Some film festivals are film and some are festival; the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, 49 this year, manages to be both. For instance, here's but one day from my notebook, November 22:
1130am Willem Dafoe masterclass; 1300 Richard Jobson's "digital is the new punk"; 1500 Theo Angelopoulos press conference; 1600 Just Talking panel, Azazel Jacobs, Gerardo Naranjo, the Zellner brothers, Mimi Brody, me; 1800 Michael Ondaatje reading; 1930 Gustavo Santaololla tribute; 2000 Claire Denis' 35 Rhums; 2300 Greek Film party.
A festival in motion... My overview coverage is in the January issue of Filmmaker; here's a few glimpses via video. This year's sustained blowout ran November 14-23; here's their site.
At the Just Talking panel, a wine-and-cheese break each afternoon at 4pm, Aza Jacobs talks about how he's come to the end of a year of going 'round the world with Momma's Man, since its Sundance premiere in January; old friend and collaborator Gerardo Naranjo, director of the terrific Voy A Explotar (I'm Gonna Explode), chimes in.
Emir Kusturica was scheduled to do a masterclass, but it was cancelled after the hours-long concert he and his No Smoking Band performed at a warehouse on the pier where much of the festival takes place. This is from one of the several encores, when a member of the enthused young citizens of Macedonia-Thrace turns the moment into "moshedonia."
Along with eclectic rosters of guests, the juries are diverse as well. The jury head was former filmmaker-novelist Michael Ondaatje ("The English Patient") and the members included screenwriter Diablo Cody. At Cody's masterclass, where she encouraged the eager young Greek audience to simply find their own voice, Ondaatje has a question of his own.
At another just talking, filmmaker Kostis Bassogiannis (Unitas), who describes himself as one of the best dentists of Greece, speaks about why he became a filmmaker and his slightly gloomy perspective on the future. [The sound quality is indifferent in this clip.]
After a late night, headed at the last minute to the pier for the Willem Dafoe conversation, I paused to watch the choppy midday sea, more Angelopoulos than even Angelopoulos would dare it to be. Festival president Georges Corraface snuck up behind me and murmured, "It's alive...."
