifies the means” to heart. The Danish Woman charges in with black humor and a light-hearted iteration of the spy film genre, providing the brilliant Trine Dyrholm with the opportunity to put her own spin on the “fish out of the water” archetype. Hilarious predicaments, a healthy dose of suspense, and carefully planted dramatic elements reside in the apartment building featured in this delightful series and managed by a heroine no one asked for, but is here to stay.

ON-SITE 2/11 Tornes 17:00

DORM No. 13 ΚΟΙΤΩΝΑΣ

A handful of young conscripts, girls and boys, pass through the threshold of Dorm No. 13 to begin their basic training in the Finnish army. From the very first awkward introductions to the enthusiastic eagerness of some, or the complete unwillingness of others to adapt to the new reality, this rag tag group must promptly achieve uniformity and demonstrate military discipline and good morale, whether knee deep in snow wielding a gun, or elbow deep in the toilets and corridors wielding a broom. The absurd antics that often go hand in hand with compulsory military service steal the show in the microcosm of Dorm No. 13, a hilarious series from Finland which, surprisingly, has much to contribute to the dialogue it commences with the Greek experience of conscription, as well as with its multiple depictions on the small and big screen (like the legendary saga Loafing and Camouflage). A black comedy clad in khaki, enveloped in snow.

ON-SITE 1/11 Liappa 14:00

HOLY SH!T

ΘΕΕ

Devoting oneself to the teaching vocation is not a simple matter, let alone when one struggles with Tourette’s Syndrome. In spite of the social stigma, young Yasmine, who, temporarily makes do with tutoring students at home, refuses to abandon her dream of becoming a Physics professor. Bolstered by her best friend’s steadfast presence and her mother’s support, she resolutely chases after her dream, despite the unwanted attention her tics garner and the disorienting comeback of her father, a man she has practically never even met. With the incredible Mona Mina Leon in the lead role, Holy Sh!t reduces any misconceptions and biases surrounding people with Tourette’s to dust and splinters, flooding the screen with humor, a positive outlook, and a deeply ingrained sense of inclusivity. A radiant ode to friendship and the need for visibility, a surprising series that manages to be funny, tender, sincere, and impactful, all at once.

ON-SITE 4/11 Olympion 11:45

ONE OF US IS TREMBLING

28-year-old Silvia is searching for a partner, embarking on a journey of self-discovery, and exploring her limits, as well as the boundaries of her resilience. She exhibits schizotypal char-

acteristics, but is at the same time sweet, sensual, and demanding due to her mood swings. Mikkel is cheerful, bright, supportive. Their relationship will bloom before it begins to sprout thorns that wound them both, since being around Silvia will force Mikkel to confront his own emotional state. An award-winning miniseries about mental health, recognized at Series Mania, that is courageous, yet lacks any trace of pretentiousness or embellishment. As spontaneous as a first love, as alluring as it is tender, this series may seem like a small nothing, but it nevertheless delivers a very spot-on observation: that in “real” life the one who trembles isn’t always the one who appears weaker.

ON-SITE 3/11 Olympion 11:30

PUTAIN

Ντέμπεν

Belgium 2024, 89’

Deben Van Dam

smarts to make some quick money. Despite its brisk pace and the comedic touches that decisively enhance it, despite its indisputable main character, Putain forgoes the safety of the coming-of-age approach in favor of the bigger picture, the contemporary urban reality, full of flaws and inequalities. It builds conflicts, charges the arising dilemmas with vibrancy, and treats every single one of the characters on screen with great regard and tenderness.

A series whose heart beats fiercely in the present, for the children – whatever their age – of a lesser god, who are struggling to remain afloat in the melting pot of the big city, in every conceivable and inconceivable way.

ON-SITE 1/11 Tornes 23:00

RIFIFI

ΡΙΦΙΦΙ

Ελλάδα Greece 2025, 100’

Sotiris Tsafoulias

της coming-of-age προ-

σέγγισης για χάρη της μεγάλης εικόνας, της

When his mother gets back together with her ex, in a self-destructive relationship overshadowed by the haze of substances, teenager Gigi gives her an ultimatum: your lover or me. When she refuses to choose, the kid runs away from home, quits school, and starts roaming Brussels, as he imagines and dreams of, relying on the help of friends and his street

Rififi follows the events surrounding the infamous heist, as presented through the reports and news coverage of the time, and seeks to fictionally address the two major questions that remain unanswered to this day: Who did it and why Authorities spoke of organized crime, terrorist organizations, and particularly educated and ruthless perpetrators. But was that really the case? With the power of fiction, COSMOTE TV’s new production combines the greatest heist ever committed in Greece with a true story of human tragedy, delivering a character-driven series full of emotion and strong elements of humor.

Screening

TOMORROW ΑΥΡΙΟ

Ελλάδα Greece 2025,

Yorgos Gkikapeppas

A car abandoned above the gorge. A man and a woman are missing. A couple who saw them for the last time calls for help. The missing are swept away by the river without anyone knowing where the other is or if they are alive. A fierce rescue operation begins in the night and rain. How did it all come to this? The story of a life struggles as a missing person where the past came unexpectedly like a sudden flood.

Screening in collaboration with the Hellenic Broadcasting Coorporation (ERT).

ON-SITE 4/11 Liappa 22:00

PT

Tribute: Plot Twist, Beyond the Sixth Sense

Plot Twist, Beyond the Sixth Sense

AND THE DOGS WERE QUIET

Sarah Maldoror

The daring short film directed by Sarah Maldoror, is based on the titular theater play by Aimé Césaire, one of the most prominent figures of Creole literature. Transforming the Musée de l’Homme in Paris into a deeply allegorical scenery, a dramatic dialogue dissects the trauma and the vulgarity of colonialism, as well as of the mechanisms that ensured its historical silencing and justification.

ON-SITE 2/11 Makedonikon 17:00

ATROPIA

In the highly ingenious and Sundance-winner Atropia by Hailey Gates, a movie set is transformed into a simulated war-stricken land in order to enhance the training of the American soldiers before being sent out to the hellhole of Iraq. The romance developed between Fayruz, the star of the “cast,” and a veteran playing the role of an insurgent, puts at risk both the ambitions of the former and the entire endeavor: a comic love story, wearing the suit of a political satire, that springs right out the heart of an American-made absurdism.

ON-SITE 2/11 Tornes 20:00

BOUCHRA

Orian Barki, Meriem Bennani

Italy, Morocco, USA 2025,

In the thrilling fanciful debut film by Orian Barki and Meriem Bennani , the mix of 3D animation and documentary-like style crafts an irresistible hybrid narrative where cinema mirrors the intricate relation between two anthropomorphous coyotes: a queer filmmaker who lives and works in New York and her cardiologist mother who lives in Casablanca.

ON-SITE 31/10 Marketaki 15:00, 5/11 Makedonikon 17:00

CLOSE-UP

Iran

Abbas Kiarostami

In Genealogy of Violence by Mohamed Bourouissa, a short film bursting with energy, a boy and a girl of Arab origin are subjected to an unjustified and exhaustive ID verification control by two policemen. Through the use of elaborate techniques both in terms of camerawork and visual effects, the film unearths the unseen, age-old, and recurring paths of violence and discrimination.

ON-SITE 2/11 Makedonikon 17:00

GOODBYE, DRAGON INN

DRAGON INN

Tsai Ming-Liang

Ταϊβάν Taiwan 2003, 82’ Στο

In the unforgettable masterpiece by Abbas Kiarostami, the film that secured him a spot on the world cinema stage, a one-of-a-kind incident of identity fraud involving the Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf serves as the bedrock for a mesmerizing swirling into the world-changing traits of the cinematic truth that often abolishes any unwritten law of the dull reality: a psychographical study in unveiling the spectral yet robust nature of life and of the human condition.

ON-SITE 4/11 Makedonikon 14:30

GENEALOGY OF VIOLENCE

In the mesmeric Goodbye, Dragon Inn by the masterful virtuoso Tsai Ming-liang, film narrative, the moving images, and the dark theater’s rituality are transformed into a land of ghosts, eternal return, unfulfilled desire, and time rupture, reminding us that cinema travels beyond what meets the eye and captures the mind.

ON-SITE 5/11 Makedonikon 14:00

KEMPINSKI

France 2007, 14’

Neïl Beloufa

In the mystic and enchanting short film Kempinski by Neïl Beloufa, human figures emerge through the deepest dark of the night to narrate stories that come from a future like a reminiscence and travel towards a past that is yet to be revealed. An otherworldly blend of sci-fi, pseudo-documentary, and the primordial traditions of Mali, decomposing all narrative certainties.

ON-SITE 2/11 Makedonikon 17:00

ΚΙΝΕΤΤΑ

2005, 98’

Yorgos Lanthimos

The Photograph by Nico Papatakis, through the device of a simple photo that serves as an illusionary reflection of a constructed reality, touches upon the open wounds of contemporary Greek society: from the drama of the immigration uprooting all the way to the gloomy political landscape and the frail identity of a country in transition. At the same time, it weaves a multilayered allegory on the truthfulness and deception of images, in a grandiose parable on cinema itself.

ON-SITE 1/11 Makedonikon 12:00

THE SPOUSALS OF GOD

João César Monteiro

France, Portugal 1999, 155’

In Kinetta, the impressive directorial debut of Yorgos Lanthimos, the entire world seems to have immersed itself in an off-season and out-of-work status. A policeman, a photographer, and a cleaning lady, in a deserted and inactive summer resort, videotape and reenact several crimes committed in the wider region, in a quirky and weird study on the everlasting unreliability of images and the cloudy nature of reality.

ON-SITE 6/11 Makedonikon 12:00

THE PHOTOGRAPH

Nico Papatakis

France, Greece 1986,

The Spousals of God, the final installment in João César Monteiro’s trilogy where the director portrays the main character of João de Deus, walks down the familiar paths of relentless sarcasm against religious and social hypocrisy. Having been given a deus-ex-machina gift of a suitcase full of cash by a “messenger of God,” the film’s clochard hero is transformed into a tycoon in the blink of an eye, but remains chained to his morbid fantasies and desires.

ON-SITE 3/11 Makedonikon 12:00

THEY ARE THE DOGS

In the adventurous They Are the Dogs by Hisham Lasri, a TV crew closely follows a recently released prisoner. Through a modern-day Odyssey amidst the abuzz Casablanca and the tumultuous Moroccan society, the film illustrates the eternal conflict between experienced memory and the misleading media recording, crossing the distance that separates rebellion and repression.

ON-SITE 30/10 Cassavetes 19:00

THE TIME THAT REMAINS

Elia Suleiman

Palestine, France 2009, 110’

Shot in Cali, Colombia, in the guise of a documentary, The Vampires of Poverty by Carlos Mayolo and Luis Ospina denounces the photogenic embellishment of poverty by Western culture. Armed with a vitriolic black humour, the film castigates the artistic opportunism that exploits human pain, as well as the counterfeit sensitivity as a springboard for profit and recognition.

ON-SITE 2/11 Makedonikon 17:00

VHS – KAHLOUCHA

Néjib Belkadhi

VHS

In the tender yet painful The Time That Remains by Elia Suleiman, the recollections of the director’s father, recorded in the form of a diary, are inextricably interweaved with the collective and age-old drama of the Palestinian people. The notions of filmic and historical time are folded and intertwined, measuring an unhealed trauma and transforming what remains into memory, hope, and a solid reminder.

ON-SITE 9/11 Makedonikon 12:00

THE VAMPIRES OF POVERTY

Luis Ospina, Carlos Mayolo

Colombia 1978, 27’

The delightful documentary VHS – Κahloucha by Nejib Belkadhi introduces us to a Tunisian home-brewed film director and actor who incessantly shoots amateur b-movie type films, featuring a cast from the poorest social and educational layers, lauded by the audience. Through the reverse reflection of the lavished aesthetics, we are immersed in a fascinating journey in the core of cinema’s magic.

ON-SITE 7/11 Makedonikon 14:00

AFTER DREAMING

ΞΥΠΝΗΜΑ ΣΤΟ ΟΝΕΙΡΟ

Κριστίν Χαρουτουνιάν Christine Haroutounian

Αρμενία, ΗΠΑ, Μεξικό Armenia, USA, Mexico 2025, 109’

Όχι πολύ μακριά από την κοιλάδα του Αρα-

ράτ, από τη βιβλική γη όπου βρέθηκε η Κιβωτός του Νώε μετά τον κατακλυσμό για να

Αρτσάχ (για τους Αρμένιους) ή του Ναγκόρνο-Καραμπάχ (για τους Αζέρους),

descent that resembles a fever dream, wading through volatile, blurred, ethereal images that soften the edges of reality. Embracing abstraction; and as if entranced by a transcendental rhythm, she weaves together vignettes drawn from the mythology of war, nation, religion, and family, in order to escape into a new realm of poetic vision.

ON-SITE 30/10 Tornes 17:00, 31/10 Makedonikon 17:00

ALL THAT’S LEFT OF YOU

Dabis

Germany, Cyprus, Palestine, Jordan, Greece, Qatar, Saudi Arabia 2025, 145’

Not too far from the Ararat Valley, the biblical land where Noah’s Ark was found after the flood to commence humankind anew, in the perilous, contested region of Artsakh (for Armenians), or Nagorno-Karabakh (for Azerbaijanis), a profound, metaphysical journey unfolds in the war-torn countryside. A young Armenian soldier travels alongside a teenage girl who has just lost her father, but isn’t yet aware of it – after all, on the eve of the funeral, her family sought to remove her from the village, so that she would never come to know that the man’s cold-blooded murder was committed by his fellow villagers, who had mistaken him for an enemy. Departing from linear storytelling and defying realism, the filmmaker takes the camera in hand and follows her heroes into a

An epic-scale journey into the depths of the Palestinian plight, masterfully tracing and carefully dissecting a multifactorial and convoluted intergenerational trauma. Starting in medias res, in a setting of pulsating action and anguish

that leaves a tormenting question unresolved, we are plunged (and swept) from the get-go into a story of undulating pain and a recurring sense of futility. Divided into four chapters – the surge of violence during the Nakba in 1948; the consolidation of a new status quo in the West Bank in 1978; the outbreak of the First Intifada in 1988; and the filmic present of 2022 – Cherien Dabis’s devastating All That’s Left of You makes us both witnesses and participants in a fathomless and irreparable loss. Yet Dabis resists the lure of convenient sentimentality, weaving instead a labyrinthine character study, shrouding a series of underground and catastrophic conflicts within the bounds of family. In a meticulously paced yet heart-wrenching finale that imparts a bitter aftertaste of unfinished repatriation and existential uprooting, life and hope emerge as the sole bulwark against inhumanity and dehumanization.

ON-SITE 5/11 Liappa 22:30

DRACULA

Ράντου

Romania, Austria, Luxembourg, Brazil 2025, 169’

ing blend of stories, both old and new, about the original myth of Dracula: a vampire hunt, zombies, and Dracula crashing a strike, a science-fiction tale about Vlad the Impaler’s return, an adaptation of the first Romanian vampire novella, a tragic romance, a vulgar folktale, AI-generated kitsch stories… and much more! Provocative, parodic, jarringly self-aware, assertively sloppy, and deliciously raw. No matter the listing of attributes and descriptions, this ingenious synthesis of references and discourses resists any easy classification, while feeding on its excess. Our times might not be ready for Radu Jude’s Dracula – but after all, in Bram Stoker’s masterpiece, the Count casts no reflection in a mirror.

ON-SITE 6/11 Makedonikon 23:00

DRY LEAF

Αλεξάντρ

Alexandre Koberidze

Germany, Georgia 2025, 186’

What happens when a young and curious filmmaker challenges his creativity with the limitless possibilities of a fake AI? A surpris-

που εθεάθη ήταν εν ώρα εργασίας, φωτογραφίζοντας

επαρχιακά γήπεδα ποδοσφαίρου σε απομακρυσμένα χωριά της Γεωργίας. Ο πατέρας

της, o Ιράκλι, ανήμπορος να αποδεχτεί την εξαφάνισή της, ξεκινά ένα ταξίδι για

να τη βρει. Ενώνει τις δυνάμεις του με τον

αινιγματικό Λεβάνι, τον καλύτερο φίλο της

Λίζας, και μαζί ταξιδεύουν σε όλη την ύπαιθρο, ακολουθώντας τα ίχνη της σε ήσυχα χωριά, ενώ παράλληλα συναντούν ευγενικούς ξένους και συνομιλούν

Already from the outset of this highly original road movie, the camera focuses on a dry leaf – as fragile as the imagery shot on an old Sony Ericsson mobile phone. Sports photographer Lisa vanishes without warning, leaving behind a letter asking not to be found. She was last seen photographing rural football fields in remote Georgian villages. Her father, Irakli, unable to accept her disappearance, sets out on a journey to find her. He teams up with Levani, Lisa’s enigmatic best friend, and together they travel across the countryside, retracing her steps through quiet villages, meeting kind strangers, and talking with children playing football along the way. What they uncover are only fragments of Lisa’s presence – traces that become increasingly elusive the further they go. Just as they begin to lose hope, a mysterious event offers one final clue, drawing Irakli and Levani into the unknown and rekindling a faint glimmer of hope. “In Alexandre Koberidze‘s 2021 breakout What Do We See When We Look at the Sky? the audience is politely requested to momentarily close their eyes… Defiantly peculiar, Dry Leaf is a joy for devotees of the strange, the singular, and the sometimes transcendent. It’s a movie to ride shotgun alongside, with the windows down on a lazy trip to nowhere in particular, that ends up taking you everywhere in particular” (Jessika Kiang).

