Documentary festival now ready to roll
All is set for the Sixth Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, «Images of the 21st Century,» between March 15 and 21, following Wednesday’s announcement of this year’s entries. Films will be screened at four venues, the Olympion, Pavlos Zannas, Kassavetis and Tornes. Greek entries will take part in the festival’s competition section for the second time. Also yesterday, the event’s organizers announced the titles of nine films that will vie for State Quality Awards on the sidelines of official competition. These are: «Nikos Xylouris and Three Poems» by Stavros Stratigakos; «Marseilles, Distant Daughter» by Marc Gastine; «Traveling Greece» by Diamantis Leventakos; «Springtime Delayed Slightly Longer» by Myrto Paraschi; «All-Weather Man» by Yiannis Soldatos; «DR Gazi» by Dimitris Vernikos; «Aegean Voice» by Lydia Karra; and «Earina» by Yiannis Tritsibidas. A total of 15 documentaries, both feature-length and shorts, have been short-listed for the festival’s competition section. The feature-length entries, over 45 minutes long, include: «Summer Lighting» by Nikos Lygouris; «Me, Me, You and Them» by Selana Vronti; «God is Invisible Because He is Microscopic» by Thodoros Marangos; «I’ll Sprout Wings» by Anneta Papathanassiou; «Smoke» by Giorgos Keramidiotis; «The Other Side» by Kyriaki Malama; «Pyla, Those Who Always Stuck Together» by llias Dimitriou; and «Faith is a Rock» by Marianna Economou. These entries will compete for the Best Feature Length Documentary’s first and second prizes, worth 12,000 and 7,000 euros respectively. The list of short documentary entries, under 45 minutes in length, comprises the productions: «Giorgos Mavroidis» by Stavros Stratigakos; «Soliloquies» by Paula Bousiou; «Leros State Infirmary, the First 45 Years» by Andreas Loukakos; «Iroon Square» by Thodoros Kalesis; and «The Box» by Eva Stefani. Entries in this section will contend for first and second prizes, worth 5,000 and 3,000 euros respectively. An Audience Award will also be handed out, while the International Film Critics Association, Fipresci, will also offer its prize. Both Greek and foreign entries are eligible. Launched in 1999 with the aim of focusing on productions that explore social developments in the world, the festival has grown in stature. Last year’s attendance figures exceeded 16,000.
