Thessaloniki 2007

FIPRESCI Prize: "P.V.C.-1"

FIPRESCI Prize: "The Homecoming"

An ideal festival for young audiences. The Thessaloniki International Film Festival completed its 48th edition with a program and organization reaching the festival's traditional high standards. The TIFF succeeded in putting together an interesting international program, whereas the Greek films of the year were quite disappointing.
    The John Sayles retrospective undoubtedly marked the festival. The master was present for the whole period and his favorite actor friends Chris Cooper and David Strathairn, two of the best American actors of their generation, supported him. So did Danny Glover, the star of the latest Sayles film Honeydripper. The presence of these names that are not only involved in cinema but are activists, created a political ambiance at the festival.
    The Balkan Survey and the tribute to the Romanian master Nae Caranfil were  discoveries to many cinephiles and critics. The audience and the critics agreed that some of the best titles in the whole program were selected for this section.
    Unfortunately, it was not a good year for the Greek Panorama. It is reported that the quantity of film production in Greece is lower than the previous years due to shortage of funding by the Greek Film Center, therefore the quality of the films could not reach the desired level. On the other hand the Greek Digital Wave was quite remarkable in quantity and a few films by Greek Diaspora directors were promising for the future.
    A young, enthusiastic public enjoyed the Thessaloniki Film Festival to the limit. Almost all the projections were full and there were even angry protests when the box office was closed. They do not mind sitting on the floor or stairs when they intend to see a film! One would think there were enough master classes in the program but the young audience, some of whom came all the way from Athens and other cities only to attend the festival,  might have demand even more. (Alin Tasciyan)

Thessaloniki International Film Festival, November 16-25, 2007, www.filmfestival.gr
FIPRESCI Prizes:
International Competition: P.V.C.-1 by Spiros Stathoulopoulos (Colombia, Greece, USA, 2007).
Greek Panorama: The Homecoming (I Epistrofi) by Vassilis Douvlis (Greece, 2007). Details

Reports:

A Single Shot Hits Its Target. Alin Tasciyan is involved, disturbed and frightened by Spiros Stathoulopoulos's P.V.C.-1, a tour-de-force film shot in one continuous take. "We witness a poor farmer's family being slowly victimized by the harsh third world reality," she writes.
The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters. Raghvendra Mirle compares Cargo 200 with classic horror movies. "If all major works should be identified by the way they transform a genre", he writes, "Alexei Balabanov's Cargo 200 is a major work that uses the conventions of the horror film to shed disturbing light on a profound political truth."
Finding a Home. Dimitris Babas finds a great deal of interest in two recent Greek films: The Homecoming (I Epistrofi) by Vasilis Douvlis and Elli Makra — 42277 Wuppertal by Athanasios Karanikolas, concerned with national identity and the search for a home.
Coming of Age. Pablo Utin examines three first features about teenage angst, and finds an analogy between the new directors own coming-of-age concerns. "It seems that quite often first time directors tend to make their first work about characters coming of age", he writes. "Their films seem a way of growing up, as if parallel to the characters portrayed, also the director is going through a transformation, leaving behind his years as an aspiring director in order to become part of the professional ("grown up") filmmaking community."
Saving the Soul of European Cinema. In an analysis and overview of Balkan cinema in Romania, the ex-Jugoslav countries, Bulgaria, Albania and Turkey, Shahla Nahid concludes optimistically that it has offered a new lease of life to the rather tired European cinema.

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