ON-SITE 7/11 Makedonikon 20:00

EAGLES OF THE REPUBLIC

Tarik Saleh

Sweden, France, Denmark 2025, 129’

The final installment of the “Cairo Trilogy” by the Swedish-Egyptian filmmaker – screened at the Cannes Film Festival and featuring a captivating score by Alexandre Desplat – is a stylized thriller and arguably the boldest political film of the year. In modern-day Egypt, under the authoritarian rule of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, actor George Fahmy (portrayed by the compellingly versatile Fares Fares), the country’s most renowned star and an object of public adoration, is descending from the height of a triumphant career. When the government asks him to portray el-Sisi in a propagandistic biopic, George is in no position to refuse. After all, he (self-)proclaims himself the “Pharaoh of Egyptian cinema.” The once apolitical star will gradually adopt an anti-regime consciousness, only to find himself trapped in the system and falling prey to it. A film that begins as satire and turns into a chilling political thriller, as well as a daring act of denunciation, and a sumptuous, CinemaScope, witty tribute to the art of cinema.

ON-SITE 6/11 Tornes 23:00

EVERYBODY LOVES TOUDA ΟΛΟΙ

Nabil Ayouch

France, Morocco, Belgium, Denmark, Τhe Netherlands, Norway 2024, 101’

Touda, a poor and uneducated yet fiercely independent woman, raises her deaf son, Yasin, alone in a small village in the Atlas Mountains. Touda survives in an oppressive patriarchal environment by singing in nightclubs and at festivals, under the lustful, intrusive gaze of men. She dreams of becoming a sheikha and gaining recognition as a true artist, a performer of this traditional Moroccan music, hoping to secure a better future both for herself and her son. Determined to take control of her destiny, Touda leaves for the capital. In Casablanca, her dream of being free and pursuing her art is put to the test. Through an intricate narrative, co-written by the filmmaker and Maryam Touzani (The Blue Caftan), and guided by the entrancing cinematography by Virginie Surdej, we follow, spellbound, Nisrin Erradi in the role of the vulnerable yet proud Touda, as she passionately performs songs of resistance and liberation – as if she were an enchantress warding off every threatening force in the world.

ON-SITE 3/11 Makedonikon 17:00

GROWING DOWN ΟΛΑ

Ουγγαρία Hungary 2025, 84’

Bálint Dániel

Sós

Sándor, widowed at a young age and father to a twelve-year-old boy, is ready to make a fresh start in life and build a new family with his partner, Klára. However, fate has a very unpleasant surprise in store for him when his son gets involved in a horrible incident concerning Klára’s daughter, and he ends up becoming the sole witness to a true tragedy. Sándor, torn between parental love and personal responsibility, tries to contain the damage: cynical, majestic, and small, like a Dostoevskian character, he learns anew how to fit into a world that seems to have shrunk, while passing on to his child his own fragile notion of survival. They may survive the ordeal, but will they ever figure out what truly happened? A debut filmmaker radically reinvigorates, with remarkable restraint, the tradition of moral-dilemma cinema delivering an unparalleled drama – dimly lit and mystical, minimalist yet vast within its mere 84 minutes –in an atmospheric first feature that captures, in stark black and white, all the nuanced shades that lie within the gray area of guilt.

ON-SITE 30/10 Tornes 20:00, 5/11 Olympion 11:30

HOW COME IT’S ALL GREEN OUT HERE?

Croatia, Bulgaria 2025,

A 34-year-old filmmaker, the alter ego of the film’s director, Nikola Ležaić, in a pivotal moment of his life – preparing for fatherhood as his artistic career seems to have stalled – embarks on an unexpected, soulful quest. Alongside his father, he journeys across Serbia to Dalmatia as an homage to the deceased members of his family, to both personal and collective roots, and to himself. A Balkan road movie that channels both the spirit of indie American cinema and the bittersweet sensibility of a Kiarostami-esque world, brimming with self-irony and melancholy, How Come It’s All Green Out Here? achieves something rare: delicately and profoundly blending the individual with the collective – the fear of fatherhood and adulthood with the legacy of historical trauma, the film appears to reflect, through its unrushed pace and ritualistic long takes, the fleeting essence of an entire geographical and cultural landscape, as well as that of a generation wrestling with its shadows.

ON-SITE 31/10 Tornes 14:00, 1/11 Makedonikon 20:00 ONLINE 2–9/11

I’M HERE, I’M FINE

Emine Emel Balcı

Türkiye, Germany 2025, 99’

Filiz is a young middle-class mother suffering from postpartum depression. She feels stifled by the well-intentioned interference of her family, who invade her personal space in their attempts to help with the baby. She is further pressured by her husband, who wants a second child. Meanwhile, she struggles to meet the demands of her job. Longing to do something just for herself, she decides to buy “a car of her own.” During her search for a car, she meets Şule, a woman trying to escape her abusive husband. A bond of mutual understanding and solidarity develops between them, helping both women work through their problems. Emine Emel Balcı’s sophomore fiction feature, making its international premiere in Thessaloniki, subtly unveils the vulnerability of women in contemporary urban Turkey, as well as their ability to shed passivity and overcome, with silent strength, each and every single obstacle standing in their path.

ON-SITE 4/11 Olympion 14:15, 5/11 Makedonikon 20:00

STEPNE

Ukraine, Germany, Poland, Slovakia 2023, 112’

FIPRESCI.

Set against the stunning winter landscapes of Ukraine, vanishing villages, and a society that is blindly attached to the past, Stepne is the story of Anatoliy, a man who comes back home from the big city to care for his dying mother. In her last days, encounters with his brother and the woman he loves lead him to reflect on the life he has lived and the choices he has made along the way. And then, moments before her death, his mother reveals to him that a treasure is buried in the shed... Shot with poetic restraint and sensitivity, Stepne meditates on the theme of loss, the sense of belonging, and the rapidly changing reality of the country. The film premiered in Competition at the 76th Locarno Film Festival, where Maryna Vroda won the Golden Leopard (Pardo d’oro) for Best Direction and the FIPRESCI Award.

ON-SITE 8/11 Makedonikon 20:00, 9/11 Olympion 15:30

TRUST

ΕΜΠΙΣΤΟΣΥΝΗ

Ντανιέλε

Filming Italy Venice Awards.

Can a secret be so threatening that it compels you to live an honest life? Pietro, a respected schoolteacher, begins a tempestuous affair with Teresa, his gifted and precocious student. In the heat of a quarrel, they agree to exchange devastating secrets – truths so damaging that their revelation could ruin them both. Years later, Pietro has become a celebrated writer and devoted family man, yet he cannot escape the dread that Teresa, armed with his confession, might one day return to shatter the life he has so painstakingly built. Based on Domenico Starnone’s acclaimed novel, Daniele Luchetti’s film, brimming with Hitchcockian suspense, explores the fragility of trust and the price of ambition. The film won Best Actor (Elio Germano) and Best Screenplay at the Italian Golden Globes, and Luchetti received the Best Director (Drama) Award at the 2024 Filming Italy Venice Awards.

ON-SITE 6/11 Zannas 16:00

Tribute to Isabelle Huppert

8 WOMEN

8 ΓΥΝΑΙΚΕΣ

Φρανσουά Οζόν François Ozon

Γαλλία, Ιταλία France, Italy

2002, 111’

Η παιχνιδιάρικη και ακαταμάχητα κομψή

μουσική ταινία μυστηρίου του Φρανσουά

Οζόν είναι μια technicolor γιορτή ίντριγκας

και femme fatale

François Ozon’s playful yet irresistibly elegant musical mystery film is a Technicolor feast of intrigue and femme fatale brilliance, based on the famous play by the French writer Robert Thomas. Trapped in a luxurious 1950s mansion due to a blizzard, eight women — portrayed by some of the greatest stars of French cinema — attempt to solve the murder of the only man in the household. Each of them has a motive. One of them is the killer. Isabelle Huppert, as the panic-stricken, melodramatic Aunt Augustine is quite a revelation. With dramatic intensity, caustic humor, and incredible comedic timing, Huppert delivers an eerily tender

performance, topped with what is now considered a classic scene where she plays "Message Personnel" on the piano. With a close-up shot, Ozon focuses on her face, capturing her charged emotional state as she utters "I love you maybe." Rounding out the illustrious cast are Catherine Deneuve, Fanny Ardant, Emmanuelle Béart, and Danielle Darrieux. The film won the Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution at the Berlin International Film Festival and garnered multiple nominations at the European Film Awards, making 8 Women an irresistible cinematic experience – a point of reference with an unforgettable soundtrack by Krishna Levy.

ON-SITE 2/11 Makedonikon 12:00

AMATEUR

Χαλ

Hal Hartley

USA, UK 1994, 105’

Noir intrigue and philosophical comedy intertwine unexpectedly in Hal Hartley’s tender film, which is part of the rebirth of the 1990s American indie cinema. In this breathtaking tour-deforce performance, Isabelle Huppert portrays

an ex-nun turned writer of erotic literature (her namesake), who believes that the Virgin Mary has instructed her to intervene in the destiny of a troubled porn star. Her path crosses that of Thomas, a handsome amnesiac she encounters in the street, sweeping them both into a bizarre chain of ethical dilemmas, desire, and absurd violence. Amateur, which had its premiere at the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, showcases Hartley’s signature balancing act between irony and compassion, delivering one of Isabelle Huppert’s most moving performances in English. A hilarious yet simultaneously melancholically pensive approach to sin, salvation, and reinvention, drawing from Godard’s cinematic universe.

ON-SITE 31/10 Olympion 11:00

COPACABANA

Μαρκ

France 2010, 106’

Marc Fitoussi

βραβευμένη ερμηνεία της Ιπέρ προσδίδει στην Μπαμπού

stability. Huppert's award-winning performance imbues Babou with irresistible magnetism, embodying both the heroine's folly and untamed spirit. At the same time, the fast-paced editing mirrors Babou's restless rhythm, in a comedy rooted in the contrast between her imaginary longing for exotic places and the deliberately melancholic landscapes of Copacabana's setting.

ON-SITE 3/11 Tornes 16:00

ELLE

ΕΚΕΙΝΗ

Πολ Βερχόφεν Paul Verhoeven Γαλλία,

France, Germany 2016, 130’

του μείγμα θράσους, μαύρου

χιούμορ και πρόκλησης, δημιουργώντας μια

ταινία που είναι ταυτόχρονα θρίλερ, σάτιρα

και μελέτη χαρακτήρων. Η ταινία κέρδισε τη Χρυσή Σφαίρα Καλύτερης Ξενόγλωσ-

σης Ταινίας και ήταν υποψήφια για έντεκα

Βραβεία Σεζάρ, κερδίζοντας το Βραβείο

Καλύτερης Ταινίας και Καλύτερης Ηθοποιού

για την Ιπέρ. Η τελευταία, με την ερμηνεία της, που θεωρήθηκε μία από τις καλύτερες

Babou (Isabelle Huppert) lives on her own terms, disregarding jobs, responsibility, or convention. But when she discovers that her daughter Esméralda (played by Huppert' s real-life daughter, Lolita Chammah) is too ashamed to invite her to her wedding, Babou decides to prove she can change. Taking a job as a timeshare salesperson on Belgium's gray seaside, she unexpectedly excels as a model employee, but her irrepressible nature soon disrupts her newfound

The film is a razor-sharp psychological drama and a daring exploration of power, desire, and survival. At its center is Michèle Leblanc, the formidable head of a Parisian video game company, played with extraordinary nuance by Isabelle Huppert. After being violently raped in her home by a masked intruder, Michèle refuses to be victimized. Instead, she begins a tense and unsettling cat-and-mouse pursuit of her assailant, blurring the boundaries between revenge, obsession, and control. Verhoeven brings his signature blend of audacity, dark humor, and unflinching provocation, crafting a film that

is part thriller, part satire, and part character study. The film won the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film and was nominated for eleven César Awards, winning Best Film and Best Actress for Huppert, whose performance, hailed as one of her finest, also earned her the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Drama and an Academy Award nomination.

ON-SITE 4/11 Olympion 20:00

FRANKIE

ΦΡΑΝΚΙ

Άιρα Σακς Ira Sachs

Γαλλία, Πορτογαλία France, Portugal

2019, 100’

δίδει ένα έξοχο, βαθιά ανθρώπινο δράμα με τη χαρακτηριστική

accompany the film's characters emotionally. With his signature tenderness, the filmmaker captures twenty-four hours, focusing on the small, seemingly inconsequential day-to-day moments, where everything and nothing occurs simultaneously.

ON-SITE 7/11 Olympion 11:30

HEAVEN’S GATE

Michael Cimino

ΗΠΑ USA 1980, 218’

An excellent, profoundly human drama set against the backdrop of the sunlit Sintra, Portugal. Françoise Crémont, or Frankie, is a renowned French actress who knows that she has only a few months left to live, so she brings her extended family together for one last vacation. Isabelle Huppert embodies the main heroine with a quiet strength and disarming sensitivity, a woman with a dynamic personality painfully coming to terms with the fact that her time is running out. However, life goes on around her: marriages fall apart, new romances appear, friendships are tested, and long-buried truths begin to surface. Ira Sachs draws inspiration from Éric Rohmer' s aesthetics, deliberately maintaining a slow pace, with realistic performances and sets that

The follow-up to the Academy Award-winning film, The Deer Hunter (1978), is an ambitious epic western that famously bankrupted United Artists and was harshly criticized upon its initial release due to a heavily edited, butchered version. Since then, the restored cut has been hailed as a bold, monumental work of American cinema, an operatic story of love, violence, and revenge. Set against the backdrop of the Johnson County War in 1892, when a ruthless cattle owners’ association sought to drive poor European immigrants from Wyoming, a fraught love triangle develops between Federal Marshal James Averill (Kris Kristofferson), the financially independent madam of the region, Ella (Isabelle Huppert), and the divided mercenary hired to ruin the community, Nate Champion (Christopher Walken). The cast delivers astonishing performances, while Vilmos Zsigmond’s

rapturous cinematography transforms the vast Wyoming landscapes into symbols of both the brutality and promise of an American frontier, making Heaven’s Gate a landmark cinematic experience.

ON-SITE 30/10 Makedonikon 14:00

A JUDGEMENT IN STONE

Η ΤΕΛΕΤΗ

Κλοντ

Γαλλία France 1995, 111’

Claude Chabrol

του 1977 A Judgement

A Judgement in Stone builds to a shockingly escalating crescendo of violence and immorality, exposed through Chabrol’s deeply sarcastic gaze in one of the highlights of his decades-long career. The film was a primary source of inspiration, among others, for one of the triumphs of 21st-century Korean cinema, Bong Joon-Ho’s Parasite ON-SITE 1/11 Makedonikon 14:30

LOUDER THAN BOMBS

Joachim Trier

Norway, France, Denmark 2015, 109’

τους. Κάνοντας πρεμιέρα στο Διαγωνιστικό

Τμήμα του Φεστιβάλ των Καννών το 2015, η ταινία Ο ήχος της σιωπής αναδεικνύει

το ταλέντο του Τρίερ στη συναισθηματική

ακρίβεια και την πολυεπίπεδη αφήγηση, με

εξαιρετικές ερμηνείες από μια πλειάδα υπέροχων σταρ (την Ιπέρ πλαισιώνουν ιδανικά οι Γκάμπριελ Μπερν, Τζέσι Άιζενμπεργκ

The true story of the Papin sisters, two housekeepers who murdered their employers in provincial France during the 1930s. Jean Genet’s 1947 play The Maids, and Ruth Rendell’s 1977 novel A Judgement in Stone provided first-class material for Claude Chabrol to craft an odd yet riveting film that became a landmark of 1990s French cinema. At the same time, the film gave Isabelle Huppert the unique opportunity to flesh out yet another wholly idiosyncratic character, earning her both the César Award for Best Actress, and the corresponding award at the Venice Film Festival, which she shared with her exceptional co-star Sandrine Bonnaire. A top-notch cinematic depiction of the social disparities and inhibitions of French society,

Joachim Trier’s first English-language feature is a finely wrought family drama about memory, grief, and the stories we tell about those we lose. Three years after the sudden death of renowned war photographer Isabelle Reed (Isabelle Huppert), a retrospective exhibition brings her eldest son back home. There, he reunites with his father and younger brother, whose silence masks deeper turmoil. Under one roof again, the family struggles to bridge the distances between them, each haunted by conflicting memories of the

woman who shaped their lives. Premiering in Competition at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, Louder Than Bombs showcases Trier’s gift for emotional precision and layered storytelling, featuring exquisite performances by an all-star cast (Huppert is wonderfully framed by Gabriel Byrne, Jesse Eisenberg, and Devin Druid), anchoring its exploration of love, absence, and the fragile bonds between fathers and sons, the living and the departed.

