Tomorrow, Friday, March 13 marks the opening of the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, which sees its 17th edition run through Sunday, March 22. While I’ve been fortunate to attend the past few years, I’m taking a break this time around. The following section overview offers highlights of new and recent films that I would try to see, were I to be heading to Greece:
Views of the World focuses on contemporary issues, with such films as BROTHER OF MINE, Rodrigo Vazquez’s revisitation of the paths taken by two former child miners in Bolivia, and KINGS OF THE WIND & ELECTRIC QUEENS, Gaspard Kuentz and Cedric Dupire’s exploration of an Indian animal market; while the Society section hones in on social concerns, with titles like Jean-Cosme Delaloye’s THE PAWN, which follows a Guatemalan lawyer’s efforts to bring justice to her raped and murdered cousin; Bruno Rocchi’s THE LIMB OF MOROCCO, about the black market in the northern part of the country; Ase Svenheim Drivenes’ I AM KUBA (pictured), a look at two young brothers fending for themselves while their parents seek work abroad; and Stratoula Theodoratou’s THE FISH ON THE MOUNTAIN, a portrait of the economy’s impact on a Greek port town.
The personal is at the core of Stories To Tell, including: Valerie Kontakos’ MANA (pictured), a look at an children’s home set up by a group of Greek nuns; Stavros Psillakis’ OLYMPIA, a portrait of a women who learns of her cancer diagnosis while pregnant; Kalliopi Legaki’s PSY, an inside look at the experiences of the mentally ill; Stelios Efstathopoulos and Susanne Bausinger’s EMERY TALES, which explores a Greek island dependent on the mining of a rare stone; and Michele Fornasero’s SMOKINGS, the story of two small-scale cigarette entrepreneurs as they run afoul of Big Tobacco.
Portraits: Human Journeys also focuses on the human element, with titles like: Kimon Tsakiris’ THE ARCHAEOLOGIST (pictured), which finds a dedicated woman struggling to preserve ruins before they are lost to a new dam project; Wenjing Ma’s TRANSCENDING FEAR: THE STORY OF GAO ZHISHENG, the story of the persecution of an activist attorney in China; Panagiotis Evangelidis’ PURE LIFE, a day in the life of a Spanish porn performer; and Alon Kol’s TRANSFIXED, about a couple with Asperger’s and the complications they face before they can marry.
Works confronting recent history are featured in Recordings of Memory, including: Carol Gordon and Natalie Cunningham’s chronicle of the fate of Greek Jews during the Holocaust, FOLLOWING SHIRA’S JOURNEY: A GREEK JEWISH ODYSSEY; Magnus Gertten’s exploration of the survival stories of several WWII prisoners, EVERY FACE HAS A NAME (pictured); and Stelios Kouloglou’s 1984 history of imprisoned Greek dissidents during the military dictatorship, ESCAPE FROM AMORGOS. The past also figures strongly in the Special Screenings section, particularly in Andreas Apostolidis’ WAR & PEACE IN THE BALKANS, which explores the dramatic impact of the First World War on the region.
Stories of injustice and struggle appear in Human Rights, such as: Ahmad Jalali Farahani’s WE ARE JOURNALISTS (pictured), about the persecution faced by the Iranian press; Guillaume Suon’s THE STORM MAKERS, about human trafficking in Cambodia; Menelaos Karamaghiolis’ MILAD – MY PLANET…, which finds a family of undocumented migrants torn apart as they try to enter Germany; and Angelos Rallis and Hans Ulrich Gessl’s A PLACE FOR EVERYONE, which visits a Rwandan village which finds persecutor and persecuted as neighbors two decades after genocide.
Habitat showcases environmental docs, including Laura Maragoudaki’s study in turtledove poaching, LEAVING IS LIVING, and Delphine Fedoroff’s examination of life in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, AFTER US, ONLY THE BURNT EARTH; while lighter subjects are the focus of Music & Dance, such as: Johan Jonason’s CONQUERING CHINA (pictured), about a Swedish pop singer’s attempts to make it in Shanghai; and Ivan Gergolet’s DANCING WITH MARIA, which follows a nonagenarian Argentine dancer who teaches performance to the disabled.
Finally, the festival showcases the work of Hellenic filmmakers in the Greek Panorama. Among the offerings here are works that look at music and culture, such as Angeliki Aristomenopoulou’s A FAMILY AFFAIR, about a family famed for maintaining Cretan music; and Constantinos Patsalides’ BELOVED DAYS, a revisitation of a Cypriot village’s involvement in a 1970 Hollywood film shoot. Others focus on the economic crisis, including: Yorgos Avgeropoulos’ AGORA – FROM DEMOCRACY TO THE MARKET, Despina Grammatikopοulοu’s WE ARE FUCKED, SUNSHINE! (pictured), Theodosia Grammatikou’s NON OMNIS MORIAR, and Aris Chatzistefanou’s FASCISM INC. The latter joins Marsia Tzivara’s BURNING FROM THE INSIDE to explore the rise of neo-Nazi elements such as Golden Dawn in Europe. Paola Revenioti’s KALIARDA reveals the secret history of Greece’s homosexual community, while Vassilis Loules’ AND I ALSO PASSED BY THERE AND HAD PAPER SHOES TO WEAR records the folk stories of rural Greece.
what (not) to doc 