For the pleasure of our eyes, mind, and curiosity, the film festival of Thessaloniki exist since 1992. This big event takes place in the wonderful area of Aristotelous square and the old port. Two beautiful sets which suit very well to the topic.
For the 56th edition, the festival is from the 6th to the 15th of november, which let us the time to discover many different movies and to enjoy these different atmospheres of the seventh art. What offer the film festival is the possibility to watch movies from not very known filmmakers : for almost the majority, they were auteur films. This allowed us to discover the cinema of very new talents. It is also the opportunity for greek people as foreigners to enjoy cinema from all over the world, with specific categories for balkans and greek movies.
Now, let's deal with our concrete experience, inside the projection rooms !
For the 56th edition, the festival is from the 6th to the 15th of november, which let us the time to discover many different movies and to enjoy these different atmospheres of the seventh art. What offer the film festival is the possibility to watch movies from not very known filmmakers : for almost the majority, they were auteur films. This allowed us to discover the cinema of very new talents. It is also the opportunity for greek people as foreigners to enjoy cinema from all over the world, with specific categories for balkans and greek movies.
Now, let's deal with our concrete experience, inside the projection rooms !
These four days of participation let us enjoy five great movies : the first day we watched Father and Mediterranea. Two movies which deals with the immigration topic. The first, Father (Babai), told the story of a young boy trying to reach Germany from the Kosovo, in order to find his father who let him with his uncle.
The second, Mediterranea, told the way of two men from the Burkina Faso through different countries to reach Europe (Italy). The movie shows very well the travel conditions of these immigrants, and how they are treated when they arrive in Europe.
In these two movies, directors never put some melodrama in their point of view but show more the story through the eyes of the two young men or through the child eyes. They were very impactful, and made us thinking a lot about this subject, which is also very actual with the migrants and refugees crisis that we live now : the biggest one since the second world war.
The third one we saw was the famous Mustang of Deniz Gamze Ergüven, which shows the story of five orphan girls stuck in a house, trying to live their young life freely and wildly as they want in a conservative turkish area. Contrary to what we can imagine, the atmosphere of this last one was very sweet, solar, and sensual. The director wanted to show by this way that even if these girls are in a sort of prison and are limited in their life, they are not victims and they still live as they want to : they fight and succeed to avoid every barriers that their family try to put.
The third one we saw was the famous Mustang of Deniz Gamze Ergüven, which shows the story of five orphan girls stuck in a house, trying to live their young life freely and wildly as they want in a conservative turkish area. Contrary to what we can imagine, the atmosphere of this last one was very sweet, solar, and sensual. The director wanted to show by this way that even if these girls are in a sort of prison and are limited in their life, they are not victims and they still live as they want to : they fight and succeed to avoid every barriers that their family try to put.
We noticed that almost all the movies we saw were very involved in defending a cause, and we just wondered if the film festival chose them thinking about a specific involvment : it was very interesting to see movies which make you realize some things about our world.
An other movie was about a psychotherapy of an american indian : Jimmy P. After fighting the world war two, he began to have hallucinations, related with his past life, and strong headaches. The french filmmaker Arnaud Desplechin depicted here one of his favorites subject : the pain of the soul. We could find in this movie a specific aesthetic to make us understand the difference between the dreams, the past, and the reality, through the use of different lights, colors, and the use of particular and large landscapes for the dreams and past life parts.
An other movie was about a psychotherapy of an american indian : Jimmy P. After fighting the world war two, he began to have hallucinations, related with his past life, and strong headaches. The french filmmaker Arnaud Desplechin depicted here one of his favorites subject : the pain of the soul. We could find in this movie a specific aesthetic to make us understand the difference between the dreams, the past, and the reality, through the use of different lights, colors, and the use of particular and large landscapes for the dreams and past life parts.
The last one was a swedish drama, where a young boy tried to live again in his highschool after went out of prison. The heavy atmosphere brought almost a compassion point of view on this boy, who seemed to suffer from the circumstances, even if he was a murderer. The entire aesthetic turned around the same desaturated colors, sometimes in all white sets.
What I can do now is to advise you to go to see by yourself the next film festival, in order to directly appreciate this event! Waiting for it, you can still go to the documentary festival in march, and enjoy !
Rouch Mathilde
Rouch Mathilde
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