ON-SITE 6/11 Makedonikon 14:00

THE PIANO TEACHER

Η ΔΑΣΚΑΛΑ ΤΟΥ

Μίχαελ Χάνεκε Michael Haneke

Αυστρία, Γαλλία Austria, France 2001, 130’ Το

Michael Haneke’s searing 2001 drama is a chilling portrait of repression, desire, and power. In her late thirties, Erika Kohut is a piano teacher at the esteemed Vienna Conservatory. She is strict, intimidating, and respected; however, her personality is a diligent construction and a painful response to her constricted life. She still shares an apartment with her mother,

and their co-dependent relationship is stifling and even violent. Nowhere in Erika’s world is there anything approaching happiness. At the same time that she is forbidding and cold, Erika is a cultural ideal. Even though she repeatedly professes to have no emotions, her repressed feelings drive her to morbid voyeurism and horrendous acts of self-mutilation. And then Walter, a younger student, decides to seduce his teacher, believing that he senses a kindred spirit... Premiering in Competition at the Cannes Film Festival, the film won the Grand Prix, with Huppert and Magimel jointly receiving the Best Actress and Best Actor awards. Haneke’s stark, unflinching style strips away sentimentality, creating a study of sexuality and control that is both disturbing and transfixing. Anchored by Huppert’s fearless, career-defining performance, The Piano Teacher endures as one of the most unsettling and celebrated works of 21st-century European cinema.

ON-SITE 4/11 Tornes 16:00

THE RICHEST WOMAN IN THE WORLD

Thierry Klifa

France, Belgium 2025, 122’

Thierry Klifa’s latest drama, which premiered Out of Competition at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, is loosely inspired by the notorious Bettencourt affair, one of France’s most sensational political scandals. Isabelle Huppert delivers a commanding performance as Marianne Farrère, a wealthy heiress whose extravagant gifts to a much younger artist ignite public outrage.

What begins as a seemingly private matter quickly escalates into a national scandal, exposing allegations of manipulation, corruption, and the involvement of former political leaders. Anchored by Huppert’s magnetic presence, by turns glamorous, enigmatic, and defiant, the film explores the vulnerabilities of immense wealth and the corrosive overlap of money, art, and politics. Klifa’s elegant direction transforms a true-event inspiration into a sharp, engrossing character study.

ON-SITE 3/11 Olympion 20:00

SIDONIE IN JAPAN

Élise Girard

A well-known French author reluctantly travels to Japan to reissue her first book, which had catapulted her to fame in the ‘70s. There, besides battling persistent jet lag, she is greeted by the ghost of her late husband, who makes regular appearances and she finds herself in a seemingly futile flirtation with the local publisher. With her trademark grace, the remarkable Isabelle Huppert embodies a heroine determined not to be indefinitely lost in translation or in her own past. With the French star and Tsuyoshi Ihara flawlessly leading the cast, Sidonie in Japan manages to be funny, melancholically realistic, and at the same time unapologetically romantic, as it fearlessly confronts the ghosts of yesterday to highlight, in perfect harmony

with the unadulterated beauty of the Japanese landscape, the importance of renewal.

ON-SITE 5/11 Makedonikon 12:00

STORY OF WOMEN

ΜΙΑ ΥΠΟΘΕΣΗ ΓΥΝΑΙΚΩΝ

1988,

A stark, haunting portrait of Marie Latour, a poor mother of two in Nazi-occupied France who secretly performs abortions to support her family. Renting rooms to sex workers and defiantly taking a lover, Marie’s independence enrages her embittered husband, who betrays her to the authorities. Arrested under the Vichy regime, she is tried for “crimes against the state” and made an example of, condemned to the guillotine in 1943. Premiering in Competition at the Venice Film Festival, the film won the Silver Lion and earned Isabelle Huppert the Volpi Cup for Best Actress. Chabrol’s austere, incisive direction and Huppert’s fearless, nuanced performance transform Marie’s tragic story into both a devastating character study and an unflinching critique of hypocrisy, morality, and state power. A searing highlight of Chabrol’s late career, it remains one of French cinema’s most powerful indictments of injustice. ON-SITE 9/11 Makedonikon 14:30

THE TROUT

Joseph Losey Γαλλία France

1982,

αθω-

της Φρεντερίκ. Ένας

προσκαλεί να τον συνοδεύσει σε ένα επαγγελ-

ματικό ταξίδι στην

Frédérique (Isabelle Huppert), nicknamed “The trout”, is very much like the fish she used to own when she lived with her father in their Jura hometown. Cold and elusive, she seduces men only to reject them. One night, while she is at a bowling alley with her husband, she meets two businessmen, who are immediately captivated by Frédérique’s saucy innocence. One of the men invites her to accompany him on a business trip to Japan. Frédérique agrees out of provocation, but the trip turns out to be a prelude to tragedy. Directed by Joseph Losey, The Trout bears his incisive vision of power, desire, and alienation. Anchored by Isabelle Huppert’s precise performance at its core, Losey crafts a stylish, unsettling portrait of manipulation, revealing the hidden dangers beneath charm and seduction.

ON-SITE 31/10 Tornes 11:00

VALLEY OF LOVE

(2016).

A riveting film about mourning, serving as an elegy to memory and reconciliation. Isabelle Huppert and Gérard Depardieu star in this metaphysical road movie, portraying two estranged parents who reconnect in the scorched landscapes of Death Valley, California, after their son’s enigmatic letter, which they received six months after his suicide. Drawn into a peculiar journey of initiation that their son, Michael, has designed for them, they are forced to confront not only the aftermath of their loss, but also the lingering shadows of their own wrecked relationship. Delivering one of her most touching performances, Huppert embodies, with raw sensitivity and fierce determination, the role of the mother who attempts to face the unimaginable. The harsh, otherworldly beauty of Death Valley is captured in breathtaking imagery, which secured the film the César Award for Best Cinematography (2016).

ON-SITE 30/10 Makedonikon 18:30

WHITE MATERIAL

Claire Denis

In just three minutes, in their first short film, Cattet and Forzani construct a bizarre rite of passage on the edges of reality, inviting us to step inside the foyer (or, better yet, the darkroom) of their own cinematic universe. In a dimly lit basement, a man comes face-to-face with his own dead body. Thus unfolds a surreal nocturnal reverie within the labyrinth of desire, inspired by Italian giallo thrillers. Time fractures, space becomes impassable, and psychosexual tensions intensify the underlying unease, as images culminate in a crescendo… A ritual of cinematic liberation, where the shattering of the visual turns into an act of catharsis.

ON-SITE 1/11 Liappa 12:30

THE END OF OUR LOVE

Hélène Cattet, Bruno Forzani

Βέλγιο Belgium

2003, 10’

The ten-minute short film The End of Our Love is one of the first examples of the cinematic style that Cattet and Forzani developed further in their subsequent works, prioritizing intense sensuality and a dreamlike atmosphere over a coherent plot. In the film, fragments of memory

swirl in a sad, carnal mosaic of lost passion. Pieces of memories restore what is left of a love, as dreamlike images full of color evoke sensuality and decay. The film unfolds as a visual poem, without dialogue, haunted by the ghosts of intimacy and its cruel absence.

ON-SITE 1/11 Liappa 12:30

LET THE CORPSES TAN

Hélène Cattet, Bruno Forzani

Βέλγιο,

Belgium, France

Sprinkling golden dust over a delightful carnage and mixing blood with sunblock in the light blue desert of Corsica, this exhilarating horror western (shot on the fly, with natural lighting) invites us on a tour of the typical Mediterranean summer: the crystal-blue waters, the scorching sun… and the 250 kg of gold stolen by Rhino and his gang! The thieves have found the perfect hideout: a deserted and isolated village where an artist seeking inspiration currently resides. Unfortunately, some unwelcome visitors and two police officers throw a wrench into their plans: and their heaven on earth, the place where wild parties and orgies took place, turns into a gruesome battlefield.

ON-SITE 31/10 Zannas 16:00

O IS FOR ORGASM

Cattet, Bruno Forzani

USA, New Zealand

The ABCs of Death

How deep can female pleasure go? Does female desire have a soundtrack? What colors and shapes define a money shot when a female body is the one reaching a climax?

A part of the collective project The ABCs of Death, this magical fragment encapsulates all the patterns in Cattet and Forzani’s filmography, teaching us the alphabet of pleasure, even when words escape us.

ON-SITE 1/11 Liappa 12:30

REFLECTION IN A DEAD DIAMOND

Hélène Cattet, Bruno Forzani

Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Italy 2025, 87’

production design,

match-cuts.

The last film by duo Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani is most assuredly a cinematic gem – a delirious visual experience that captivates with both the spectacle it offers and its style, drawing inspiration from the universe of James Bond, Quentin Tarantino, and David Lynch. In the film, John D, a 70-year-old ex-spy settled in a luxurious hotel on Côte d’Azur, has his quiet life of retirement disrupted when his bewitching neighbor disappears. Haunted by memories – or perhaps by frenzied imaginings of espionage, diamonds, and femme fatales from the 1960s – John’s reality implodes in a kaleidoscope of feverish dreams. The film pays homage to European spy movies, tinged with thrilling gore and influences from the giallo genre that the duo Cattet and Forzani so dearly love. In Reflection in a Dead Diamond, cinematic extravagance is presented as an immersive sensory feast, featuring a luxurious production design, impressive costumes, explosive close-ups, and reeling match cuts.

ON-SITE 31/10 Tornes 20:00

SANTOS PALACE

Ελέν

Hélène Cattet, Bruno Forzani

Βέλγιο Belgium 2006, 16’

Το «Santos Palace»

να έχει

ήδη ξεκινήσει, με τις πιθανές ζήλιες και τα

πάθη

και οι χώροι να εμφανίζονται

“Santos Palace” is a coffee shop in Belgium, where a waitress serves a strange client. Their eyes meet, minutes pass, and we seem to witness a love story that has not begun, or perhaps has already started, with its potential jealousies and passions, or maybe one that will never happen at all; a different kind of romance. The feeling of seeing or being seen, the rhythmical editing, the use of CinemaScope to render objects and spaces as abstract forms, the predominance of detailed shots: these are all obsessions, forms, and audiovisual ideas that explode in this astonishing film. Drawing on surrealist art and avant-garde cinema, using vivid colors, eerie sound design, and unsettling imagery to create a dreamlike atmosphere that is at once captivating and disquieting, this slow-burning series of eerie tableaux immerses viewers in a haunting, hypnotic world, meaningfully winking at all film buffs: “This is, excuse me, a damn fine cup of coffee!”

ON-SITE 1/11 Liappa 12:30

THE STRANGE COLOUR OF YOUR BODY’S TEARS

ΤΟ

Hélène Cattet, Bruno Forzani

Γαλλία,

France, Belgium, Luxembourg 2013, 102’

cinations, violent outbursts, and fragmentary recollections, where truth and delirium become muddled beyond all limits. But this is not a whodunit. Here, walls bleed, shadows whisper, and every sound cuts through like a knife. The dizzying montage and the kaleidoscope of colors overwhelm the senses in this simultaneously beautiful, terrifying, and unforgettable dive into the subconscious.

ON-SITE 1/11 Olympion 14:00

THE STRANGE PORTRAIT OF THE GLASS LADY

With The Strange Colour of Your Body’s Tears, the duo drives their obsession with the Italian giallo genre to an astounding, nightmarish extreme. The film begins with a simple premise: a man returns home to find that his wife has disappeared. As he seeks answers, he gets drawn into a labyrinth of amorous hallu-

Hélène Cattet, Bruno Forzani Βέλγιο Belgium

2004, 6’

Can you get goosebumps in just six minutes? That’s how long it took for this dark, wordless story, which here, condenses a tribute to Italian giallo thrillers into a dazzling miniature of death and desire. The plot is summed up in a single phrase: “the last iridescences of a glass lady... murder as a performance.” A sensory spectacle that masterfully orchestrates the ritual of violence and the fragments of a woman’s body, with luminous reflections. Each frame seems sculpted from glass – fragile yet razor-sharp. An exploration of how cinema can transform beauty into menace and murder into choreography. At the same time, a prelude (or an hors d’oeuvre) to the visual delirium and fetishistic details that would characterize the duo’s later films.

ON-SITE 1/11 Liappa 12:30

YELLOW ROOM

Hélène Cattet, Bruno Forzani

In eight minutes, and without a single line of dialogue, what begins as a love story transforms into an erotic illusion “tinged with yellow” – after all, we are in the world of a giallo film, the Italian term for “yellow” – where desire becomes dangerous and passion is refracted through a kaleidoscopic light. Saturated colors, fetishistic textures, and erratic editing dissolve the narrative into sheer sensuality. Here, the menacing black-clad figure in leather, who would later reappear in The Strange Portrait of the Glass Lady, is a recurring emblem of the duo’s universe: a symbol of erotic obsession and violent allure. A bold statement of the delirious style that would come to define their later films.

ON-SITE 1/11 Liappa 12:30

Spotlight to Marcel Pagnol

THE BAKER’S WIFE

In a small Provençal village, daily life grinds to a halt when the new baker, Aimable Castanier, portrayed by the French actor Raimu – a close friend and collaborator of Marcel Pagnol, refuses to bake bread after his young wife runs away with a handsome shepherd. What begins as a personal humiliation soon becomes a communal crisis: without bread, the villagers face a hunger that turns Aimable’s heartbreak into everyone’s problem. Marcel Pagnol transforms this simple premise into a rich and affectionate study of human folly, pride, and solidarity. Blending humor and melancholy, the film observes how the entire village conspires to recover the baker’s wife, not out of moral duty, but out of necessity and self-interest.

Anchored by Raimu’s unforgettable performance, The Baker’s Wife is both a satire of provincial hypocrisy and a celebration of collective resilience. It remains one of Pagnol’s most beloved works, admired for its warmth, wit, and timeless portrait of community life.

ON-SITE 30/10 Zannas 16:00

A MAGNIFICENT LIFE

ΖΩΗ

Σιλβέν

Sylvain Chomet Γαλλία,

France, Belgium, Luxembourg 2025, 91’ Η

The long-awaited new film by the Academy Award nominated French animation director Sylvain Chomet (The Triplets of Belleville, The Illusionist) is a wonderful biographical animated drama that delves into the life of legendary playwright and director Marcel Pagnol. In 1955, Pagnol is going through a crisis of self-confidence, while simultaneously his memory starts to betray him. Tasked with writing a weekly column about his childhood for Elle magazine, he is tormented by doubts in the wake of his most recent plays’ failure. In this moment of complete vulnerability, the young man he once was, emerges from the depths of his memory – Little Marcel Pagnol. Together, they relive the most significant chapters of their life: from his first steps as a teacher in Provence to his groundbreaking cinematic work with sound, from the construction of his own film studios to

the conflicts of World War II. A film that depicts the timeless vitality of a man who was, above all, a bon vivant.

ON-SITE 2/11 Zannas 19:00

TOPAZE

ΤΟΠΑΖ

Μαρσέλ Πανιόλ Marcel Pagnol

Γαλλία France

1951, 142’

Marcel Pagnol adapts his renowned play of the same name into a film, offering a sharp and ironic study of morality and corruption. The story follows Topaze, a timid and ineffectual tutor who is dismissed from a boarding school after refusing to compromise his principles. Suddenly unemployed, he accepts work as a private tutor for the nephew of Suzy Courtois, a woman of questionable reputation. Struggling to uphold his earnest ideals in an environment indifferent to them, Topaze gradually abandons his naïve faith in virtue. Instead, he reinvents himself as a cunning opportunist, trading moral integrity for power and self-interest. Pagnol’s direction sharpens the satirical edge of his work, exposing how easily innocence collapses under the weight of social hypocrisy. Anchored by nuanced performances, Topaze endures as a timeless cautionary tale, both witty and melancholy.

ON-SITE 7/11 Makedonikon 11:00

Greek Film Festival: First Run

THE ANYTHING

ΤΟ ΟΤΙΔΗΠΟΤΕ

Γιώργος

Ελλάδα Greece 2025, 92’

Yorgos Athanasiou

Two old friends and music lovers who travel to a quiet village in the mountains of the Peloponnese to record an improvised album. Surrounded by nature, they reconnect through music, but their plans take a mysterious turn when they hear a strange sound. As they try to capture the sound in their recordings, they find themselves caught in a mystery.

