Thessaloniki 2025

The ten films selected for the International Competition of the 27th Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival (March 6-16, 2025) will be eyeing up a series of prizes, among them the Golden Alexander, accompanied by a cash prize of 12,000 euros. The 10 docs within the festival’s Newcomers section will compete for the Golden Alexander “Dimitri Eipides” Award, accompanied by a €10,000 cash prize, and the Silver Alexander Award.

Yamashita’s Gold is a mythical treasure, allegedly buried by the Japanese Army across the Philippine archipelago during World War II. Many believe most of it remains hidden to this day, and among those who have tried to find it are Jack and his father, who have dedicated their lives to the search, spending millions in the process. “The film deals with addiction and obsession - it was important to show how it affected those around him,” Gex explains his Newcomers Competition documentary to BDE.

French-Algerian producer and first-time director Mia Bendrimia took the Agora stage alongside producer Kira Simon-Kennedy to introduce their documentary project, Magma. Simon-Kennedy, a seasoned producer who was nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Documentary Feature category for Jessica Kingdon’s Ascension (2022), is backing the film through Paris-based Nazar Films, a company founded by Bendrimia and dedicated to “crafting impactful stories from the SWANA and Mediterranean worlds.”

There is a gentle whimsy to Nora Nivedita Tvedt’s film Small Dogs Bark Loud as it tackles the challenging subject of childhood loss and trauma with both warmth and compassion, and while the bond between a fluffy small white dog and a 12-year-old Norwegian girl forms the spine of the film, at heart it aims to dwell on how we all process love, grief and fear.

The Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival will honour French filmmaker Nicolas Philibert, “who dares to permeate the innermost depths of the human psyche,” and American director and photographer Lauren Greenfield, “who foregrounds the decay of the American nouveau-riche society,” during its 27th edition, running March 6-16.

Ahead of the 27th Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival, Business Doc Europe spoke with Angeliki Vergou, Head of Agora, the festival’s industry branch that unfolds both on-site and virtually. “Thessaloniki has always been a melting pot of cultures and civilisations, and that’s why we bring all these diverse voices together here,” she says.

At Thessaloniki Docs in Progress 2025, Business Doc Europe took a closer look at Six Letters for a River, helmed by writer-director Markos Holevas and produced by Leonidas Liambeys. The 95-minute creative documentary delves into the themes of migration, borderlands, and human resilience. Shot in Evros, northern Greece, the film is billed as “a documentary that weaves together six decades of stories from the river Evros, where lives are shaped by its waters and the borders they mark.”

At Thessaloniki Documentary Festival 2025, Business Doc Europe caught up with AJB DOC FF Executive Producer Nejra Kozarić, and Djani Hasečić, member of both the AJB DOC festival board and programming committee. “It’s one of the key stops in our festival circuit,” Hasečić reflected on their presence at the leading Greek docfest, “providing us with direct access to compelling stories and talented filmmakers who align with our editorial vision.”

Ventura Durall’s latest documentary Supernatural, premiering in the International Competition of the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, delves into the complex relationship between science and magic through the lens of a father-son dynamic. A co-production between Spain, France, and Belgium, Supernatural is being sold by Taskovski Films.

Nora Philippe spent over a decade working on Girls for Tomorrow, which had its world premiere at this year’s festival. The film follows four young women studying at New York’s Barnard College as they navigate questions of feminism, patriarchy and capitalism. Philippe reflects on her own journey making the documentary, the challenges she faced, and her approach to storytelling. “For them, this space was also therapeutic to some extent, and that was the same for me. I was looking for answers—about motherhood, freedom, feminism—answers I couldn’t find in any other way,” she tells BDE.