Wenders to star in Salonica
A tribute to Wim Wenders will be the main event at the 48th Thessaloniki International Film Festival next November, according to an announcement made by the festival. The acclaimed German filmmaker will attend the festival and be included in various events, festival officials said. The tribute includes a full presentation of the work Wenders has done (27 feature films and documentaries) over the course of his 35-year career. The screenings will be complemented by an exhibition of photographs put together by Wenders and his wife Donata, showing stills from film shoots, as well as more private moments of their lives. Other festival highlights include a focus on Brazil, showcasing a number of modern films from the South American country. One of the main figures of contemporary Brazilian cinema, Walter Salles, has been invited to put together a representative sample of Brazilian cinema from the 1960s to the present. A smaller tribute to Chinese cinema will be curated by Variety film critic Derek Elley. The parallel program of screenings, known as Independence Days and featuring independent films, will spotlight the influential Czech filmmaker Jan Svankmajer with screenings of all his feature films. There will also be an exhibition of paintings, sculptures and marionettes made by Svankmajer. Turkish filmmaker Nuri Bilge Ceylan, a favorite at international festivals over the past few years, has been singled out for the annual spotlight on Balkan cinema. The program includes four of his feature films, as well as a short. On the Greek front, the festival will show all Greek films produced in 2005 and 2006, but it will also hold a new competition in digital cinema, titled «DigitalWave.»