ON-SITE 3/11 Cassavetes 22:15, 4/11 Makedonikon 23:00 ONLINE 4–9/11

BEACHCOMBER ΜΠΙΤΣΚΟΜΠΕΡ

ON-SITE 1/11 Olympion 17:00, 2/11 Cassavetes 13:00 ONLINE 2–9/11

BEARCAVE

Krysianna B. Papadakis, Stergios Dinopoulos

Greece, UK 2025,

ON-SITE 7/11 Olympion 17:00, 8/11 Cassavetes 13:00 ONLINE 8-9/11

CRIES

Greece 2025, 87’

Petros Sevastikoglou

σύμμαχος στο ξέσπασμά τους

και τόπος απελευθέρωσης των ενστίκτων

τους. Ένας γάμος θα γίνει αφορμή να έρθουν

σε σύγκρουση με το κοινωνικά αποδεκτό. Θα

προβάλλουν αντίσταση, προσπαθώντας να

εφεύρουν έναν νέο χώρο αγάπης. Η έκρηξη

που θα προκαλέσει αυτή η αναζήτηση θα

είναι

Δεν θα υπάρχουν νικητές ή ηττημένοι. Θα απομείνει

Three women drift through a paralysis of boredom. Their stillness is the mark of a socially imposed emotional disability, while the times demand unrest and revolt. Wild nature becomes their ally, the ground where their instincts are finally unleashed. A wedding ignites their clash with what society accepts as normal. They resist, struggling to invent a new space for love. The eruption that follows is dangerous, terrifying, yet ecstatic and liberating. No winners, no losers, only the lingering echo of a creative upheaval.

ON-SITE 4/11 Cassavetes 22:00, 6/11 Cassavetes 13:30

ONLINE 5–9/11

DIVERSION

Cyprus, Greece 2025, 97’

Kostas is a divorced, indebted policeman who carries the dead to the morgue. One day, he steals a cross from a deceased elder woman he was called to transport, only to discover she was his partner’s grandmother.

ON-SITE 30/10 Cassavetes 22:00, 31/10 Cassavetes 13:00 ONLINE 31/10–9/11

DON’T LAUGH, THEY’LL SEE YOU

Dimitropoulos

In an Epirote village, Lazarus is killed by accident during a hunt. His pregnant wife gives birth soon after, and the child is named after him. Growing up, young Lazarus marries Chaidout later emigrates in search of work. Though he loses touch with home, their grandchildren now keep traditions alive.

ON-SITE 7/11 Cassavetes 19:00, 8/11 Liappa 14:00

ONLINE 8–9/11

FEMALE

ΘΗΛΥΚΟ

Menelaou

Ελλάδα Greece 2025, 81’

Konstantinos

Maria, who lives on an island, discovers she is pregnant when she visits her religious sister in Athens for their mother’s memorial service. The unexpected pregnancy at forty and an unexpected encounter make her realize that only by coming to terms with her choices can she “laugh, no matter what the world says.”

ON-SITE 2/11 Cassavetes 22:00, 3/11 Marketaki 15:45 ONLINE 3–9/11

ENDLESS LAND

Greece 2025, 80’

Vassilis Mazomenos

ON-SITE 31/10 Zannas 22:00, 1/11 Tornes 12:00

ONLINE 1–9/11

GORGONÀ

Εύη

Evi Kalogiropoulou

Ελλάδα,

Greece, France 2025, 96’

In a timeless dystopian future, in a patriarchal city-state plagued by violence and environmental pollution, two women rebel and fight for their freedom and identity, transforming

themselves into symbols of resistance and transformation.

ON-SITE 3/11 Olympion 17:00, 5/11 Cassavetes 13:00 ONLINE 4–9/11

LITTLE MAN-EATER

ΜΙΚΡΟΣ

Ελλάδα Greece 2025,

On a cold November night, three couples face pivotal moments in their relationships. Margarita and Spyros reunite after a long silence following their breakup. Mary and Petros confront growing tensions and unresolved issues. Nina and Stelios, newly acquainted, spend the night exploring the city and their own uncertainties.

ON-SITE 4/11 Marketaki 21:15, 5/11 Makedonikon 23:00 ONLINE 5–9/11

LIFE IN A BEAT

Αμέρισσα

Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Montenegro, France 2025, 93’

Lena is a 20-year-old woman who lives in Athens, works at a local supermarket and lives with her family. As their home is poor, always messy and full of tension, she wants to move out and start a life of her own.

Everything changes for Lena when she gets fired from her job and at the same time she finds out that she is pregnant.

Penniless at the end of another tourist season, Panos and Jimmy grasp the chance for an easy buck aboard Captain Nico’s tired sailboat. As she navigates the east Aegean in search of sunken treasure, their secret aspirations quickly unravel. Suspicion, greed and the brutality of Greece’s sea border will force a change of course for this motley crew.

ON-SITE 6/11 Cassavetes 22:00, 8/11 Makedonikon 23:00 ONLINE 7–9/11

MADONNAS

The Callas – Λάκης & Άρης Ιωνάς

The Callas – Lakis & Aris Ionas

Ελλάδα Greece 2025, 76’

έρχεται η τρελή ιδέα να το κάνουν μπουρδέλο για γυναίκες. Η αναζήτηση

Nancy inherits a vintage caravan, and with her friend, Georgina, they embark on a road trip. They come up with the crazy idea of turning it into a brothel for women. The search for dick ends when they find a traveler, and together they launch “Madonna.” They resist conservatism with humor, love and solidarity. “Madonna, you pussies!”

ON-SITE 1/11 Cassavetes 22:00, 3/11 Cassavetes 14:15 ONLINE 2–9/11

MAHI

ΜΑΧΗ

Ηλίας

Ελλάδα Greece 2025, 120’

Elias Giannakakis

Mahi (Greek female name also meaning battle), a 75-year-old woman, is a former military officer who underwent gender transition and became a singer. 50 years later, she returns from Germany to Greece to reconnect with her daughter in a challenging attempt to rebuild their relationship.

ON-SITE 2/11 Cassavetes 19:00, 4/11 Cassavetes 12:30 ONLINE 3–9/11

MARICEL Ηλίας

ON-SITE 7/11 Cassavetes 22:00, 9/11 Cassavetes 16:00 ONLINE 8–9/11

PATTY IS SUCH A GIRLY NAME

Giorgos

Georgopoulos

Ελλάδα Greece 2025, 113’

Elias Demetriou

Cyprus, Greece 2025, 120’

A Filipino domestic worker is called to take care of an elderly couple in a Cypriot mountain village. What begins as a simple caregiving task gradually exposes a web of silent resentment, emotional dependency and unspoken histories, forcing her into the delicate, unsettling space between obligation and intimacy.

ON-SITE 4/11 Cassavetes 19:00, 6/11 Tornes 14:00 ONLINE 5–9/11

NOVAK

Greece, Switzerland 2025,

Patty, an 18-year-old judo athlete from a remote Greek island, decides to spread her wings and follow Sensei Yuri to Athens in pursuit of her Olympic dream. Along the way, she will face desire, betrayal, and painful truths that could either break her or make her stronger.

ON-SITE 1/11 Cassavetes 19:00, 3/11 Cassavetes 16:15

ONLINE 2–9/11

RECEPTIONS

ΔΕΞΙΩΣΕΙΣ

Filippos Tsitos

Greece, Bulgaria 2025, 104’

A stubborn unemployed man, who would rather starve to death than betray his principles, ends up as the leader of a carefree gang that lives by sneaking into receptions to eat for free.

ON-SITE 8/11 Cassavetes 19:00, 9/11 Tornes 17:00

ONLINE 8–9/11

REGAN

Πάνος

Panos Katsimperis

Ελλάδα Greece 2025, 84’

Μια

ON-SITE 5/11 Zannas 22:00, 7/11 Cassavetes 16:00 ONLINE 6–9/11

RIDICULOUS LOVES

Dimitris Katsimiris

Ελλάδα Greece 2025, 73΄

Έξι κωμικοτραγικές

επαφής.

Six tragicomic stories, centered on the paradox of love. A trip in spiraling obsession and madness, consisting of swinging sessions, platonic loves, intense breakups and substitutes of human contact.

ON-SITE 8/11 Cassavetes 22:00, 9/11 Cassavetes 22:00 ONLINE 8–9/11

ROOSTER

Greece 2025,

A janitor of the Municipality of Athens, determined to give his six-year-old son the future he himself was denied, enrolls him in a private school. But his chase of the “Greek dream” turns into a tragicomic spiral of conflicts, leading to a bitter revelation: perhaps his illusions were all he truly had.

ON-SITE 31/10 Cassavetes 19:00, 1/11 Tornes 14:15 ONLINE 1–9/11

SMARAGDA –

I GOT THICK SKIN AND I CAN’T JUMP

ΣΜΑΡΑΓΔΑ

Emilios Avraam

Κύπρος Cyprus 2024, 99’

Smaragda is broke, lovelorn, and stuck in the past – with only a guide dog for company. Desperate for change, she dives into the chaotic world of social media while reluctantly working as a children’s entertainer at a tourist resort, encountering both fame and backlash as she embarks on a journey of self-discovery.

ON-SITE 31/10 Cassavetes 22:00, 1/11 Cassavetes 13:00

ONLINE 1–9/11

THEY COME OUT OF MARGO ΒΓΑΙΝΟΥΝ

(The Boy)

Alexandros Voulgaris (The Boy)

Ελλάδα Greece 2025, 92’

Tassos Gerakinis

All fears, anxieties, and hopes are embodied in the character of Margo, a songwriter who was once famous but who now isolates herself in her apartment. A party held to cele-

Greek Film Festival: Second Viewing

THE GREAT MASSACRE OF ALIMOS

Athan Tom Sklavos

Greece 2025,

The movie follows an LGBTQI+ film crew making a documentary about an explosion that killed 70 senior citizens at an elderly home. One of the three main suspects carried out a suicide mission, taking everyone else with them. But which one?

ON-SITE 2/11 Cassavetes 16:00 ONLINE 3–9/11

OUR WILDEST DAYS

Chloe forgoes her flawed family for a group of younsters crossing Greece. Through her journey she helps the poor in unconventional ways, faces danger and wonders if tenderness is the ultimate act of rebellion.

ON-SITE 6/11 Cassavetes 16:00 ONLINE 7–9/11

CB

Greek Film Festival: Crossing Borders

ΦEK:

CAST ASIDE THE CLOUDS

Mary Darling, Bre Vader, Felicia Sobhani

Greece, Canada 2025, 115’

In the shadows of persecution in modern-day Iran, Layla, a determined young Bahái woman, and Sasan, a secular Muslim doctor, fall in love against all odds—risking imprisonment, betrayal, and heartbreak as

they fight to define their love in a society that forbids it.

ON-SITE 31/10 Cassavetes 16:00 ONLINE 1–9/11

MAYA & SAMAR

Greece, Canada

Samar is a queer Afghan who lives in Athens, dancing in a club for cash, following an escape from the Taliban. After meeting Maya, a Canadian journalist at a rave, their worlds collide in an affair that exposes their conflicting cultures. Maya crafts her latest headline; while Samar crafts an unexpected twist, exposing the truth behind privilege.

ON-SITE 4/11 Cassavetes 15:30

ONLINE 5–9/11

TENDER

Άρης Μπαφαλούκας Ari Bafalouka

Γαλλία, Ελλάδα France, Greece 2025, 75’ Τρείς

DISFF

Three people come in touch through an application that provides tenderness-on-demand. As the boundaries between the virtual and the real begin to blur, an unexpected connection emerges between them – one that helps them confront their unresolved emotional needs and the mistakes of their past.

ON-SITE 1/11 Cassavetes 16:00

Greek Film Festival: DISFF Awarded Films

DISFF

400 CASSETTES

400

Thelyia Petraki

Greece, Germany 2024, 14’ Στην

After a lesson about cosmic archaeologists and a water fight in the schoolyard, Elly steals Faye’s soul, and Faye gives Elly a rare birthday present. But then, when the night falls, under a sky full of stars, a song from the past will remind the girls that nothing really lasts forever.

ON-SITE 31/10 Zannas 13:00 ONLINE 30/10–9/11

AT THE MARKET

Kostas Fountas Aloupogiannis

The film follows three characters – people of the open-air markets – within their working environment. An observational portrait capturing their personalities, their surroundings, and the ways in which they interact with them.

ON-SITE 2/11 Zannas 13:00

ONLINE 30/10–9/11 (Πρόγραμμα Program #3)

ATLANTIC ΑΤΛΑΝΤΙΚΟΣ

Stamatiadis Ελλάδα Greece 2025, 10’

A teenage boy and girl face their first breakup. On the last day, before the boy leaves the city for good, he learns how to cry.

ON-SITE 31/10 Zannas 13:00

ONLINE 30/10–9/11 (

Program #2)

CARCASS

Μάκης

Makis Sebos Ελλάδα Greece 2025, 17’ Ο

Thomas and Daphne, a couple in their mid-thirties, leave Athens for a peaceful three-day getaway in the countryside. That same evening, an unexpected encounter with a hunter and his dog upends their plans.

ON-SITE 31/10 Zannas 13:00

ONLINE 30/10–9/11 (Πρόγραμμα Program #2)

DUST

TO DUST

Dimitris Papathanasis

Greece 2025, 26’

Kosmas, a cemetery worker, has set up a lucrative “grief business” with Father Argyris. The money flows freely until Kosmas’s greed leads him face-to-face with his own Nemesis.

ON-SITE 8/11 Zannas 13:30

ONLINE 30/10–9/11 (

FALL CHRISTMAS

Program #5)

Kostas Bakouris

Greece, France, Belgium 2025, 21’

GREEN

Iosifidis Xokmetidis

Ελλάδα Greece

The film outlines the logging culture in the forests of Drama, highlighting the significant contribution of the people who work and protect this natural wealth: the challenges they face daily, the harsh working conditions, the need for sustainable management practices and the ongoing threat of forest wildfires.

ON-SITE 30/10 Zannas 22:00

ONLINE 30/10–9/11 (Πρόγραμμα Program #1)

HE WHO ONCE WAS

Theodosopoulos

Ελλάδα Greece 2025, 24’

Στην

Kostis

At the far edge of an abandoned shipyard, two men, bound by a secret of no return, prepare to finish what they started. But as the moon rises, thirst defies the oaths they once made.

ON-SITE 2/11 Zannas 13:00

ONLINE 30/10–9/11 (Πρόγραμμα Program #3)

I’M GLAD YOU’RE DEAD NOW

Tawfeek Barhom

Greece, Palestine, France 2025, 13’

Petros, a five-year-old boy, roams the corridors of a hospital on his roller skates, crafting imaginary worlds to cope with loneliness and a harsh reality. A musical that blends realism and fantasy through the eyes of a child.

ON-SITE 31/10 Zannas 13:00 ONLINE 30/10–9/11

Two brothers return to the island of their childhood, where buried secrets and heavy tensions force them to confront a dark past that connects them.

ON-SITE 30/10 Zannas 22:00

ONLINE 30/10–9/11 (

Program #1)

LAST TROPICS

Θανάσης

Ελλάδα,

Thanasis Trouboukis

Greece, France 2025, 19’

Μια

An aquatic malady threatens a forgotten coastal village. Confronted with this rising marine crisis, three young fishermen resort to illegal dynamite fishing.

ON-SITE 7/11 Zannas 13:30

ONLINE 30/10–9/11 (

Program #4)

LEAVING WAS WHAT SHE DID BEST

Vasilis Pantelidis

Greece 2025,

A man and a woman meet at a karaoke bar. He stands awkwardly on stage. She rushes in to save him. Just as suddenly as she entered his life, she disappeared. Forever. Now he is left to cope with her loss while carrying on with his work—he runs a funeral home.

ON-SITE 2/11 Zannas 13:00

ONLINE 30/10–9/11 (

LEURESTHES ΛΕΥΡΕΣΘΗΣ

Program #3)

Ioanna Roumelioti

THE LIFE CYCLE OF CICADAS

Ines Perot

Ελλάδα Greece 2024, 14’ Κουρασμένος

Sick of his own face / Sick of his skin, of the dark, / He crawls outside himself / To sing.

ON-SITE 7/11 Zannas 13:30

ONLINE 30/10–9/11 (Πρόγραμμα Program #4)

LOST GARDENIAS

ΧΑΜΕΝΕΣ

Ελλάδα Greece 2025, 13’

Galatia Lagoutari

A girl loses her sense of smell at a very young age. In a distant land, she meets an elderly woman who sells gardenia bracelets. In that faraway place, the girl regains her ability to smell.

ON-SITE 31/10 Zannas 13:00

ONLINE 30/10–9/11 (Πρόγραμμα Program #2)

LUDYAS

ΛΟΥΔΙΑΣ

Ελλάδα Greece 2025, 30’

Akis Polizos

Τα ήρεμα νερά του ποταμού Λουδία διαταράσσονται από έναν

When his mother takes her own life, Dinos returns to the village where he grew up. Confronted with the Orthodox tradition that denies her burial, he defies social conventions – like a modern Antigone – by choosing a personal farewell rite.

ON-SITE 31/10 Zannas 13:00 ONLINE 30/10–9/11

The calm waters of the Ludyas River are disturbed by an unexpected visitor. Young Minas, captivated by the local legend, becomes obsessed with tracking down the mysterious creature that spreads fear and terror in the small riverside tavern.

ON-SITE 7/11 Zannas 13:30

ONLINE 30/10–9/11 (Πρόγραμμα Program #4)

MAGDALENA HAUSEN: FROZEN TIME

Yannis Karpouzis

Greece, Germany 2024,

Magdalena Hausen was a German photographer who became known for successfully capturing a photograph of the wind. Today, fifteen years after her disappearance, there are still more questions than answers.

