Thessaloniki 2024

Rand Beiruty’s Tell Them About Us is a refugee movie with a difference. Its young female protagonists have fled their homelands to come to Germany. They and their families are living in difficult circumstances but the tone of the film is very upbeat. “I wanted it to be more participatory and more empowering for the girls,” Jordanian director Beiruty tells BDE of her intentions. “It’s also a film about family, about friendship and about the love they have for each other.”

In the 1970s the island of Mykonos emerged as a symbol of hope, freedom and self-expression, thus becoming for many a true “Paradise on Earth.” The sweeping transformations of the iconic Greek island take centre stage in Steve Krikris’ new project, presented as a work-in-progress at Agora. “Super Paradise is a project about the transformation of an island,” said Krikris. “It was a hidden gem, back then. Now it’s a major destination for mass tourism.”

During the 2024 Agora, Sophie Shevardnadze presented her Docs in Progress project, titled Eduard. The debut feature of the Tbilisi-born filmmaker is an unprecedented portrait of Eduard Shevardnadze, a man who held power in Georgia for an extended period of time and couldn’t let go of it without bloodshed. The work is particularly poignant for the director as she is, herself, the granddaughter of the former Georgian leader.

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.

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.

It’s a strange detail in history not widely known. The Cambodian dictator Pol Pot, responsible for killing around a quarter of his own people during the period of the Khmer Rouge, spent part of his childhood at the Cambodian royal court. He was brought up there by his foster mother, Chea Samy, a celebrated dancer who had married Pol’s older brother. Director Lansch reveals all to BDE.

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.

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.

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.”