After a tumultuous six months for the Thessaloniki Film Festival, which has seen the departure of one director and two presidents, fest will open next Friday with Danis Tanovic's sibling drama "Hell."
Unspooling in the northern Greek port city through Nov. 27, fest will screen a record 254 films.
New director Despina Mouzaki -- who replaced longtime chief Michel Demopoulos in April after his dismissal by the Greek government -- has already made a number of changes.
The Independence Days section, devoted to new and emerging cinema worldwide, replaces the New Horizons sidebar.
It has drawn a U.S. contingent including Miranda July, Andrew Bujalski, Georgina Riedel, Mark and Jay Duplass and Robinson Devor.
On the industry front, Mouzaki has introduced the Crossroads Co-Production Forum, aimed at enlarging scope of fest's existing Balkan Fund by helping projects in the later stages of development to find finance. There is also a new market initiative called Agora, after the ancient Greek word for market.
Traditional sections such as the Greek Panorama and Balkan Survey remain intact.
Competition for the Golden and Silver Alexanders features 16 first and second films, including Hungarian Roland Vranik's slacker comedy "Black Brush" and Belgian Fien Troch's "Someone Else's Happiness."
Legendary Italian cinematographer Vittorio Storaro will preside over the jury including Belgian actress Natacha Regnier and U.S. director Lodge Kerrigan.
Storaro also will be feted with a special Golden Alexander alongside helmers Taiwan's Hou Hsiao-Hsien, France's Patrice Chereau and the Greco-French Nico Papatakis. Brit helmer Michael Winterbottom will be in attendance for a retrospective.
Thessaloniki Film Festival, Greece, International Competition:
"Backstage," Emmanuelle Bercot, France-Germany
"Black Brush," Roland Vranik, Hungary
"Drifting States," Denis Cote, Canada
"Falling ... in Love," Ming-Tai Wang, Taiwan
"Grain in Ear," Zhang Lu, China/South Korea
"The Hours Go By," Ines De Oliveira Cezar, Argentina
"Kinetta," Yorgos Lanthimos, Greece
"Man Push Cart," Ramin Bahrani, U.S.
"One Night," Niki Karimi, Iran
"Pavee Lackeen: The Traveler Girl," Perry Ogden, Ireland
"Play," Alicia Scherson, Chile
"Sangre," Amat Escalante, Mexico-France
"Someone Else's Happiness," Fien Troch, Belgium-Netherlands
"Sweet Memory," Kyriakos Katzourakis, Greece
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