ON-SITE 30/10 Zannas 22:00 ONLINE 30/10–9/11 (Πρόγραμμα Program #1)

MIKRO SOMA

Greece 2025, 24’

Jon Simvonis

Greece, 1990. A meeting that means survival for one and anticipation for the other. On the edge of the countryside, a car moves forward. Amid memories, questions about the past, and hopes for love and recognition, a man and a boy negotiate not only their relationship, but also an emotionally and physically painful exchange.

ON-SITE 2/11 Zannas 13:00 ONLINE 30/10–9/11 (

MITCH

Greece 2025, 26’

Mitch, a 13-year-old tomboy, is confronted with a local custom when she gets her first period.

“So you’ll have the strength to bear pain now that you’re a woman,” her grandmother says. Mitch might have taken it the wrong way.

ON-SITE 7/11 Zannas 13:30

ONLINE 30/10–9/11 (Πρόγραμμα Program #4)

NOI

Νεριτάν Ζιντζιρία Neritan Zinxhiria

Ελλάδα Greece 2025, 15’

Program #3)

Revenge whispers: at what temperature does blood boil upon snow? When the older brother is killed by his beloved horse, the younger must decide – through nightmares and visions – whether to take the creature’s life or grant it forgiveness.

ON-SITE 8/11 Zannas 13:30

ONLINE 30/10–9/11 (Πρόγραμμα Program #5)

NOTHING AND EVERYTHING

Λία Τσάλτα Lia Tsalta Ελλάδα Greece 2025, 17'

Δύο γυναίκες ζουν

τελευταίες στιγμές της σχέσης τους. Καθώς συλλογίζονται τον

χωρισμό τους, βυθίζονται σε έναν κόσμο

φροντίδας, απώλειας και παροδικότητας της ύπαρξης.

Two women face the final moments of their relationship, navigating the tender rituals of goodbye. As they reflect on their separation, they immerse themselves in a world of care, loss and the transience of existence.

ON-SITE 8/11 Zannas 13:30

ONLINE 30/10–9/11 (

OR HOW TO DISAPPEAR

Program #5)

6 October. Today is his birthday, today he will sing. The fragments of his shattered self strive to compose his song; the shards of his song struggle to reconstruct his shattered self.

ON-SITE 2/11 Zannas 13:00

ONLINE 30/10–9/11 (

PRELUDE TO A SUPERNOVA

Program #3)

After the loss of his sister, Japanese artist Yamamoto explores the ephemerality of life by creating intricate salt installations in memory of his lost loved ones. A film about death, salt and art.

ON-SITE 2/11 Zannas 13:00

ONLINE 30/10–9/11 (Πρόγραμμα Program #3)

SLEEP

ΥΠΝΟΣ

Κος

Cos Mandis, Jay McNail

Ελλάδα Greece 2025,

In the heart of Athens, ten-year-old Persephone is struggling to survive while trying to finish an important school project. Despite her best efforts, things spiral out of control, and she finds herself slipping into chaos.

ON-SITE 7/11 Zannas 13:30 ONLINE 30/10–9/11 (

Program #4)

THE QUIET WEIGHT OF THINGS

Dimitra Petmeza

Ελλάδα Greece 2025, 22

Chris, an overworked cleaner, is one work-time nap away from losing his job. Desperate to stay employed, he goes to extreme measures to secure the one thing that can save him from the sack: more sleep.

ON-SITE 8/11 Zannas 13:30

ONLINE 30/10–9/11 (

Program #5)

THINGS HIDDEN SINCE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD

Kevin Walker, Irene Zahariadis

Ελλάδα Greece 2025, 26’

Anna moves into a small apartment and begins filling it with items she buys from strangers through classified ads. Each exchange is brief, yet it leaves behind more than just an object.

ON-SITE 8/11 Zannas 13:30 ONLINE 30/10–9/11

REQUIEM IN SALT

Program #5)

Sylvia Nicolaides, Nicolas Iordanou

Japan, Cyprus 2024, 16'

In a quiet, timeworn Greek village perched high in the mountains above an ancient volcano, a group of elderly villagers must carry the bones of their ancestors to a mausoleum atop Mount Prophet Elias.

ON-SITE 31/10 Zannas 13:00

ONLINE 30/10–9/11 (

TRANSWALKING

Ευθυμία

Ελλάδα Greece

2025, 25'

Το

Program #2)

Efthymia Kotoula

Transwalking follows Georgia, Sofia, Loukas, and Thiseas as they explore the city through walking routes, sharing the story of their trans experiences and transforming walking into an act of empowerment and visibility.

ON-SITE 30/10 Zannas 22:00

ONLINE 30/10–9/11 (Πρόγραμμα Program #2)

VOLTA

ΒΟΛΤΑ

Mousmoulidis

Greece 2025, 32’

A secret journey shared by two people who were once in love. Artemis searches for answers while trying to balance between the present, the past, and the future. What is love, after all? Where will their walk take them? How does life carry on?

ON-SITE 30/10 Zannas 22:00

ONLINE 30/10–9/11 (Πρόγραμμα Program #1)

VENUS VIDI VICI

Greece 2025, 26'

In a secluded seaside house, a recently-met couple test the limits of intimacy and trust, as their relationship evolves into an insidious game of power and survival.

ON-SITE 8/11 Zannas 13:30

ONLINE 30/10–9/11 (Πρόγραμμα Program #5)

THE WOLVES RETURN

Stelios Moraitidis

An otherworldly white landscape, a road strewn with bones, and a secret that everyone knows yet tries to conceal. A story of a society sinking into moral emptiness.

ON-SITE 30/10 Zannas 22:00

ONLINE 30/10–9/11 (

Program #1)

Greek Film Festival: Tribute to Yorgos Tsemberopoulos

BACK DOOR

Yorgos Tsemberopoulos

Greece 2000,

Thirteen-year-old Dimitris unexpectedly loses his father. Seeing his pampered mother collapse, the boy gets carried away and decides to skip childhood in order to stand by her. When he feels ready, he has to claim his mother back from an up-and-coming star of the military regime. A brutal coming-of-age story, where Dimitris reacts in vengeance, changing thus the course of Greek history.

ON-SITE 5/11 Zannas 19:00

BLACK + WHITE

Thanasis Rentzis, Nikos Zervos

Ελλάδα Greece

1973, 80’

A young man arrives in Athens to study at the School of Fine Arts. He distances himself from the events of the Polytechnic uprising, wishing to devote himself to his studies. At the same time, he begins a relationship with a young woman, he gets a job in an art gallery, and then in an advertising company. The film was shot after the occupation of the Law School in 1973 and was screened during the Polytechnic uprising at “Alkyonis” cinema in Athens, shortly before it was shut down due to the measures imposed by Ioannidis’ new junta. Yorgos Tsemberopoulos takes on the leading role.

ON-SITE 31/10 Zannas 19:00

THE ENEMY WITHIN Ο

Γιώργος

Yorgos Tsemberopoulos

Ελλάδα Greece 2013, 107’

48-year-old Kostas, a progressive ideologist agriculturist, lives a regular life with his wife and their teenage daughter and son, until their home is ransacked by a hooded gang. The experience of extreme violence shatters the family’s peace, bringing grandfather’s hunting rifle violently into their lives. This is the story of a morally demolished man who used to be the

pillar of his family and of his struggle to get life and consciousness back to normal.

ON-SITE 6/11 Olympion 20:00

HARRY BELTEN

Γιώργος

Yorgos Tsemberopoulos

ΗΠΑ United States

1978, 48’

Harry Belten, a hardware store clerk in a small Illinois town in 1959, is 64 years old when he unexpectedly sets a goal for himself and announces it: “A year from now I will perform The Mendelssohn Violin Concerto with a full orchestra in a regular symphony hall in the City of Springfield!” We follow him as he fights against all odds to achieve his goal, in his own particular way.

ON-SITE 2/11 Zannas 22:00

MEGARA

ΜΕΓΑΡΑ

Sakis Maniatis, Yorgos Tsemberopoulos

Ελλάδα Greece 1974, 72’

The unbreakable bond between man and his native soil, the way the landscape shapes its inhabitants – and their political awareness –and the importance of localness as a means of resistance lie at the heart of Sakis Maniatis and Yorgos Tsemberopoulos Megara, a film rightly considered one of the most important Greek documentaries of the last fifty years. Filmed at a time when the concept of ecology was non-existent in Greece, Megara follows the struggle of the inhabitants of Megara against the Junta’s decision to expropriate a large area of farmland to build an oil refinery. The last part of the film documents the farmers’ decision to join the students of the Athens Polytechnic in November 1973 following their unjust treatment by the state and the courts. The struggle for survival of the rural people of Megara and their relationship with their land are still strikingly relevant today.

ON-SITE 1/11 Zannas 22:00

THE SOJOURNER

Yorgos Tsemberopoulos

ΗΠΑ United States 1978, 23’

The touching story of a child from a Pontic refugee family who managed to survive and thrive against all odds, thanks to his immense talent and resilience in the face of social and personal challenges. Music, love, family, friends, fishing, creativity, people of the night, hardcore fans, and intense conflicts come together to create the mosaic of his life. This film is a tribute to legendary singer, Stelios Kazantzidis, whose voice touched the hearts of all Greeks around the world.

ON-SITE 7/11 Tornes 19:30

SUDDEN LOVE

Ελλάδα

συναντάει τον Γρηγόρη, έναν επιτυχημένο

οικονομολόγο που ζει στη Γαλλία παντρεμένος με Γαλλίδα και με δύο παιδιά, και

που έχει αρχίσει να νοσταλγεί την Ελλάδα.

Συναντιόνται

A sojourner is a person who lives in a place temporarily, a traveler who stays for a while and moves on; he has no permanent home. John Ferris, an international journalist living in Europe, during a flash-trip back to the States for his father’s funeral, he thinks things over and decides to visit his ex-wife after a long time and meet her new family. Over dinner, when asked, he lies about his personal life in Paris…

ON-SITE 2/11 Zannas 22:00

STELIOS

Yorgos Tsemberopoulos

Eleni is thirty-three, a would-be dancer who no longer dances, a married woman no longer in love with her husband, leading an uneventful life. Grigoris is a successful economist, a career man, who lives in Paris married with a French woman and has two children. He feels nostalgia for Greece and his boyhood years there. When they meet, they feel a sudden love for each other, a love that thrills them and threatens their quiet lives. Their love takes them to Lisbon, and perhaps even further.

ON-SITE 3/11 Zannas 21:30

TAKE CARE

Yorgos Tsemberopoulos

Ελλάδα Greece

1990, 93’

Seeing his dream to become a singer in the big city crumble, a young man will find a job at a butcher shop and inadvertently act as a catalyst in the life of three women. Small insignificant dramas played out every day without ever hitting the news. The setting is the archetypal “Athenian apartment,” a futile test tube where needs, dreams, and passions stir.

ON-SITE 4/11 Zannas 19:00

ONLINE 5–9/11

W.A.R.N. – WOMEN OF ALL RED NATIONS

Γιώργος

Yorgos Tsemberopoulos

ΗΠΑ USA

1980, 6’ Στον

(Wounded Knee)

16mm.

The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota is home to the Lakota Tribe. In 1980, we visited the historical area of Wounded Knee with a 16mm camera and some film.

ON-SITE 2/11 Zannas 22:00

WOMAN IN TRAP

Γιώργος

Yorgos Tsemberopoulos

ΗΠΑ United States 1977, 20’

Carol, an emerging L.A. model, returns home with a boring ad-executive she got stuck with. But the audience knows that a weird intruder is hiding in her bedroom.

ON-SITE 2/11 Zannas 22:00

Greek Film Festival: Special Screenings

ELECTRA7

ΗΛΕΚΤΡΑ7

(The Boy),

Exarchou, Christina Ioakeimidi, Babis

Makridis, Argyris Papadimitropoulos, Elina Psykou, Alexandros Voulgaris (The Boy), Neritan Zinxhiria Ελλάδα Greece 2025, 50΄

Electra and Orestes stand accused of murdering their mother. Yet, in present-day Greece, it is not the gods who deliver justice, but mere mortals—seemingly powerless to piece together the truth. The Athens Epidaurus Festival’s seventy-year celebration takes centre stage joining forces with the Hellenic Film Academy to produce a film inspired by Sophocles’ Electra. Part of the fruitful Contemporary Ancients Cycle, the film consists of seven chapters, each one directed by a different filmmaker. Seven distinguished film

auteurs, both women and men, with a track record in Greek and international film festivals, were selected to represent the diverse landscape of contemporary Greek filmmaking and contribute their unique perspectives to this imaginative cinematic relay.

Προβολή σε συνεργασία με τη ΔΕΗ Screening in collaboration with PPC

ON-SITE 5/11 Marketaki 19:00

NextGen

DOWN IN THE DUMPS

Vera Van Wolferen

2025,

This is the story of Cinelli, a perfectionist ladybug that wants to be loved by everyone and pretends to feel good, even when she doesn’t, and Peri, a blunt cockroach who is jealous of how loved Cinelli is among the others. When Peri steals Cinelli’s ladybug shield to take revenge for not being invited to her birthday party, Cinelli disappears into

the ground because she feels worthless without it. There she faces Obius, a dangerous centipede who talks her further and further into the dark. Peri decides to rescue Cinelli from the caverns of her depression when he finds out how suffocating her life actually is. Can Cinelli, with the help of Peri, break free and find her own way?

ON-SITE Mόνο για

Schools Only ONLINE 30/10–9/11

FULL NEST

Germany, Croatia 2025, 6’

The squirrel’s nest is well-padded for the cold winter with all kinds of stolen goods. But a sudden flood forces all the forest animals to flee to Lena’s farm. The squirrel would like to help them… There’s space for everyone in a full heart!

ON-SITE Mόνο για σχολεία Schools Only ONLINE 30/10–9/11

A GIRL NAMED WILLOW

Mike Marzuk

Germany, Austria 2025,

Willow, a red-headed teenage girl from Ireland named after a tree, moves with her father to the house where she grew up until her mother’s passing, passed down to her by a distant relative, Alwina. Along with it, she also inherited her very own lush forest, a brand-new life in a brand-new school, as well as something truly unexpected: a letter revealing she is descended from a large family of powerful witches. Now, Willow must awaken her powers and, with the help of three fellow witches, save the enchanted forest from a tragic fate – greedy developers, who are threatening to seize the land and turn it into a shopping mall! A wonderful film for all ages, made with handcrafted effects and animation, which proves with every single frame what "magic of cinema" really means.

ON-SITE 9/11 Zannas 12:00

HAPPY SNAPS

On the Isle of Sheppey, two boys try to enjoy a last day together. Their adventures are captured by Gabriel, who has cerebral palsy, on an old camera. But as the day goes on, fears about the future cloud their friendship... A sensitive portrayal of a friendship that must face the challenges of separation and loss over the course of the film. Through this brief "instantané," the film offers an important and inclusive perspective on relationships shaped by the human need to hold on and the emotional process of coping with change.

ON-SITE Mόνο

Schools Only ONLINE 30/10–9/11

I FOUND A BOX

Montchaud

France 2025, 9’

Guy comes across something unexpected while flying through the forest: a discarded box. But a dropped box can be used in many ways.

Guy just has to choose one... A heartwarming animation about curiosity, the legacies of Pandora, the beauty of the unexpected, and all of life’s gifts that keep on giving.

ON-SITE

Schools Only ONLINE 30/10–9/11

LITTLE AMÉLIE

Maïlys Vallade, Liane-Cho Han Γαλλία France 2025, 78’

Amélie is a little Belgian girl born in Japan. Thanks to her friend Nishio-san, life is a succession of adventures and discoveries. But on her third birthday, a single event changes everything. Because for Amélie, everything is at stake at her age, happiness as well as tragedy... Using gorgeous, impressionistic animation to explore the formative experience of landing in an unfamiliar cultural environment at a tender age, the directorial duo adapts the bestseller by one of the most famous contemporary Belgian writers: Amélie Nothomb’s early childhood and dreamy recollections of happy years revive in soft, pastel colors and flowing shapes, unfolding the most tender palette of feelings over four different seasons.

ON-SITE 1/11 Olympion 11:30

LOVE IN THE DESERT

Aubert Sénéchal

Canada 2024,

On a beach on the south shore of Quebec, Jeff is filming a western with his son Loïc and his daughter Marion. What seemed to be an easy activity quickly split the three family members against each other.

MARY ANNING

Marcel Barelli

Switzerland, Belgium

12-year-old Mary Anning grows up in 1811 England, under the weight of the conservative values of the era. Admonishments and reprimands, however, don’t seem to curb her restless and curious nature. She continues to explore and uncover the mysteries of paleontology and fossils. Her father’s disappearance pushes her further into the world of science – after all, the harmony of the universe may restore order to her scattered thoughts while knowledge is power. A simple yet at the same time powerful and tender story, charmingly unfolds the space between a woman’s desire, which has only just begun to raise its voice, and the various constraints women are subjected to. The animation, painted in soft hues and delineated with lines depicting even the most subtle of expressions and emotional fluctuations, traverses centuries, societies, and geological strata to arrive at the pressing imperative of the here-and-now of a girl’s nature.

