Thessaloniki 2024

A beautiful delve into life and love, the wonderfully titled Two Strangers Trying Not to Kill Each Other gently and thoughtfully examines the ups and downs of a long relationship. The film is movingly profound in its simplicity as it tells the story of Maggie and Joel, aged 75 and 84, both very much aware they are in the twilight of their lives but still battling for their love.

BDE speaks to the makers of the French-Indian coming-of-age doc Until I Fly, which world-premieres at Thessaloniki 2024. Filmed over a number of years, the picture follows Veeru, a charismatic boy born to an Indian mother and a Nepalese father living in an intolerant Himalayan village. “Veeru saw me first as an old man, then he perceived me as a brother and then I sort of became his friend… Meanwhile, Kanishka became a sort of elder sister,” co-director Shetty tells of the directors’ close relationship with their subject.

Greek director Elina Psykou, whose Stray Bodies plays in CPH:DOX F:ACT AWARD, spoke to BDE about the recent protests in Thessaloniki over the film’s poster that depicts a semi-naked and pregnant Madonna nailed to the Cross. Psykou, who received online hate mail over past weeks, says she is apprehensive about the film’s wider opening in Greece on March 28, but will not be deterred from using the same poster. “I don't want to let fear conquer,” she says. “But I have to admit that after all these days, I'm very exhausted.”

Sold by France-based agency Stranger Film Sales, the Balkans-based story of profound gender transformation represents a “powerful depiction of patriarchal dominance,” say filmmakers Kristine Nrecaj and Birthe Templin. The film, which was pitched as a work-in-progress during DOK Leipzig, world premieres March 8 - International Women’s Day - in Thessaloniki’s Open Horizon’s section.

The Thessaloniki Documentary Festival Industry hub, Agora, which next runs March 8-16 2024, has announced a partnership with IEFTA Foundation which will see the presentation of a new €10,000 award to a project participating in Thessaloniki Pitching Forum. Deadlines of 5 and 12 January respectively for submissions for Thessaloniki Pitching Forum and Agora Docs in Progress.

When some Japanese people decide, for whatever reason, to “reset” their lives, they turn to the “night-movers” who help them disappear (as Hartmann and Mori’s feature doc suggests) into thin air. Hartmann describes it as “an emotional human drama film.” It’s not intended as a dry investigative documentary. The director talks of trying to “understand what it means when you run away - but also what it means when you are left behind.”

The leading Greek docfest has announced the films in its three competition sections; International Competition, Newcomers competition and >>Film Forward competition. Competing documentaries are enjoying their world, international, or European premiere in the Festival, while the International Competition Golden Alexander winner will secure its place in the Oscars’ shortlist.

In Malta, abortion is illegal, almost without exception. In Italy, a single woman cannot have IVF treatment, while only a small number of European countries allow for euthanasia or assisted suicide. So it is not surprising that Europe has seen a boom in cross-border “medical tourism” over recent years, a phenomenon that Greek director Elina Psykou examines in her feature doc Stray Bodies which world-premieres in Thessaloniki before its international premiere at CPH:DOX. Psykou talks to BDE.

The renowned Spanish filmmaker will attend the opening ceremony of 26th Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival (March 7-17) in order to present his They Shot the Piano Player (2023, pictured) and receive the fest's honorary Golden Alexander for his overall contribution to cinema and culture. Organisers also announce that 66 full-length and short documentaries from Greece will be screened during the upcoming edition.

Filmmaker Sergej Kreso and Doxy Films (NL) producer Harmen Jalvingh pitched their new feature-length doc project, Dark Blue River. Two industry veterans with over 20 years of experience in the non-fiction business, Kreso and Jalvingh had previously pitched Here We Move Here We Groove at the Greek gathering in 2017. In his latest effort, Kreso returns to a place very dear to him - namely the Neretva river, within the eastern part of the Adriatic basin.