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Thessaloniki International Documentary Film Festival · 2025

Thessaloniki International Documentary Film Festival 2025

Top Docs

Programme

18 films · 8 reviews

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Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story

Story of the trailblazing trans soul musician.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2024; Director: Michael Mabbott, Lucah Rosenberg-Lee; Writer: Michael Mabbott, Lucah Rosenberg-Lee, Alison Duke; Stars: James Baley, Bobby Dean Blackburn, Rob Bowman, Sandra Caldwell, Jimmy Church, Makayla Couture, Rodney Diverlus, Andrenee Majors Douglas, Elaine Gaber-Katz, Howard Gentry, Michael Gray, Vonnie Moore, Marisa Richmond, Jackie Shane, Raymond Summerour)

Chain Reactions

Exploration of the impact of Texas Chain Saw Massacre 50 years after it was made.

(Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: Alexandre O Philippe; Writer: Alexandre O Philippe; Stars: Takashi Miike, Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, Stephen King, Karyn Kusama)

Ernest Cole, Lost And Found

Documentary profiling the Black freelance photographer.

(Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: Raoul Peck; Stars: LaKeith Stanfield)

The Flats

Review preview for The Flats

The Flats gives voice to people who have lived most of their lives feeling silenced, but it’s all the little details it captures in passing that speak loudest.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
Joe and his Belfast neighbors reenact childhood memories from the violent Troubles era in their Catholic district, exploring the collective experiences that shaped their lives and community.

(Country: France, Belgium, Ireland, UK; Year: 2024; Director: Alessandra Celesia; Writer: Alessandra Celesia; Stars: Jolene Burns, Joe McNally, Sean Parker, Rita Overend, Angie B Campbell, Gerard Magee)

Full review See: Interview with Alessandra Celesia about The Flats

La Guitarra Flamenca de Yerai Cortés

When Antón Álvarez, C Tangana, meets Yerai Cortés, he is fascinated by his talent and intrigued by his family history. Yerai is an unusual figure in flamenco, respected by both the more traditionalist Roma and the avant-garde artists of the new wave to which he belongs. They decide to embark on a journey together.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2024; Director: Antón Álvarez; Stars: Yerai Cortés, María Merino de Paz, Miguel Cortés, Tania García)

Khartoum

Review preview for Khartoum

Throughout you can see the ways in which the filmmakers are going the extra mile to empower their subjects.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Forced to leave Sudan for East Africa following the outbreak of war, five citizens of Khartoum - a civil servant, a tea lady, a resistance committee volunteer, and two young bottle collectors - reenact their stories of survival and freedom through dreams, revolution, and civil war.

(Country: Germany, UK, Sudan, Qatar; Year: 2025; Director: Ibrahim Snoopy Ahmad, Timeea Mohamed Ahmed, Rawia Alhag, Phil Cox, Philip Cox, Anas Saeed; Writer: Phil Cox)

Full review See: Interview with Anas Saeed, Rawia Alhag, Ibrahim Snoopy Ahmad, Timeea Mohamed Ahmed and Phil Cox about Khartoum

Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story

Review preview for Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story

If you don’t have a clear sense of who she is when you go in, you may come out feeling none the wiser.

Jennie Kermode · 2.5 out of 5
A documentary about Liza Minelli and the key individuals who influenced her career.

(Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: Bruce David Klein; Writer: Bruce David Klein; Stars: Judy Garland, Mia Farrow, Liza Minnelli, Joel Grey, Bob Fosse, Lorna Luft, Ben Vereen, Gwen Verdon, Vincente Minnelli, Chita Rivera, Kay Thompson, Peter Allen, John Kander, Michael Feinstein, Fred Ebb)

Full review

Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore

In 1987, Marlee Matlin became the first Deaf actor to win an Academy Award and was thrust into the spotlight at 21 years old. This documentary explores the complexities of what it means to be a trailblazer.

(Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: Shoshannah Stern; Stars: Marlee Matlin)

Mistress Dispeller

Review preview for Mistress Dispeller

A film that is built upon patience and which takes a philosophical rather than judgmental stance.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Desperate to save her marriage, a woman in China hires a professional to go undercover and break up her husband's affair.

(Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: Elizabeth Lo; Writer: Charlotte Munch Bengtsen, Elizabeth Lo)

Full review

The Moelln Letters (Die Möllner Briefe)

Thirty years after a racist arson attack in Mölln shattered the lives of İbrahim Arslan and his family, Ibrahim finds hundreds of letters of solidarity.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2025; Director: Martina Priessner; Stars: Havva Arslan, Ibrahim Arslan, Namik Arslan, Yeliz Burhan)

Monk In Pieces

Documentary about composer and performer Meredith Monk.

(Country: US; Year: 2025; Director: David C Roberts, Billy Shebar; Writer: Billy Shebar, David C Roberts, Melissa Hacker, Trish Dalton; Stars: Björk, David Byrne, Meredith Monk)

Only On Earth

A journey to southern Galicia where animals and humans are struggling to cope with the climate crisis.

(Country: Denmark, Spain; Year: 2025; Director: Robin Petré; Writer: Robin Petré)

Pavements

An hybrid examination of the iconic 1990s indie band.

(Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: Alex Ross Perry; Writer: Stephen Malkmus, Alex Ross Perry; Stars: Stephen Malkmus, Scott Kanberg, Joe Keery, Jason Schwartzman, Fred Hechinger, Zoe Lister-Jones, Nat Wolff, Tim Heidecker, Logan Miller, Griffin Newman, Michael Esper, Kathryn Gallagher, Violette Trotter, Keith Poulson, John El-Jor)

Peaches Goes Bananas

Review preview for Peaches Goes Bananas

Shot over 17 years, it mingles intimate personal moments with visceral concert footage, its musical sequences knitted together with some of the best editing you’re likely to see this year.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
From sold-out concerts to family moments with her parents and sister, the passage of time brings loss but also provides liberation for an artist whose body is a canvas for artistic expression.

(Country: France, Belgium; Year: 2024; Director: Marie Losier; Stars: Peaches, Suri Nisker, Marlene Saldana)

Full review

Riefenstahl

Review preview for Riefenstahl

Selective memory was something Riefenstahl excelled at and, as a director, she was also adept at staying on message in the face of counter evidence, something which Veiel scrutinises throughout.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
An exploration of Leni Riefenstahl’s life and her attempts to rehabilitate her image.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2024; Director: Andres Veiel; Writer: Andres Veiel; Stars: Ulrich Noethen, Leni Riefenstahl, Heinrich Breloer, Joseph Goebbels, Rudolf Hess, Adolf Hitler, Horst Kettner, Ray Müller, Hansjürgen Rosenbauer, Albert Speer)

Full review See: Interview with Andres Veiel about Riefenstahl

Timestamp (Strichka Chasu)

Despite the war, school life continues in Ukraine, with pupils and teachers striving to carry on learning even under constant threat. The film is a mosaic of the everyday lives of teachers and students from different corners of Ukraine.

(Country: France, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Ukraine; Year: 2025; Director: Kateryna Gornostai; Writer: Kateryna Gornostai; Stars: Olha Bryhynets, Borys Khovriak, Mykola Kolomiiets, Valeriia Hukova, Yelyzaveta Loza, Svitlana Popova, Mykola Shpak)

Trans Memoria

Review preview for Trans Memoria

While Verseau talks about how crucial the surgery was to her mental health, the complexity of the emotions experienced afterwards is also made clear.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
An intimate documentary diary, which sees the director return to Thailand and to the year 2012, when she underwent gender-affirming surgery.

(Country: Sweden, France; Year: 2024; Director: Victoria Verseau)

Full review

Yalla Parkour

Review preview for Yalla Parkour

A thoughtful consideration of not just physical prowess but the emotional agility and resilience demonstrated by those growing up in Gaza.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
A documentarian revisits Gaza where she encounters a young athlete leading her to embark on a journey through Gaza's devastated landscape.

(Country: Sweden, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Palestine; Year: 2025; Director: Areeb Zuaiter; Writer: Areeb Zuaiter, Phil Jandaly, Johan Simonsson, Nino Kirtadze, Salwa Nakkara, Alex Szalat; Stars: Areeb Zuaiter, Ahmad Matar)

Full review