48th INTERNATIONAL THESSALONIKI FILM FESTIVAL

The 48th Thessaloniki International Film Festival (TIFF) will take place November 16 to 25 2007.

In a feature about the 50 film festivals around the world that rank as must-attends, Variety magazine includes the TIFF. According to Variety "what started out as the low-key ‘Week of Greek Cinema’ in 1960 has over the years transformed into the Balkans' primary showcase for the work of new and emerging filmmakers as well as the leading film festival in the region.” The event features the International Competition, the Greek Cinema section, the Independence Days programme, the Balkan Survey, and numerous retrospectives and tributes to leading figures in the world of film. Special screenings include Nikos Kazantzakis in Memoriam, and Contemporary Wars.

The International Competition Section caters to first or second features by new and emerging filmmakers. Feature films will vie for the two main awards: the Golden and the Silver Alexander. Other awards include Best Director, Screenplay, Actor, Actress and Artistic Contribution plus the Audience awards. The Film Critics worldwide body, FIPRESCI creates its own Jury. 

At the same time various events, such as art exhibitions and concerts, and industry initiatives (a Market for Feature Films, a Script Development Fund for South-Eastern Europe, the Crossroads Co-Production Forum, and the Salonica Studio student workshops) have turned the Thessaloniki TIFF into a major event on the European film festival circuit.

48th Thessaloniki International Film Festival: Screenings Schedule

THE GREEK FILM CENTER

The Greek Film Centre (www.gfc.gr), a corporation that belongs to the broader public sector, finances film productions and ensures favourable conditions for film making, promotes and supports film distribution in commercial circuits, organises retrospectives and film weeks abroad, participates in festivals, hosts seminars aimed at providing professional training, awards scholarships and conducts research on Greek cinema. Particular emphasis is given to supporting new filmmakers.

THE HELLENIC FILM COMMISSION OFFICE

Greece has always had a long and spectacular love affair with the international film making community. The need for new images in the film industry has led to a boom in optical effects and the quest for visually pristine locations. Greece has this visual wealth of natural landscapes to offer in regions like Macedonia, Epirus, Peloponnese, and of course the islands in the Aegean and the Ionian seas. Since 1974, the Greek Film Centre supports the production and promotion of Greek films and fosters the participation of Greek producers in foreign productions. in this context, the Hellenic Film Commission Office (www.hfco.gr) provides every possible service for filming in Greece.

Hollywood Greek American actress and writer Nia Vardalos, star of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," stood under a big reflector in early October, filming a new romantic comedy among the ruins on the Acropolis. The film ("My life in ruins"), featuring an archaeologist and tour guide, will be the first Hollywood production that secured permit to film the Acropolis thank to new policies promoted by the Hellenic Film Commission Office. 

THESSALONIKI: AN OLD-MODERN MULTICULTURAL CITY

Thessaloniki constitutes a modern European cultural metropolis (in 1997, the city was the "Cultural Capital of Europe"), and one of the most important trade and communication centers of the country. It is the second largest city of Greece and the capital of the Macedonia region. A bridge for developing Balkan countries, hosts the headquarters of many important institutions, and among them, that of the European Agency for Reconstruction. 

Thessaloniki is a hub of trans-European networks: the Egnatia motorway and the Thessaloniki's Port among them. The International Trade Fair, with a series of important, various specialised exhibitions, has transformed the city into a magnet for economic interests and a financial center of the country.

The National Theatre of Northern Greece, the Concert Hall, the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki School of Modern Greek Language, the International Hellenic University, the Museum of Photography, the State Museum of Contemporary Art, the Museum of Byzantine Culture, the Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki as well as international cultural events like the Thessaloniki Biennale and the Thessaloniki Book Fair, all contribute to the city's cultural development.

A recent (8.4.2007) New York Times report features Thessaloniki [also known as Salonica] as the "Seattle of the Balkans" proposing a artful trip to the city: "Thessaloniki's growing appeal as a youthful city with an intriguing multiethnic history and an arty counterculture is turning it into something of a Seattle of the Balkans. Already a southeastern European center for cinema because of its film festivals, Salonika is enjoying a resurgence in its eclectic visual arts and music scenes, evident at contemporary art museums and galleries and clubs..."