ON-SITE 8/11 Olympion 12:00

THE PACKAGE

Lucie Émard

Καναδάς Canada 2024, 14’

80-year-old Gerry moves in a little house in front of Jeannette’s place, an eighty year old woman. Intrigued by the delivery of numerous packages at her new neighbour’s house, Jeannette is getting out of her loneliness to live a last love story.

ON-SITE Mόνο

A PAIN IN THE BUTT

Germany, Croatia 2025, 6’

Karli (12) moves to the Alps, where his parents fulfill their dream of owning a hotel. Instead of vacation, Karli grudgingly helps his parents scrape off old wallpaper. Then he discovers that he can travel through time with the old elevator – to the year 1938! There, Karli befriends the lively Jewish girl Hannah and the shoeshiner Georg. In the present, Karli gradually confronts the shadow of National Socialism that looms over the world of his new friends. When Georg is wrongfully accused and arrested for theft, Hannah and Karli want to find the real criminal. The three friends want to solve the mystery together and embark on an exciting journey, during which they discover that a great secret lies behind the hotel facade!

ON-SITE 9/11 Olympion 11:00

SLACKERS

Germany 2025, 75’

Sorina Gajewski

είναι

The hedgehog is just about to go into hibernation when he notices that one of his spines is missing. It’s stuck in Lena’s dog’s bottom, of all places. Getting it back won’t be easy!

ON-SITE Mόνο

ONLINE 30/10–9/11

THE SECRET FLOOR

Norbert Lechner

Germany, Austria, Luxembourg 2025, 96’

Ramona and Nico, fresh out of school and without a plan, let themselves be carried away by the Berlin summer. After a prank, they have to flee - reluctantly into the politically charged Berlin. In search of the released bird and Ramona’s little brother, they struggle to find their friendship and confidence and discover unexpected new perspectives. Speaking to the mind, soul, and heart of Generation Alpha, this

is a unique introduction to womanhood as a constant surrender to ‘becoming.’

ON-SITE 9/11 Zannas 14:30 ONLINE 30/10–9/11

THE SONGBIRDS’ SECRET

ΚΕΛΑΗΔΩΝΤΑΣ

Antoine Lanciaux

Γαλλία France 2024,

When 9-year-old Lucie arrives at Bectoile for the vacations, she has no idea of the adventures ahead. Her mother, Caroline, is leading an archaeological dig in the region with her colleague Pierrot. Bectoile is also the town where Caroline grew up, and the scene of a family secret... which Lucie is about to unveil! With the help of her new friend Yann and a very special pair of songbirds, Lucie is determined to delve into her family story. From the underground of a ruined castle to a camper van parked on the edge of the woods, this adventure will lead them from unusual surprises to fabulous discoveries!

ON-SITE 9/11 Olympion 13:30

SWEETHEART

Margherita Spampinato

Italy 2025, 93’

ON-SITE 7/11 Marketaki 19:00, 8/11 Marketaki 13:00

ONLINE 8–9/11

TOMORROW I’LL BE BRAVE

Bernd Sahling Γερμανία Germany 2025, 80’

Αν

If twelve-year-old Karl had been able to choose who he fell in love with, it probably wouldn’t have been the much taller Lea. The fact that Lea is about to change schools doesn’t make things any easier. “Different school, different boys!” says Karl’s older brother Tom, and advises him to be brave for once. Karl invites Lea into his improvised bathroom laboratory. Taking and developing photos has been Karl’s favorite pastime for years. Lea is impressed by Karl’s “light magic” in the lab, but time is running out for further meetings. Karl only has one last chance to become Lea’s boyfriend during the upcoming school trip. The teenage angst of falling in love with a touch of humor, great tenderness, plenty of respect, and some cinephile overtones!

ON-SITE 2/11 Olympion 11:30 ONLINE 30/10–9/11

À TOI LES OREILLES

While the townsfolk are celebrating the village’s anniversary parade, Étienne tries the impossible: to show them how beautiful his family’s cacophony really is.

ON-SITE Mόνο

RIFIFI

ΡΙΦΙΦΙ

Σωτήρης

Sotiris Tsafoulias

Ελλάδα Greece 2025, 100΄

The 66th Thessaloniki International Film Festival, in collaboration with COSMOTE TV, presents the world premiere of two episodes of the series Rififi. With the power of fiction, COSMOTE TV’s new production combines the greatest heist ever committed in Greece with a true story of human tragedy, delivering a character-driven series full of emotion and strong elements of humor. Rififi follows the events surrounding the infamous heist, as presented through the reports and news coverage of the time, and seeks to fictionally address the two major questions that remain unanswered to this day Who did it and why Authorities spoke of organized crime, terrorist organizations, and particularly educated and ruthless perpetrators. But was that really the case?

Scriptwriter

Vasilis Risvas, Demetra Sakali

Διεύθυνση

Claudio Bolivar Μοντάζ Editing

Georgopoulos

Ήχος Sound

Cinematography

Yorgos

Panos

Papadimitriou Μουσική Music Ted Regklis Ted Regklis

Evangelia Moumouri, Christos Chatzipanagiotis, Vassilis Charalampopoulos, Panos Vlachos, Vladimiros Kyriakidis, Promitheas Aliferopoulos, Aris Lebessopoulos, Anna Menenakou, Dimos Gigantakis, Costas Philipoglou, Achilleas Zervas, Eli Driva, Rania Papadakou, Yorgos Kanellis, Georgia Sifianou, Pygmalion Dadakaridis, Ektoras Nikas, Katerina Mantziou, Dimitris Gerodimos, Frini Thetaki, Dimitris Mavropoulos, Vasilis Risvas

Production COSMOTE TV Executive Producers

Dimitris Michalakis, Faye Tsitsipi

Samiotis

Michalis Samiotis

Format DCP

Color

ON-SITE 3/11 Liappa 22:00

Free admission by issuing zero-value ticket at the Festival’s box office.

THURSDAY 30 OCTOBER –

SUNDAY 9 NOVEMBER

ΠΕΜΠΤΗ

À

TOI

LES OREILLES

ΤΕΝΤΩΣΕ

σ./p. 170

ARIEL

ΑΡΙΕΛ σ./p. 80

AS SILENCE PASSES BY ΚΑΘΩΣ

107

DANCE OF THE LIVING

DOWN IN THE DUMPS

ΜΑΥΡΑ

σ./p. 163

DRAMA ISFF AWARDED FILMS

ΒΡΑΒΕΥΜΕΝΕΣ

ΜΙΚΡΟΥ

ΔΡΑΜΑΣ

Πρόγραμμα #1 Program #1

σ./p. 157, 159, 161

Πρόγραμμα #2 Program #2

σ./p. 156, 157, 158, 160

Πρόγραμμα #3 Program #3

σ./p. 156, 157, 158, 159, 160

Πρόγραμμα #4 Program #4

σ./p. 158, 159, 160

Πρόγραμμα #5 Program #5

σ./p. 157, 159, 160, 161

EPILOGUES

ΕΠΙΛΟΓΟΙ σ./p. 108

FULL NEST

ΓΕΜΑΤΗ

164

HAPPY SNAPS ΧΑΡΟΥΜΕΝΑ

166

I FOUND A BOX

ΒΡΗΚΑ

σ./p. 166

THE IVY

Ο ΚΙΣΣΟΣ σ./p. 86

KOKUHO

σ./p. 88

LITTLE, BIG, AND FAR

ΜΙΚΡΟ, ΜΕΓΑΛΟ, ΜΑΚΡΙΝΟ σ./p. 66

LOVE IN THE DESERT

ΑΓΑΠΗ

σ./p. 167

MOSQUITOES

ΠΙΤΣΙΡΙΚΕΣ σ./p. 92

ONCE UPON A TIME IN GAZA ΚΑΠΟΤΕ

THE PACKAGE

168

A PAIN IN THE BUTT

168

PUNKU

σ./p. 96

SLACKERS

ΡΕΜΠΕΛΑ σ./p. 168

TOMORROW I’LL BE BRAVE

169

TRAVEL ESSENTIALS

110

WEIGHTLESS

σ./p. 102

FRIDAY 31 OCTOBER –

SUNDAY 9 NOVEMBER

DIVERSION ΕΚΤΡΟΠΗ σ./p. 150

SATURDAY 1 NOVEMBER –SUNDAY 9 NOVEMBER

ΣΑΒΒΑΤΟ 1

CAST ASIDE THE CLOUDS

σ./p. 155

FEMALE

64, 150 ROOSTER

σ./p. 153

SMARAGDA – I GOT THICK SKIN AND I CAN’T JUMP ΣΜΑΡΑΓΔΑ σ./p. 60, 153

SUNDAY 2 NOVEMBER –SUNDAY 9 NOVEMBER ΚΥΡΙΑΚΗ 2 ΝΟΕΜΒΡΙΟΥ –ΚΥΡΙΑΚΗ 9 ΝΟΕΜΒΡΙΟΥ

BEACHCOMBER ΜΠΙΤΣΚΟΜΠΕΡ σ./p. 51, 149

DON’T LET THE SUN ΜΗΝ ΑΦΗΝΕΙΣ ΤΟΝ ΗΛΙΟ σ./p. 64

HOW COME IT’S ALL GREEN OUT HERE?

ΠΩΣ ΚΑΙ ΕΙΝΑΙ ΟΛΑ ΠΡΑΣΙΝΑ ΕΔΩ; σ./p. 133

MADONNAS σ./p. 151

PATTY IS SUCH A GIRLY NAME

ΠΟΛΥ ΚΟΡΙΤΣΙΣΤΙΚΟ ΟΝΟΜΑ ΤΟ ΠΑΤΤΥ σ./p. 152

MONDAY 3 NOVEMBER –SUNDAY 9 NOVEMBER ΔΕΥΤΕΡΑ 3

DON’T LAUGH, THEY’LL SEE YOU

ΜΗ

σ./p. 150

THE GREAT MASSACRE OF ALIMOS

σ./p. 154

KINGDOM

ΒΑΣΙΛΕΙΟ σ./p. 64

MAHI

ΜΑΧΗ σ./p. 152

TUESDAY 4 NOVEMBER –SUNDAY 9 NOVEMBER ΤΡΙΤΗ 4 ΝΟΕΜΒΡΙΟΥ –

THE ANYTHING

ΤΟ ΟΤΙΔΗΠΟΤΕ σ./p. 149

GORGONÀ

σ./p. 52, 150

WEDNESDAY 5 NOVEMBER –SUNDAY 9 NOVEMBER

ΤΕΤΑΡΤΗ 5 ΝΟΕΜΒΡΙΟΥ –ΚΥΡΙΑΚΗ 9 ΝΟΕΜΒΡΙΟΥ

CRIES

ΚΡΑΥΓΕΣ σ./p. 149

I WILL LOVE YOU IN NOVEMBER ΘΑ

σ./p. 151

MARICEL σ./p. 152

MAYA & SAMAR

ΜΑΓΙΑ & ΣΑΜΑΡ σ./p. 155

TAKE CARE

ΑΝΤΕ

σ./p. 162

THURSDAY 6 NOVEMBER –SUNDAY 9 NOVEMBER ΠΕΜΠΤΗ 6

1001 FRAMES

ΧΙΛΙΑ

σ./p. 61

REGAN

σ./p. 65, 153

VOLUME 7

ΤΟΜΟΣ 7 σ./p. 154

FRIDAY 7 NOVEMBER –SUNDAY 9 NOVEMBER

BEFORE / AFTER

ΠΡΙΝ /

σ./p. 63

DON’T LET ME DIE

LITTLE MAN-EATER ΜΙΚΡΟΣ

151

OUR WILDEST DAYS ΟΙ

155

WINTER SEA

154

SATURDAY 8 NOVEMBER –SUNDAY 9 NOVEMBER

NOVAK ΝΟΒΑΚ σ./p. 59, 152

RECEPTIONS

ΔΕΞΙΩΣΕΙΣ σ./p. 152

RIDICULOUS LOVES

ΓΕΛΟΙΟΙ ΕΡΩΤΕΣ σ./p. 153

SWEETHEART

ΓΛΥΚΟ ΜΟΥ σ./p. 60, 168

ZEALOTIS

ΖΗΛΩΤΗΣ σ./p. 66, 154

51, 149

ENDLESS LAND ΑΠΕΙΡΗ

150

The films of the International Competition program are eligible for the following awards:

• Best Feature Film Award “Theo Angelopoulos” (Golden Alexander – 10,000 euros)

• Best Director Award (Silver Alexander – 5,000 euros)

• Best Actor & Actress Awards

• Best Artistic Achievement or Screenplay Award.

The International Competition films are eligible for prizes awarded by Independent Juries.

The members of the International Competition Jury are: Elegance Bratton, director, screenwriter, producer, and actor; Thania Dimitrakopoulou, Head of Sales at The Match Factory; and Frederick Elmes, cinematographer.

COSMOTE TELEKOM, the Festival Major Sponsor, supports the Silver Alexander award with a cash prize of 5,000 euros.

The “Meet the Neighbors+” competition section includes first or second films from the 36 countries

of South-Eastern Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East. At the same time, in 2023, the section’s Golden Alexander was renamed into “Golden Alexander – Michel Demopoulos,” honoring the memory of the former Festival director (1991-2005) who led the institution to gain an international scope.

The films of the Meet the Neighbors+ are eligible for the following awards:

• Best Feature Film Award “Michel Demopoulos” (Golden Alexander – 10,000 euros)

• Best Director Award (Silver Alexander – 5,000 euros)

• Best Actor & Actress Awards

• Best Artistic Achievement or Screenplay Award

The “Meet the Neighbors+” International Competition films are eligible for prizes awarded by Independent Juries.

The members of the jury are: Ali Abbasi, filmmaker; Sofia Kokkali, actress; and Kirsten Niehuus President of the Board of Directors of DFFF (German Federal Film Fund), film funding expert.

Διεθνούς

Film Forward Film Forward International Competition

The Film Forward International Competition Section features the work of new, daring filmmakers who, with their first or second film, challenge our relationship with storytelling and aspire to renegotiate it, beyond the boundaries of film genres. The films compete for the Golden Alexander – Best Feature Film Award (8,000 euros cash prize) and the Silver Alexander – Best Director Award (4,000 euros cash prize).

The Film Forward International Competition films are eligible for prizes awarded by Independent Juries.

The members of the Film Forward Jury are: Constanza Macras, choreographer; Christos Massalas, filmmaker; and Valeria Wagner, Zurich Film Festival programmer.

(sound designer).

One of the first festivals worldwide to explore the affinities between podcasts and cinema, the Thessaloniki International Film Festival hosts once again its Podcast Section, marked this year by a record number of submissions. The Podcast Section includes the Podcast Competition and the Podcast: Nexus sub-section. The Best Podcast Award is accompanied by a 2,000euro cash prize. The members of this year’s Podcast Competition jury are: Stavroula Koulitsi (content creator-founder of The Green Post-it), Kallia Papadaki (author-screenwriter) and Valia Tserou (sound designer).

Βραβείο Immersive: All Around Cinema Immersive: All Around Cinema Award

The competition section “Immersive: All Around Cinema” embraces creations that make use of high-end technologies to present different views of extended reality. The Immersive competition section of the 66th Thessaloniki International Film Festival showcases new films that offer an exciting interactive viewing experience, transcending film genres and immersing the viewer in each artwork’s unique environment. The Golden Alexander awarded to the best film of the section, is accompanied by a monetary award of 2,000 euros. The members of the Immersive Jury of the 66th Thessaloniki International Film Festival are: Myriam Achard, Head of new media partnerships and public relations at PHI; Maria Kouzinopoulou, journalist; and Marina Vranopoulou, art curator and founder of “Dio Horia” art gallery.

Mermaid Award Mermaid Award

The Mermaid Award is a prize for the best LGBTQIA+-themed film from the official selection of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival. The award is accompanied by a monetary prize of 3,000 euros. The members of the Mermaid Jury of the 66th Thessaloniki International Film Festival are Lorenzo dell’Agnello, Film Officer, Giornate degli Autori; Chester Algernal Gordon, producer; and Nancy Papathanasiou, clinical psychologist and co-founder of Orlando LGBT+.

This year’s Alpha Bank Accessibility Award is accompanied by a cash prize of 3,000 euros and is awarded to either an individual or a film that highlights accessibility issues in the arts.

«Meet the Neighbors+», «Film

INDEPENDENT JURIES

Fischer, the official sponsor of the Festival’s Audience Awards for a number of years, will give five prizes to films that have their first public screening in Greece at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival and gather the most positive votes from the audience: four prizes will be awarded to international productions from the Festival’s Official Program (the International Competition, Meet the Neighbors+, Film Forward, and Official Selection sections) premiering in Greece, as well as the “Michalis Cacoyannis” award to a Greek film premiering at the Festival. Βραβεία FIPRESCI

The FIPRESCI Awards

(FIPRESCI).

This year, the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI), comprising distinguished film critics, presents two awards: one for the best film in the International Competition section and another for the best Greek film that has its premiere at the Festival. This year’s jury members are Robert Horton, Ifigeneia Kalatzi, and Gena Teodosievska

This year’s press & industry screenings are dedicated to the celebration of the 100th anniversary of FIPRESCI.

