The 67th Thessaloniki International Film Festival opens today with Minotaur (2026), the new film by Russian filmmaker Andrei Zvyagintsev, and a programme featuring 257 films, seven screening venues and online screenings. Running until November 15, the festival once again becomes one of the major cultural events of the autumn and a celebration of the encounter between audiences and cinema.
In a city where tickets sell out quickly, the festival presents a programme combining contemporary cinema, auteur filmmaking, retrospectives, tributes and discoveries from different film cultures. Its activities also include meetings with filmmakers, masterclasses and public conversations.
Among the highlights is Congo Boy, by Rafiki Fariala, an award-winning film at Cannes that follows a 17-year-old Congolese refugee who, while working and taking care of his siblings, pursues his dream of becoming an actor in Bangui. Also featured is Flesh and Fuel, the debut feature by Pierre Le Gall, which premiered at the Cannes Critics’ Week and received the Queer Palm. The film explores the relationship between two European truck drivers whose profession imposes a life marked by loneliness and long distances.
The programme also includes In a Whisper, by Leila Bouzid, about a woman who returns to Tunisia for her uncle’s funeral and discovers a family history shaped by silence and homosexuality; Elephants in the Fog, by Nepalese filmmaker Abinash Bikram Shah, winner of the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize at Cannes; and Stand Up, by Mari Sanders, an exploration of disability and social conventions through the story of a young woman who must rebuild her life after an accident.
Greek cinema also occupies a prominent place. The festival will screen Eva (1953), by Maria Plyta, considered Greece’s first female film director, and Happy Beginning (1954), by Dinos Dimopoulos, which marked Maro Kontou’s film debut. In addition, Rebetiko (1983), by Kostas Ferris, will be screened as part of a special evening dedicated to composer Stavros Xarchakos, who will receive the Golden Alexander Award.
The programme is rounded out by titles such as Glass Sea, by Alexis Alexiou; Uchronia, by Phil Ieropoulos, an essay film inspired by Arthur Rimbaud; Coward, by Lucas Dodd; Brave New Love, by Maria Beck; and Elena’s Shift, by Stefanos Tsivopoulos, which addresses labour precarity and immigration in Greece.
Caligari will provide special coverage of the festival from Thessaloniki, featuring news, interviews, reviews and further content about the films, filmmakers and main events of this 67th edition. Coverage will be available through the magazine and its digital platforms.