Thessaloniki International Film Festival

Latest reviews

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  La Bola Negra

  Review preview for La Bola Negra

  La Bola Negra was an unfinished work in a life cut short but the film named (variously) for it is extension and tribute and triumph.

  Drama exploring the inter-connected lives of three gay men.
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  Flesh And Fuel

  Review preview for Flesh And Fuel

  The unassuming love story serves a second purpose, employing a personal lens to explore the European Union’s troubling status quo.

  Étienne is a lorry driver. Fastened to the road, his love life is reduced to fleeting, nameless encounters in parking lots. When he meets Bartosz, a Polish lorry driver, his loneliness is turned upside down.
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  Low Expectations

  Review preview for Low Expectations

  The plot begins where screenwriting manuals would suggest a cut, in the aimless downtime of everyday life.

  A successful young artist's career derails, forcing her back to her hometown. While teaching high school to make ends meet, she navigates depression and rediscovers herself in unexpected ways.
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  Tender Loving Care

  Review preview for Tender Loving Care

  Tender Loving Care is all about the little bits of conversation that make the world a bit more comfy for others.

  In contemporary London, social workers Amy and Rosie navigate the stressors and joys of life together, be that work, family or messy dating lives.
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  A Man Of His Time

  Review preview for A Man Of His Time

  There exists no safe ground when you are part of a regime that uses fear and threats as casual tools.

  Historical drama set against a backdrop of Vichy France as a man strives to help France's renewal.
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  I Plant My Hand In The Garden

  Review preview for I Plant My Hand In The Garden

  The docufictional construction can become meditative to the point of meandering, a tug-of-war between autobiography and fiction that sometimes weighs down the story.

  A pregnant Iranian woman and a Serbian man longing for fatherhood, both bisexual and living in Germany, marry. Their families, divided by language yet united by affection, come together to celebrate.
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  The Lost Son

  Review preview for The Lost Son

  Eventually, The Lost Son ends up as a mixed bag that serves as a portfolio of Štante’s technical abilities as a director, but shortcomings as a writer.

  A detective investigating a domestic abuse case who discovers that the perpetrator is his own brother, forcing him to confront the violence that shaped his childhood.
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  3 Days In September

  Review preview for 3 Days In September

  A dynamic, lean, but refreshingly lightweight viewing experience.

  When her fiancé’s mistress crashes Bianca's wedding day, she flees on a tourist train, launching a real-time odyssey of chaotic escape.
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  Sea Of Glass

  Review preview for Sea Of Glass

  Each set-piece revelation is sprung like a physical blow to the solar plexus.

  After experiencing immense family turmoil in the wake of her husband’s death, a woman seeks solace in a quiet seaside town. There, she forms an unexpected bond with a young woman.
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  The Fires

  Review preview for The Fires

  What Sigríður, Markus Englmair, and Ugla have done as writers and writer/director is hang a disaster movie on top of a family drama. That is what makes the film compelling.

  Anna Arnardóttir, Iceland's top volcanologist, faces two disasters at once: a volcanic eruption that threatens the safety of the capital city and a love affair that could destroy her marriage.

A–Z of Thessaloniki International Film Festival 2026 reviews →

Features

• Care and community
  Mike Leigh and the Tender Loving Care cast on humanity and looking out for one another
• Women who are deadlier than the male
  Greek gothic noir Sea Of Glass turns the tables on two mainstream classics
• Serious about comedy
  Louis Paxton on grounding the humour of The Incomer in darker elements
• Baptism for child of cinema
  Karlovy Vary’s best director Mads Mengel on family, fatherhood and casting
• Putting a festival in the frame
  Georgis Grigorakis on shooting a hybrid documentary about Thessaloniki Film Festival
• Encouraging reel growth
  How Spanish/Greek co-production Yerma took root at the Evia Project
• Driven by love and capitalism
  Director Pierre Le Gall on the themes of Flesh and Fuel
• Driving for authenticity
  Julian Swiezewski on trucking, gay romance and the power of normality in Flesh And Fuel
• Siren school
  Konstantina Kotzamani on professional mermaids and Titanic Ocean
• Same movie, different mode
  James Gray, Miles Teller and Adam Driver discuss making Paper Tiger
• Conflicted characters
  Alexis Manenti on Too Many Beasts and Flesh And Fuel
• Perspective shift
  Beth de Araújo and Channing Tatum talk about a child's eye view of crime in Josephine
• 'All of us can relate to being alone'
  Louis Paxton on isolation, animation and folklore in The Incomer
• Home truths
  Marijana Janković on Balkan representation, and the immigrant question of belonging
• A primal thing
  Goran Stolevski on witchcraft, overlapping identities and You Won’t Be Alone
• Looking for trouble
  Oliver Laxe on making life difficult for himself when filming Mimosas.

News

• Evia Project returns for 5th year
  Green initiative focusing on world of the forest