Smart7 Smart7 Award

Kino Pavasaris (Λιθουανία).

Aiming to foster the transnational circulation of European titles, the Smart7 film festival cooperation network features a Competition Section, presenting a selection of seven national films (one from each member country). One film will win the Smart7 Award, followed by a prize of 5,000 euros. The network is composed of the following film festivals: New Horizons International Film Festival (Poland), IndieLisboa International Film Festival (Portugal), Thessaloniki International Film Festival (Greece), Transilvania International Film Festival (Romania), FILMADRID International Film Festival (Spain), Reykjavik International Film Festival (Iceland), and Vilnius International Film Festival Kino Pavasaris (Lithuania).

The FOS Award, powered by PPC, celebrates actors and actresses making their film debut, in a lead or supporting role, in a Greek feature-length film in the Festival official lineup. In the awards’ ceremony, two awards will be bestowed, to an actress and an actor respectively, both accompanied by a 3,000-euro cash prize. Public Power Corporation (PPC), as a strategic partner, offers its support to the Thessaloniki International Film Festival; the Festival stands by Greek and international filmmakers who breathe life into every shot and scene through their work, as well as the city that has been linked for decades now with the culture and the 7th art. The members of the jury are: Calliope Alpitsi, elculture Managing Director; Yorgos Nanouris, actor; and Panagiotis Timogiannakis, film critic.

* “Fos” is the Greek word for “Light,” whereas PPC stands for the Public Power Corporation of Greece.

This year, TIFF is delighted to deepen its collaboration with the Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra, by introducing a new distinction, the TSSO Award. The award honors a Greek or international film composer whose work, premiering in one of the Festival's competition sections, features original orchestral music. The recipient will have the unique opportunity to record the soundtrack of their next film with the Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra. The members of the jury are: David Bruce, composer; Leo McFall principal conductor of the TSSO; and Antonis Sousamoglou, concertmaster of the TSSO.

Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation Awards

The First Prize of the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT), a cash prize of 3,000 euros, will be given to the Greek film that wins the award from the Jury of the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI), the Second Prize, a cash prize of 2,000 euros, will be given to the Greek film that will win a distinction at the AGORA Works in Progress, whereas since last year a new Original Music Award has been launched, accompanied by a cash prize of 2,000 euros. The members of the Best Original Music Award jury are: Leonidas Antonopoulos (deputy director of the radio station KOSMOS 93.6), Margarita Mytilinaiou, head of ERT’s music radio; and Tassos Rossopoulos (composer, deputy director of the ERT Third Programme 90.9).

"Human Values" Award of the Hellenic Parliament

The Hellenic Parliament presents its “Human Values” award to a film from the International Competition section. The members of the Jury of the Hellenic Parliament TV are: Aris Fatouros, director-producer, Program Consultant; Vasilis Douvlis, director, Head of the Program Department; and Kostas Dimos, Program Collaborator.

The Hellenic Film and Audiovisual Center will award two prizes in the 66th Thessaloniki International Film Festival. More specifically, the awards are the following: The Hellenic Film and Audiovisual Center Award, accompanied by a 5,000 euros cash prize, granted to a debutant director, in a Greek production having its premiere in the official selection (“First Run”) and the Best Location Award, accompanied by a 1,500 euros prize, bestowed by the Hellenic Film Commission of the Hellenic Film and Audiovisual Center, to a location manager of a film by a debutant director in a Greek production premiering at the official selection.

The J. F. Costopoulos Foundation Award

The J. F. Costopoulos Foundation, on the occasion of its 40th anniversary, instituted in 2019 The J. F. Costopoulos Foundation Award in the context of the Thessaloniki Film Festival. The prize will be awarded to a film from the Greek program selection, holding its premiere at the Festival. The members of this year’s committee are: Betty Kaklamanidou; Professor at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki; Konstantinos Vassilaros, producer; and Yorgos Zois, filmmaker.

Finos Film Award

For yet another year, Finos Film bestows an award at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, distinguishing a Greek film that premieres at the Greek Film Festival section. The members of the committee of the 66th organization are: Panagiotis Charamis, filmmaker; Barbara Dukas, Director, Conductor of DISFF Pitching Lab; and filmmaker Christina Ioakeimidi

Youth Jury Awards by the Students of the Thessaloniki Universities

The Youth Jury, comprising students from the School of Film at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, will present the Best Film Award and the Special Jury Award. Eligible for these awards are Greek films premiering at the Greek Film Festival. Youth Jury supervisor: Apostolos Karakasis, Professor in Film and Television Theory & History, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. This year’s jury members are: Vlassis Alexoudis, Anna Baltzi, Vassilis Seralidis, Lefkothea Vavouraki, and Ifigenia Nefeli Zisimatou.

Βραβείο WIFT GR WIFT GR Award Το

WIFT (Women in Film & Television)

WIFT GR.

The WIFT GR Award is presented by the Greek Chapter of WIFT (Women in Film & Television) to a film from the International Competition, Meet the Neighbors+ or Film Forward Competition for the best woman’s contribution and presence in front or behind the camera. The members of this year’s committee are Elena Athanasiadou, producer, Communications & Social Media expert, WIFT GR board member, Maria Chatzigianni, filmmaker, human geographer, WIFT GR board member, and Ioanna Tsilili, filmmaker, screenwriter, WIFT GR member.

Association of Film Critics (PEKK) Award

The Greek Association of Film Critics (PEKK) awards, as every year, the Best Greek Film that is screened in the official selection of the 66th Thessaloniki International Film Festival. The decision is made by the General Assembly of the members that have attended the Festival. PEKK’s award will be given to a Greek film from the Greek Film Festival 2025 program.

AGORA: WHAT WE DO

The AGORA is the main industry event of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, offering various networking opportunities for the global film industry. An international meeting and trading event, the AGORA presents a variety of industry activities which focus on the countries of Southeastern Europe and the Mediterranean region. All necessary information for the AGORA can be found in the AGORA Mag. Like every year, the AGORA is taking place as a hybrid event in physical spaces as well as online. This year’s AGORA Ambassador is renowned chef Sotiris Kontizas

This year, AGORA includes the following activities:

CROSSROADS CO-PRODUCTION FORUM

Crossroads Co-production

Crossroads Co-production Forum offers producers and directors an opportunity to present their projects-in-development to international producers and industry professionals. This year, fourteen (14) projects projects take part in Crossroads Co-production Forum. Only AGORA-accredited guests have access to the Crossroads Co-production Forum presentations.

FOCUS SESSIONS

As part of its ongoing support for Greek cinema, AGORA introduces a new initiative, the FOCUS sessions. AGORA supports four (4) shortlisted Greek projects inviting them to participate in the FOCUS sessions giving them an opportunity for further networking and development of their projects. The selected teams will have consultation meetings with experienced industry film professionals from Greece and abroad, who will offer practical advice on how to best position their film within international co-production markets, while scouting for future partners and further developing their project.

AGORA WORKS IN PROGRESS

Τα AGORA Works in

The AGORA Works in Progress presents films just before completion to invited industry professionals. Eight (8) films have been selected this year. Only AGORA-accredited guests have access to the AGORA Works in Progress presentations.

AGORA FILM MARKET

Το AGORA Film

The AGORA Film Market includes more than 150 completed films and series in its digital video library (in collaboration with Cinando) that are available online for AGORA-accredited guests and press professionals.

AGORA SHORT FILM LAB Το

An AGORA initiative, co-organized by the Clermont-Ferrand and the Drama International Short FFs, the AGORA Short Film Lab brings together directors of award-winning short films to facilitate their acclimatization to the feature-filmmaking industry. Eight (8) filmmakers comprise this year’s line-up. This year’s participants are joined by an emerging director from Finland as part of our newest initiative, Bridge to the North, in collaboration with the Finnish Film Foundation, Helsinki International Film Festival and Finnish Film Affair and the support of the Finnish Embassy in Athens and the Finnish Institute at Athens.

THESSALONIKI LOCARNO INDUSTRY ACADEMY

In collaboration with the Locarno FF, the Thessaloniki Locarno Industry Academy is a tailor-made training program for young professionals – sales agents, distributors, and new media professionals.Ten (10) young professionals participate this year.

AGORA SERIES

AGORA Series, the TIFF AGORA section focusing on series production, aims to create a communication network with professionals in the field of audiovisual productions and become an annual meeting point for the support and development of this sector. We’ll present a series of insightful talks on trend topics of the audiovisual industry, a masterclass and a case study presentation. The Series Masterclass is delivered in English with simultaneous interpretation in Greek.

AGORA SERIES TALENTS

Φέτος,

This year, AGORA Series proudly launches a new talent development and networking program tailored for both emerging and established screenwriters based in Greece. Designed as a curated, invitation-only experience, the program welcomes six (6) series screenwriters and serves as a vibrant incubator for creative voices. It features hands-on workshops, masterclasses, personalized feedback from acclaimed audiovisual professionals, and expert coaching on both personal and project presentation. Participants will have the opportunity to connect with industry leaders, exchange ideas, and present their work to top-tier guests.

Τα εργαστήρια των AGORA Series Talents, AGORA Short Film Lab και Thessaloniki Locarno Industry Academy

The AGORA Series Talents, AGORA Short Film Lab and Thessaloniki Locarno Industry Academy workshops sessions are closed and addressed only to the participating professionals.

AGORA TALKS

The AGORA Talks presents film professionals who share practical info and the tools they use. This year we talk about the relationship between cinema and television series, financing tools within and outside Europe, synergies and new technologies, strategies for festival distribution, and ecological sustainability in the film sector. AGORA Talks sessions are open to festival-accredited guests.

AGORA introduced in 2023 a new collaborative bridge between the South and the North of Europe by hosting each year a different guest country from the Baltic and Nordic region. Bridge to the North is exploring new opportunities in financing and artistic collaborations and is creating fertile ground for co-productions, synergies, and cultural exchange.

This year, we are delighted to welcome Finland as a guest country at Bridge to the North, in collaboration with the Finnish Film Foundation, the Helsinki International Film Festival, the Finnish Film Affair, and with the support of the Embassy of Finland in Athens and the Finnish Institute at Athens, a delegation of Finnish producers and film industry representatives will attend all the actions of AGORA.

AGORA

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 31 – SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 16

“PLOT TWIST (THE SCIENCE FICTION CHANGE)” MAIN EXHIBITION

MOMus–Πειραματικό

MOMus-Experimental Center for the

The subject of plot twist as reversal also emerges from the organic dialogue of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival with the main theme of the 9th Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art of MOMus “everything must change. RIS9”, curated by independent curator and art historian Nadja Argyropoulou. This dialogue is given visual expression in the exhibition “Plot Twist (the science fiction change),” which serves as a prelude to the Biennale 9 and is part of the 66th Festival edition, and is realized with works by Ben Rivers, Errands group, Kostas Sfikas, curated by Nadja Argyropoulou and the Festival’s Artistic Director Orestis Andreadakis. With its intriguingly ambiguous title “everything must change. RIS9”, the 9th Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art aims to connect life and art in unexpected ways – through humor, ingenuity, and a spirit of joyful militancy that remains non-didactic yet alternatively pedagogical. The Biennale seeks to highlight works that critically engage with the present and help shape the future, all while actively envisioning a world of many worlds.

31 Οκτωβρίου–16 Νοεμβρίου October 31–November 16

Εγκαίνια

: / Opening Hours:

31 Οκτωβρίου–9 Νοεμβρίου October 31–November 9 Καθημερινά Daily: 10:00–22:00

10–16 Νοεμβρίου November 10–16 Τρίτη, Τετάρτη,

10:00-18:00 και Πέμπτη: 10:00–20:00 Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday: 10:00-18:00 and Thursday: 10:00–20:00 Είσοδος ελεύθερη Free admission thessalonikibiennale.com

19:30

OPENING FESTIVITIES OF THE 9Th THESSALONIKI BIENNALE OF CONTEMPORARY ART

Περίπτερα 2 & 3 TIF-HELEXPO, Pavilions 2 & 3

2026.

The 9th Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art, entitled “everything must change. Radical Intelligence. Saloniki 9,” curated by Nadia Argyropoulou, celebrates its opening with events, workshops, screenings, discussions, live music, DJ sets, and live performances by Vassilina, Bipolia, and The Callas with The Callasettes, from early afternoon until late at night. An evening of public events and artistic gatherings / meetings for everything that will unfold in the multifaceted trajectory of Biennale 9, until July 2026.

Free admission

Program

Seed bombs, unstructured screenings, Tote bag makeover, dance interactions, live music, parties 19:30–22:00

Εργαστήριο

Seed bomb workshop, in collaboration with the environmental organization Mamagea

Εργαστήριο

Momus sacculos in MOMo non imprimet: Το Mephisto Me Studio

Momus sacculos in MOMo non imprimet silkscreen printing workshop: Tag your tote bags together with Mephisto Me Studio

19:30–01:30

Προβολές

Moving in Riot

Film screenings Moving in Riot: a divergent mix of nine film screenings on a loop in empty spaces

19:30–22:00

VELVET BUS goes Salonica Biennale

Μέρος 1 Part 1

DJ performance

), Vassilina live, Bipolia live

DJ performance by the duo Touba – Charilaou (Marina Velisioti – Xenia Kalpatsoglou), Vassilina live, Bipolia live

22:00–23:00

«ΔΕΘ

"DETH arthó": Aerites dance group on a dance journey through the uncertain and the possible

Μέρος 2 Part 2

23:00–24:00

The Callas with The Callasettes live 24:00–01:30

DJ set Yavash

22:00

The Festival’s official opening party will kick off with an electrifying live performance by twin sisters Olga and Niki Skiadaresi, the powerhouse Greek duo known simply as Skiadareses. Songwriters, performers, and actors, they’ve become a local viral sensation with lyrics that capture the spirit and struggles of a generation–raw, witty, and unapologetically real. Their sharp humor and infectious energy have turned every live show into a celebration of attitude and authenticity. Or, in their own words: “Once upon a time, there were the Skiadareses. And they lived happily ever after. That was the short version. If you want to hear the whole story, come to our live show.”

Featuring: Fanis Zachopoulos, Haris Paraskevas, Alexis Stenakis / Dubbing: Praxis studio / Editing: Kostas Chaikalis

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 30 – SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 9

DRINKING

παρόν.

As part of the XR Festival’s official selection, Immersive – All Around Cinema, this year’s edition features the piece Drinking Brecht: An Automated Laboratory Performance as an interactive installation, paying homage to Brecht’s “scientific theater,” which endeavored to spark revolution. We invite you to “drink Brecht” and experience this innovative interactive documentary, created by multimedia artist sister sylvester using microbiology and genetics to merge past and present.

Διάρκεια: 50’ Duration: 50’

Free admission

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 31

19:00

KANTRAN presents its debut issue through a striking painting installation inspired by the universe of seven distinct journeys. This 176-page publication bridges rap and cinema, blending conversations, illustrations, photography, and previously unpublished material into what feels less like a magazine and more like a living archive. Conceived by director Dimitris Giotis, visual artist Vasilis Georgoulas, and producer Christos Charakoglou, the project unfolds as seven car rides, seven conversations. The first edition features LEX, Melow, Saske, Thodoris Selekos, Jones, Tasos Hatzis, and Ethismos The launch will be followed by a party with DJ sets by Melow and Sativa, while on Saturday, November 1, Baby Jones and Bellas will keep the celebration going. The exhibition runs through Tuesday, November 4.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 1

11:00–12:30

MASTERCLASS

ICDA

(Filmmakers Europe)

Casting is at the heart of a film’s nature and identity, shaping the way audiences connect to its story. It is a delicate art where countless elements combine – performance, presence, chemistry, intuition – each decision rippling across the creative process. As with every part of filmmaking, technology is rapidly transforming how casting directors work, from databases to AI tools. Yet at its core, casting remains a uniquely human craft: seeing not only who an actor is, but who they might become in a role. This panel explores how to preserve that essence in cinema’s new era.

Speakers: Tanjia Grunwald, Yngvill Kolset Haga, Lucinda Syson, David Zitzlsperger (Filmmakers Europe)

The masterclass will be conducted in English with simultaneous interpretation into Greek.

Moderator: Alexandros Diakosavvas, journalist 13:00–14:30

DRESSING THE STORY: THE ART OF COSTUME DESIGN

MASTERCLASS WITH CATHERINE GEORGE

Costume designer Catherine George shares her journey from fashion to film, exploring how costumes serve as a form of narrative. Drawing on work across genres, she will discuss the creative process – from research and collaboration to design and production – showing how costumes become vital tools of storytelling. With behind-the-scenes insights and images, George reflects on her long-term collaborations with Jim Jarmusch, Bong Joon Ho, and Lynne Ramsay, revealing how costume design shapes character, mood, and brings personalities to life on screen for audiences.

Moderator: Geli Mademli, film researcher/TiFF publications coordinator The masterclass will be conducted in English with simultaneous interpretation into Greek.

