As Greece’s premiere film event prepares to celebrate its sixth decade — the 2019 lineup runs Oct. 31 through Nov. 11 — organizers refuse to give in to easy nostalgia with a forward-looking edition that emphasized technology, indie trends and key exposure for up-and-coming directors.
The Thessaloniki International Film Festival — one of the oldest festivals on the circuit — this year celebrates its 60th edition. But despite all the historical opportunities, not least its ancient setting — Greece’s second-largest city, a vibrant coastal enclave on the Aegean, dates to 315 BC and was named for one of Alexander the Great’s half-sisters — Thessaloniki won’t be laying the nostalgia on thick.
While other festivals might understandably choose to mark such milestones by reflecting on their flickering, sepia-tinged past and the Golden Age greats who graced their red carpets, Thessaloniki is firmly looking forward instead of back.
“Our celebration,” says artistic director Orestis Andreadakis, “will be less nostalgic and more dynamic toward the future of cinema: the future of the festival, the future of distributing the moving image in our age and connections with all the other arts.”
formerly Mad Cornish Projectionist.