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Festival coverage

Thessaloniki International Film Festival

2 November – 11 November 2023

The 64th Thessaloniki Film Festival ran from November 2 to 11.

Other years (3)

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Latest reviews

  • Animalia
    Review preview for Animalia

    Pregnancy is often depicted as a state of enhanced vulnerability, and one which points the way to increased dependency. Here, Alaoui turns that around.

    Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
    A young, pregnant woman finds emancipation as aliens land in Morocco.
  • Sorcery
    Review preview for Sorcery

    Part fantasy, part western, the film is exquisitely shot, the humid atmosphere of the island creating a degree of visual uncertainty to confound viewers further.

    Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
    On the remote island of Chiloé in the late 19th century, an indigenous girl named Rosa lives and works with her father on a farm. When the foreman brutally turns on Rosa’s father, she sets out for justice, seeking help from the king of a powerful organisation of sorcerers.
  • Àma Gloria
    Review preview for Àma Gloria

    One of the most moving portraits of childhood seen recently on the screen.

    Richard Mowe · 4 out of 5
    Six-year-old Cléo loves her nanny Gloria more than anything. When Gloria must return to Cape Verde to care for her own children, the two must make the most of their last summer together.
  • The Invisible Fight
    Review preview for The Invisible Fight

    Sometimes the rumblings are of the Shaw Brothers, at others the Marx Brothers.

    Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
    A kung-fu comedy set in an Orthodox Monastery in 1970s Soviet Union.
  • Close Your Eyes
    Review preview for Close Your Eyes

    A meditation on both memory and movies as well as ageing and a hankering for the past that is informed by the melancholic knowledge that nostalgia is inevitably rose-tinted.

    Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
    A TV show looking into the mysterious disappearance of an actor leads a director on a journey into his own past while making discoveries in the present.
  • Sweet Dreams
    Review preview for Sweet Dreams

    More poem than conventional narrative, Sweet Dreams explores the tropes of the colonial fable with a romantic eye and a sharp wit.

    Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
    When Dutch patriarch and plantation owner Jan dies suddenly in Indonesia, his son arrives from Europe with plans for radical change. But when Jan’s will puts his Indonesian concubine Siti at the forefront of the family estate, ideals prove to be futile and blood thicker than water.
  • Blaga's Lessons
    Review preview for Blaga's Lessons

    Beneath the intense lead performance and the minimalist but effective camera work, there is a rigid moral waiting to be unearthed.

    Sergiu Inizian · 2.5 out of 5
    A woman's moral compass starts to slip after she is conned out of her savings by a phone scammer.
  • Disco Boy
    Review preview for Disco Boy

    If there’s vacillation in general at work, the slippery nature of the film, greased with the sweat of physical and metaphorical dance, remains beguiling.

    Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
    The destinies of a man who has joined the Foreign Legion and another in the Niger Delta intersect.
  • Drift
    Review preview for Drift

    Anthony Chen's slow-burn character study is essentially a showcase for its star Cynthia Erivo

    Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
    Refugee Jacqueline, alone and penniless on a Greek island embarks on a friendship with a tour guide.
  • Io Capitano
    Review preview for Io Capitano

    First-timer Sarr - who is a musician - is a remarkable lead and matched by the support from fellow novice Fall.

    Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
    Two Senegalese teenagers try to realise their dream of a new life in Europe.

A–Z of Thessaloniki International Film Festival 2023 reviews

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