18:00

ΒΡΑΒΕΙΟ SEMIRAMIS ΚΑΛΥΤΕΡΟΥ CASTING

2025 SEMIRAMIS AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN CASTING

Tonia Marketaki Theater

ICDA presents the Semiramis Award for Excellence in Casting in Thessaloniki, in collaboration with the Festival and the renowned UK-based casting platform, Spotlight. This prestigious award honours outstanding achievement in casting and highlights the decisive role casting directors around the world play in shaping a film’s character, performances, and the audience’s connection to a story. The ceremony will be followed by a screening of the film The Thing with Feathers by Dylan Southern.

11:00–12:30

AGORA SERIES MASTERCLASS: FROM PAGE TO SCREEN MASTERCLASS WITH SAVERIO COSTANZO

Pavlos Zannas Theater

(Flix.gr, Nova)

Acclaimed Italian filmmaker Saverio Costanzo leads an in-depth masterclass exploring his creative process as director and screenwriter of My Brilliant Friend, HBO and Rai’s internationally celebrated adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s novel of the same name. Costanzo will discuss the artistic challenges of bringing a richly layered literary world to the screen and of building a compelling television narrative. The session offers an insightful conversation into the creator’s approach to adaptation, collaboration, and storytelling on an epic scale.

Moderator: Poly Lykourgou, film critic (Flix.gr, Nova)

The masterclass will be conducted in English with simultaneous interpretation in Greek.

18:00

BOOK PRESENTATION GRAPHIC NOVEL TH.V. – THE GALLEY OF MY LIFE!

Green Room

Thanasis Veggos returns to his true home – which is no other than cinema – for a special presentation of his extraordinary life story in the form of a graphic novel, titled Th.V. – The Galley of My Life! (Mikros Iros Publications). This lively and heartfelt tribute celebrates the beloved actor’s remarkable career and enduring legacy. The book launch will be accompanied by the screening of a commemorative video featuring highlights from Veggos’s unforgettable filmography, co-produced by Finos Film and Papandreou Film Production.

Speakers: Mika Agrafiotou (journalist), Spyros Derveniotis (cartoonist), Isabella Mavraki (director-screenwriter), Thanasis Petrou (cartoonist)

EIGHTBALL:

Kostis Maraveyas takes the stage at the iconic Eightball club with a brand-new set, designed especially for the venue’s unique atmosphere and the Thessaloniki Film Festival audience. Armed with his accordion, guitar, and keyboards, Maraveyas is joined by Demian Gomez on percussion and congas, Angelos Angelidis on electric guitars with a distinct oriental flair, and Nikos Angloupas on buttons, effects, and sound design. Expect a non-stop groove and infectious rhythm – from cumbia beats to remixed Ikariotiko – featuring the songs we know, love, and can’t resist dancing to.

The Thessaloniki International Film Festival, in collaboration with production and distribution company Finos Film, will honor 36 iconic actors and actresses who starred in many of the

most defining moments of the 1960s Greek cinema. The renowned honorees will be awarded for their overall contribution to Greek cinema and culture. Legendary names of Greek cinema will be present on stage, while at the same time, the Festival will screen a video tribute where many of the unparalleled actors and actresses from the golden era of Greek cinema will share with the audience memories, stories and faces from their glorious career. The event will be presented by the President of the Festival’s Board of Directors, actor Akis Sakellariou, and his fellow actor Ieroklis Michaelidis, who will converse with the beloved stars on their fascinating journey in cinema, as well as the unseen aspects of their life as artists. This grand celebration of Greek cinema further strengthens the solid collaboration between the Thessaloniki International Film Festival and Finos Film, the production company that defined the entire era of Greek cinema that marked the heyday of the honored artists.

22:00 ΠΑΡΤΙ

VOLUNTEER PARTY

DELTA Spandoni 5

TUESDAY NOVEMBER 4

NEXTGEN – PERIPHERAL SCREENINGS FOR THE CHILDREN AND YOUTH

Closed Municipal Theater of

The 66th Thessaloniki International Film Festival, in collaboration with the Municipality of Neapoli-Sykies, presents films from the educational program NextGen.

10:00–11:30

The multi-award-winning French and international actress, with an equally acclaimed career in theatre and film, shares her invaluable experience. The discussion will explore the differences and similarities in acting between the two arts, from the intensity and expressiveness of the stage to the subtlety and intimacy of the camera. Isabelle Huppert will illustrate practical examples and tech-

niques, offering unique insights for developing acting skills in every medium.

Moderator: Ersi Sotiropoulos, writer, poet

The masterclass will be conducted in French, with simultaneous translation to Greek and English.

12:00–13:30

MOVIE STUNTS – INTRODUCTION TO THE EXCITING WORLD OF CINEMATIC ACTION MASTERCLASS WITH SOTIRIS KRANIOTIS AND KRIS RADANOV

Stunt

A specialized masterclass on stunts in cinema offers participants the opportunity to delve into both the technical and artistic dimensions of screen action. Sotiris Kraniotis and Kris Radanov from the Stunt Project team – seasoned professionals with over 15 years of experience in the field – present methods for designing, executing, and coordinating dangerous scenes, with a strong emphasis on precision, realism, and safety. Through theoretical analysis and practical examples, the audience gains essential insights into how action sequences contribute to dramaturgy and cinematic storytelling. The masterclass is aimed at students, creators, and professionals in the audiovisual sector.

Moderation: Dimitris Nakos, film director

The masterclass will be conducted in Greek with simultaneous interpretation into English.

19:00

One of the most iconic films of contemporary Greek cinema will be made universally accessible, with the support of Alpha Bank, and screened as part of the Festival’s tribute to the work of Yorgos Tsemberopoulos. Written by Vassilis Alexakis and Yorgos Tsemberopoulos, the

film is based on the novel of the same name by Yovanna and unfolds in 1990s Athens. When his dream of becoming a singer in the big city collapses, a young man takes a job at a butcher shop, unwittingly becoming a catalyst in the lives of three women. Everyday dramas play out quietly, never making the headlines.

Admission is free, on the issue of a zero-value ticket

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 5 NEXTGEN

NEXTGEN

PERIPHERAL SCREENINGS FOR THE CHILDREN AND YOUTH

The 66th Thessaloniki International Film Festival, in collaboration with the Municipality of Pavlos Melas and the Municipality of Neapoli-Sykies, presents films from the educational program NextGen. 11:00–12:30

The Collaborate Art reflects Frederick Elmes’ personal approach to shooting narrative films. Emphasis will be placed on developing an aesthetic with the director first, then finding the technical solutions that will allow him to realize them in his cinematography. During the masterclass, he will reference film clips from work he has photographed with esteemed directors David Lynch, Jim Marmusch, Ang Lee, and others, then discuss techniques they used to bring their ideas to the screen.

Moderator: Simos Sarketzis, cinematographer, GSC

The masterclass will be conducted in English with simultaneous interpretation into Greek.

22:00

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 6

NEXTGEN

NEXTGEN – PERIPHERAL SCREENINGS FOR THE CHILDREN AND YOUTH

Pavlos Zannas Theater

A discussion on the timeless allure and irresistible power of the plot twist – the reversal of expectations in dramatic (and not only) storytelling.

The masterclass will be conducted in English with simultaneous interpretation into Greek.

20:00

The Thessaloniki International Film Festival will bestow an honorary Golden Alexander to the renowned filmmaker Yorgos Tsemberopoulos for his overall contribution to the art of

cinema, before the screening of the film The Enemy Within (2013). At the very core of Yorgos Tsemberopoulos’ film universe one finds the passions and desires of people against the backdrop of today’s metropoles and of a drastically changing Greece. The 66th TIFF will host a large-scale tribute to his work, featuring his entire full-length filmography, two universally accessible screenings, a fascinating masterclass, and the Festival’s special edition First Shot exclusively dedicated to one of Greece’s most beloved film directors, with many huge hits under his belt.

20:30 ΣΥΝΑΥΛΙΑ

The world-renowned Chinese-American composer, conductor, and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador Tan Dun, is one of the foremost figures in contemporary classical music. An Oscar and Grammy Award winner for his score for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, he has also received numerous other prestigious distinctions throughout his career. His remarkable and wide-ranging body of work, spanning operas, orchestral and chamber compositions, and acclaimed film scores, has been performed by leading orchestras around the globe to great critical acclaim. Renowned for his innovative approach, he frequently integrates audiovisual elements into his compositions. His concert in Thessaloniki will continue this tradition, promising audiences a captivating and unforgettable experience.

Organized by: Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra – Thessaloniki Concert Hall in cooperation with the Thessaloniki Film Festival

CINEMATOGRAPHERS SPOTLIGHT GREEK CINEMA – OPEN DISCUSSION: GREEK SOCIETY OF CINEMATOGRAPHERS (GSC)

The Greek Society of Cinematographers (GSC) continues its collaboration with the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, bringing the Directors of Photography who are prominent in the Greek films of the 66th edition to the forefront. The discussion will be conducted in Greek.

Speakers: Claudio Bolivar, Υiorgos Karvelas, Υiorgos Koutsaliaris, Thanos Liberopoulos, Christina Moumouri, Arsinoi Pilou, Stelios Pissas, Simos Sarketzis

The discussion will be moderated by film critic Manolis Kranakis

18:00

BOOK PRESENTATION: GENDER NORMS IN PANTELIS VOULGARIS’ FILMS

Green Room

Film critic Yannis Grosdanis’s new book (Aigokeros Publications) offers an illuminating exploration of gender and sexuality in New Greek Cinema, viewed through the lens of Pantelis Voulgaris, one of the most significant voices in contemporary Greek filmmaking. Focusing on five of his landmark works (The Matchmaking of Anna, Stone Years, Quiet Days of August, Brides, and Little England) the book examines how cinematic language both mirrors and influences social attitudes toward gender, sexuality, and identity in 20th-century Greece. Blending film analysis with cultural insight, Grosdanis traces the ways Voulgaris’s cinema captures intimate human stories while revealing broader shifts in Greek society.

Speakers: Orestis Andreadakis, artistic director of the Thessaloniki Film Festival, Yannis Grosdanis, writer and film critic, Evi Karkiti, journalist and writer, Angeliki Mylonaki, PhD in Film Studies, film historian, and deputy head of the Film Office of Central Macedonia, and Yorgos Tsemberopoulos, director, screenwriter, and producer.

Moderated by publisher Giannis Soldatos

STELIOS: FULLY ACCESSIBLE SCREENING

The biggest Greek box-office success of recent years will be screened with universal accessibility, with the support of Alpha Bank, as part of the Festival’s major tribute to the work of Yorgos Tsemberopoulos. The acclaimed filmmaker’s most recent feature, written by Katerina Bei, chronicles the remarkable life of the prolific Greek singer Stelios Kazantzidis. From his humble beginnings as the child of Pontic Greek refugees to his rise as one of Greece’s most beloved folk singers, Kazantzidis’s story unfolds through hardship, passion, and triumph. Music, love, family, friends, fishing, creativity, people of the night, hardcore fans, and intense conflicts come together to create the mosaic of his life.

Admission is free, on issue of a zero-value ticket

22:00

Greece Goes Modern

Bord de l’eau Εγνατίας 45 45 Egnatia St

Greece Goes Modern is not only Mimis Plessas’s legendary album but also the inspiration behind a vibrant DJ project by Andreas Mitrelis (Veego Records) and Christos Sotiropoulos (Mono Record Store). Their joint sets are more than just entertaining. They’re nostalgic, educational, and deeply celebratory of Greek music across the decades. Blending pop sensibilities with timeless melodies, the duo curates tracks that span generations: from Marinella and Aleka Kanellidou to Michalis Rakintzis, Pan Pan, The Olympians, Rififi, Kore Ydro, Vlassis Bonatsos, Eleni Dimou, and Nalyssa Green. From the groovy shakes of the 1960s and the unapologetic hits of the 1980s to the rock of the 1990s and today’s Greek pop and rap, Greece Goes Modern is a danceable journey through the country’s musical evolution, one that brings back memories while keeping the rhythm of the present alive.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER

11:00–12:30

Do I embody or impersonate? Do I give body and life to a role or pretend to be someone else? With a filmography focused on characters, heroes, and heroines, and therefore on the actors and actresses, professional or not, who take on these roles, Yorgos Tsemberopoulos, honoree of the 66th Thessaloniki International Film Festival, discusses how he elicits the performances he needs and admires, and how he himself embodies the personalities of his scripts in order to form an invincible team with his actors. The director will use specific examples from his career and engage in conversation with the audience.

Moderator: Eleni Androutsopoulou, Head of the Greek Film Festival

The masterclass will be conducted in Greek with simultaneous interpretation into English.

12:00

The book, based on Evangelia Liakou’s doctoral dissertation and published by Neaniko Plano, explores audio description techniques that enhance accessibility for individuals with visual impairments. Drawing on extensive research, the author provides practical guidelines to ensure the quality and effectiveness of audio description in real-world applications. Beyond its academic value and relevance for professionals in audiovisual translation, the book stems from a broader commitment to social equality – advocating for equal access to education, information, and entertainment for all members of society.

Speakers: Evangelia Liakou, author of the book, Maria Tsigkou, Associate Professor of Linguistics and Translation, Chair of the Department of Foreign Languages, Translation, and Interpreting at the Ionian University, Katerina Zampeli, Translator, Director of the Translation/Subtitling Department of Neaniko Plano.

Moderated by director Dimitris Spyrou, president of Neaniko Plano.

13:00

ΧΡΥΣΟΣΤΟΜΟΣ

CHRYSOSTOMOS STAMOULIS: A CINEPHILE THEOLOGIST IN THE DARKNESS OF THE MOVIE THEATER

Three months after his passing, the Thessaloniki International Film Festival and Parallaxi magazine are honoring Chrysostomos Stamoulis, an academic theologist, musician, humanitarian, and cinephile. He was a theorist who saw in the darkness of the movie theater not just a projection screen, but also a setting for revelation, gathering, and love. Once more, the theologist of light and heterogeneity meets the viewer’s gaze through the words of the interlocutors that will illuminate his journey through cinematic shots and theological fragments, seeking the true visage of the human being which taught us that there’s always light within the darkness. Moderated by journalist Υorgos Toulas

Speakers: Metropolitan Filotheos of Thessaloniki; Thanassis Triaridis, writer; Manos Lamprakis, playwright, translator, and dramaturg; and Eva Nathena, filmmaker-artist.

22:00

FESTIVAL'S TRAILERS

Jim Sclavunos,

οι Grinderman, Sonic Youth, Teenage Jesus and the Jerks (με τη Lydia Lunch)

The Cramps,

The trailers of TiFF's 66th edition are inspired by two original works for the Festival’s posters, that bear the signature of the acclaimed Greek painter Stefanos Rokos. The two short animation films, where two props take center stage, a telephone device and an avocado, are directed by Stefanos Rokos and film director and animator Fokion Xenos, while they are scored by Jim Sclavunos, frequent collaborator of legendary music artists such as Nick Cave, Grinderman, Sonic Youth, Teenage Jesus and the Jerks (with Lydia Lunch) and The Cramps, among others, as well as a permanent member of the Bad Seeds since 1994. As Stefanos Rokos puts it: “In the former, the scene being shot is crowned with an utter success, while in the latter the scene ends in total disaster.” He goes on to add: “In all creative stages of every art work, success and failure are intertwined, always passing the torch to one another. This is common knowledge to us all, as a part of the creative process that serves the purpose of art. As soon as the idea is materialized, the artists wish for this adventure they went through to turn into a positive outcome. However, the greatest plot twist arrives when the final work oozes a sense of true inspiration and peace to the eyes of the beholder.”

Stefanos Rokos

Fokion Xenos

Music and sound: Jim Sclavunos

& Out. There Collective Stefanos Rokos & Out. There Collective Stereo Mix: Jim Sclavunos

5.1 mix:

Leandros Ntounis

Greek contemporary artist Stefanos Rokos created two works titled “Plot Twist I & II: (Precious moments of inspiration and peace)” for the posters of the 66th Thessaloniki International Film Festival. “I chose to create two overloaded pluralistic painting works alluding to end credits in movies. A multitude of information and names, both in front of and behind the cameras, flash before our eyes, foregrounding the scale of each production. Somewhere in between, one can trace the inspiration that ties together so many dissimilar features, a beautiful fire that springs out the head of the crew and gives birth to a condition,” points out Stefanos Rokos.

“Am I allowed to say that, at least in a sense, I feel to be a part of cinema? I think of a story, I transform into a script in my mind, I select my main cast, I build characters, I place them under the light, the shadow or in a limbo between the two, and I create my own powerful images out of an inner need. In my painting works, everything is still, yet movement is all around, there’s no soundtrack, yet a musicality can be discerned. And their viewing lasts from a mere second up to many hours long, according to the viewer’s desires. I have watched films throughout my entire life; cinema is a source of both entertainment and inspiration for me. I have not missed out on a single Thessaloniki International Film Festival edition for the past 15 years, and I have always felt being a part of it, even if it was not the case,” stresses the talented visual artist.

The original paintings will be exhibited at the Thessaloniki Cinema Museum throughout the 66th TIFF (Free Admission).