The 63rd Edition of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival which opens today 3 November will screen 5 Australian films in this year’s showcase, an initiative supported by the Australian embassy in Athens.
In a social media announcement, the Australian Embassy noted:
“We are excited to announce that with Embassy support Greece’s leading and longest-running international film showcase, the emblematic Thessaloniki International Film Festival is featuring five Australian films! Four of these films will be screened in the Indigenous Cinema Category, a testament and tribute to the wealth, diversity and vivacity of Australia’s First Nations filmmaking!”
The indigenous cinema category programme includes the following Australian gems:
Samson and Delilah, by Warwick Thornton -Opening Night
3 November, 22:00, Pavlos Zannas Theatre
Warwick Thornton delivers a sensitive and unconventional love story between two teenage Aboriginals, in the desert of Australia’s inner land, embarking on a survival journey full of hardships.
Bedevil, by Tracey Moffatt |
4 November, 16:00, Pavlos Zannas Theatre
An anthology of supernatural horror stories, Bedevil is the first feature film directed by an Australian Aboriginal female director.
Blackbird, by Amie Batalibasi
4 November, 16:00, Pavlos Zannas Theatre
Two siblings from the Solomon Islands are forced to leave their homeland and move to Australia, at the end of the 19th century, working as modern Helots at a sugar plantation, in a lyrical short film by Amie Batalibasi.
Tanna, by Martin Butler and Bentley Dean
4 November, 19:00, Pavlos Zannas Theatre
Tanna takes us to a tiny little island of Vanuatu, where a young girl decides to run off with the grandson of a neighbouring tribe’s chief. Based on true events that took place in the 1980s, and entirely shot in the Nauvhal language, Tanna was a Best Foreign-Language Film Oscar nominee.
“The power of cinema resides in its unique capacity to speak to universal truths, lying in the heart of the human psyche, transcending languages, cultures and boundaries of all kinds. As Thessaloniki is getting ready to celebrate the magic of cinema, we look forward to the screenings of some of the most iconic Australian films! Films that speak to Australia’s modern diversity and the rich heritage of its First Peoples”
COMPLETE TIFF SCREENING SCHEDULE HERE
