10th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival

Day 1

It’s amazing how one seemingly small event can have domino effect repercussions. My carefully scheduled journey to the airport was thrown out when the first train did not arrive. Luckily I did build in a bit of leeway but it did mean I arrived at the airport check-in just on the official cut-off time. By the time I’d been through the ridiculously stringent security checks of being treated like a criminal, and taking the long, long walk to the departure gate I made it to the plane just in time for the door to be closed behind. Thank goodness for online check-in. Anyway, I was on the plane and on my way back to Thessaloniki for another film festival, this time their Images of the 21st Century Documentary Festival, celebrating its tenth anniversary.

With so many years of organising Festivals, combined with Mediterranean hospitality there is always a warm welcome to meet you. A short drive to the hotel in the company of US filmmaker Jeffrey Morgan and Alice Hurwitz, the subject of his film LILLIE AND LEANDER: A LEGACY OF VIOLENCE. Alice outline the film for me, telling me how she wanted to do a little bit of family history only to discover that her ancestors were involved in the systematic killing of negroes in retaliation for murder and rape of her great aunt that went far beyond the vigilante killing of the accused.

After checking in with the delegate and press offices and renewing acquaintances I went back to the hotel for 40 winks before the opening night ceremony and film.


Speeches are very much the order of the day here, with introductions from the festival directors, the mayor and filmmaker Lydia Carras whose film MY LIFE AND TIMES – MICHAEL CACOYANNIS was to follow. Possibly Greece’s best internationally known director, for his Oscar®-winning ZORBA THE GREEK, this was a fascinating look at the whole canon of his films with insights from his long-time collaborators including composer Mikis Theodorakis and cinematographer Walter Lassally, as well as a look at some of the great actors, such as Irene Papas, who have become synonymous with Greek cinema. The film got rapturous applause at the end from an audience that fully appreciated the man’s contribution to Greek culture, not to mention the way Ms Carras revealed the story.

What I found slightly unusual was watching a documentary in a cinema. I usually associated fictional films with theatres and docs with TV, but I’m sure by the end of my stay at the festival that conditioning will be overcome.

Click here for the full festival programme