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Thessaloniki International Documentary Film Festival · 2024

Thessaloniki International Documentary Film Festival 2024

Open Horizons

Programme

23 films · 13 reviews

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An Asian Ghost Story

Review preview for An Asian Ghost Story

Wang’s affection for his subject matter is clear, but he also seems to delight in inviting the viewer to question what’s relayed.

Sunil Chauhan · 4 out of 5
Documentary exploring the haunting memories of Asia’s late 20th-century modernisation through the large-scale export of wigs during the Cold War.

(Country: Netherlands, Hong Kong; Year: 2023; Director: Bo Wang; Writer: Bo Wang; Stars: Michael de Roos, Sydney Vereycken, Sai Wang Lau)

Full review

Catching Fire: The Story Of Anita Pallenberg

Documentary about rock ‘n’ roll icon Anita Pallenberg.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Alexis Bloom, Svetlana Zill; Stars: Marianne Faithfull, Scarlett Johansson, Kate Moss, Anita Pallenberg, Angela Richards, Keith Richards, Marlon Richards)

Cinéma Laika

In a small village in Finland, which has relied solely on metallurgical activities for the past two centuries, Aki Kaurismäki and his friend, the poet and writer, Mika Lätti are constructing their own cinema theatre within an old foundry.

(Country: France, Finland; Year: 2023; Director: Veljko Vidak; Writer: Emmanuelle Felce, Veljko Vidak; Stars: Jim Jarmusch, Aki Kaurismäki, Maustetytöt, Nuppu Koivu, Toshitake Shinohara, Amy Taubin, Simon Al-Bazoon, Herra Ylppö)

The Dmitriev Affair

Historian Yuri Dmitriev searches for unmarked and lost graves. His singular efforts have uncovered mass burial sites of those who were killed under Stalin’s “Great Terror” of 1937.

(Country: Netherlands; Year: 2023; Director: Jessica Gorter; Writer: Jessica Gorter; Stars: Joeri Dmitriev)

Fatherhood (Tre Fedre, Three Dads And A Baby)

Review preview for Fatherhood

Despite the anger at the unfairness of what has gone before, this is ultimately a warm-hearted, life-affirming film.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
Between 1979 and 2016, trans people in Norway were forced to undergo sterilisation, depriving them of their right to bear children. Kris has dreamed of becoming a father since kindergarten. Together with his partners Sindre and David, he becomes a part of the resistance forging change.

(Country: Norway, Iceland, Germany; Year: 2025; Director: August B Hanssen, Even G Benestad; Writer: August B Hanssen, Even G Benestad)

Full review

The Gullspång Miracle

Review preview for The Gullspång Miracle

Although the structure is offbeat, and the muscular scoring from Jonas Colstrup (The Square) emphasises the emotional rollercoaster, Fredriksson’s film remains empathetic to all concerned.

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
A pair of sisters' encounter with a woman who looks like their dead sibling proves to be just the start of a whale of a tale.

(Country: Sweden, Norway, Denmark; Year: 2023; Director: Maria Fredriksson)

Full review See: Maria Fredriksson on her roller coaster of a ride documentary The Gullspång Miracle

Happy Clothes: A Film About Patricia Field

With idiosyncratic style and an eye toward the future of fashion, Patricia Field has always been shaping culture. This documentary examines the costume designer's life.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Michael Selditch)

Hidden Master: The Legacy Of George Platt Lynes

Review preview for Hidden Master: The Legacy Of George Platt Lynes

A thorough, well-told tale intertwined with many of the key social and artistic movements of that century – and dotted with its luminaries – Hidden Master brings Lynes back out into the light.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A documentary about the fashion photographer whose rare artistic vision became apparent when he focused his attention on male nudes.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Sam Shahid; Writer: Sam Shahid, Matthew Kraus, John MacConnell; Stars: George Platt Lynes)

Full review

Homecoming (Máhccan)

Review preview for Homecoming

This is a quiet and thoughtful film with slowly building power. It will leave you awed by the resilience of its subjects yet angry that they needed it.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A personal story about the return of Sámi artefacts — long held in a museum — to their homeland.

(Country: Finland, Norway; Year: 2023; Director: Suvi West, Anssi Kömi; Writer: Suvi West)

Full review See: Interview with Suvi West and Anssi Kömi about Homecoming

Hotel Metalurg

Survivors of the Abkhaz-Georgian war find themselves under pressure to leave the disused luxury hotel where they have lived for more than 30 years.

(Country: France, Georgia; Year: 2023; Director: George Varsimashvili, Jeanne Nouchi)

Intercepted

Review preview for Intercepted

The silence between the calls serves as a space for the horror of them to fully take shape in the viewers’ mind.

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
The destruction caused by the war against Ukraine is shown in lengthy tableaux. Intercepted phone conversations between Russian soldiers and their families set up a parallel world.

(Country: Canada, France, Ukraine; Year: 2024; Director: Oksana Karpovych; Writer: Oksana Karpovych)

Full review See: Oksana Karpovych on aggression and resistance in Ukraine

In Restless Dreams: The Music Of Paul Simon

A documentary which follows Paul Simon as he makes his new album Seven Psalms, while looking back on his six-decade career with countless musical peaks from Sounds Of Silence to Graceland.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Alex Gibney; Writer: Alex Gibney; Stars: Paul Simon)

In The Rearview (Skąd dokąd)

Review preview for In The Rearview

Beyond the stories that unfold within the vehicle, the tension of these journeys, often on dirt tracks in rural areas, is brought home.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
This fly-on-the-wall film captures Ukrainians as they are forced to leave their homes and drive into the unknown.

(Country: Poland, France, Ukraine; Year: 2023; Director: Maciek Hamela)

Full review

Last Song From Kabul

Review preview for Last Song From Kabul

The film builds like thriller, its narrative supported by archive footage and interviews with Marzia and her fellow students.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
The story of music students and members of Afghanistan's only all-female orchestra, and what happened to them after the return of the Taliban.

(Country: UK, Germany, Portugal, Qatar, Afghanistan; Year: 2023; Director: Kevin Macdonald, Ruhi Hamid; Stars: Marzia Anwari, Shugofa Safi, Zohra Ahmadi, Wajiha Kabuli, Sevinch Majidi, Fazila Zamir, Huma Rahimi)

Full review See: Interview with Kevin Macdonald about Last Song From Kabul

Let The Canary Sing

A documentary portrait of musician and activist Cyndi Lauper.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Alison Ellwood; Stars: Cyndi Lauper)

Mediha

Review preview for Mediha

Through it all, Mediha remains a marvel, finding the inner strength to be there for her brothers at the same time as steeling herself to try to identify her kidnapper.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Mediha is a member of the Yazidi ethnic and religious minority. She’s also the survivor of an ISIS-orchestrated genocide in 2014. Through video diaries, Mediha provides an intimate account of her grief and trauma.

(Country: Iraq; Year: 2023; Director: Hasan Oswald; Writer: Hasan Oswald; Stars: Mediha Ibrahim Alhamad)

Full review

Nocturne For A Forest (Nocturno para uma floresta)

Review preview for Nocturne For A Forest

There are extreme and moderate views here, which recall many a social media debate about everything from slavery street names to flags.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
The souls of women forbidden from entering a monastery debate the destiny of a painting inside it.

(Country: Portugal; Year: 2023; Director: Catarina Vasconcelos; Writer: Catarina Vasconcelos; Stars: Paula Guedes, José Aguiar, Mariana Veloso)

Full review

Pelikan Blue (Kék Pelikan)

(Country: Hungary; Year: 2023; Director: László Csáki; Writer: László Csáki; Stars: Nóra Trokán, Szabolcs Thuróczy, Renátó Olasz, Vivien Rujder, Miklós Kapácsy, Börcsök Olivér Benjámin, Gábor Csöre, Ágoston Kenéz, Vilmos Vajdai, Norman Lévai, Tegyi Kornél, István Kálmánczhelyi, Judit Csoma)

Realm Of Satan

Review preview for Realm Of Satan

The Devil, you might say, is in the details.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
An experiential portrait depicting Satanists in both the everyday and in the extraordinary as they fight to preserve their lifestyle: magic, mystery, and misanthropy.

(Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: Scott Cummings; Writer: Scott Cummings)

Full review

Songs Of Earth (Fedrelandet)

Being connected to nature, what does it mean? Father knows and father shows. The director's father is 84. We follow in his footsteps into the mountain home. Into nature's smallest life and out to grand panoramas, where he grew up.

(Country: Norway; Year: 2023; Director: Margreth Olin; Writer: Margreth Olin; Stars: Jørgen Mykle)

Woolly (Sau)

Review preview for Woolly

This is a love letter to Nystabakk’s family and good animal husbandry.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A year in the life of a sheep farm that a woman is taking over from her father.

(Country: Norway; Year: 2024; Director: Rebekka Nystabakk; Writer: Rebekka Nystabakk)

Full review

Your Fat Friend

Review preview for Your Fat Friend

Viewers are likely to go away appreciating Aubrey’s frustrations and perhaps, if they share them, feeling validated, but without the tools to do anything about them.

Jennie Kermode · 2.5 out of 5
Popular anonymous blogger Aubrey Gordon spent five years writing about the realities of living as a self-described “very fat person.” Now, she is about to face the public for the very first time.

(Country: US, UK; Year: 2023; Director: Jeanie Finlay; Stars: Aubrey Gordon)

Full review

Zinzindurrunkarratz

Filmmaker Oskar Alegría and donkey Paolo embark on a journey to bring provisions to the last shepherd of the Andia Mountains.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2023; Director: Oskar Alegria)