Thessaloniki, through the glass: Part 1
by Ray Pride
The eleven-day Thessaloniki International Film Festival plays across the central business district of a city in northern Greece of almost a million, with over 100,000 students in its midst from nearby Aristotelous University.
Once inexpensive, Thessaloniki became a pricey city even without the Euro tickling the $1.50 mark. It's a complex metropolis with an intricate history, youthful and vibrant, built along a deep-sea port first dug by Alexander the Great; modernity and antiquity jostle on every street corner. When a festival, even one with over 100 programs and impressive taste in all manner of serious-minded cinema, is not a world premiere festival, it's at its best when it groups schools and national cinemas.
This year, among sidebars that included an extensive Miko Naruse look-back that had viewers in the aisles, Thessaloniki offered the first complete John Sayles retrospective, with all 16 features, also inviting his collaborators, Maggie Renzi, David Straitharn, Chris Cooper and Danny Glover for their own sessions within the festival's many forms of endearingly democratic public conversation. John Malkovich, Alfonso Cuaron and Diego Luna are among the other independent-minded filmmakers on show.
Here are a few sideways glimpses of how city and festival enrich each other.
John Malkovich listens to his producing partner Russ Smith during his acting masterclass.
Each afternoon there's an intimate gathering for conversation with food and beer with the younger or neophyte filmmakers and actors called "just talking."
Eventually, the style of line-up becomes amusing.
The drink is flowing.
The genial president of the festival, George Corraface, ready with expressive hands.
Ray Pride is film critic of the Chicago weekly Newcity and a contributing editor of Movie City News and Filmmaker Magazine, as well as a photographer. He observes independent film at moviecityindie.com; links to his work are at http://raypride.blogspot.com.
The eleven-day Thessaloniki International Film Festival plays across the central business district of a city in northern Greece of almost a million, with over 100,000 students in its midst from nearby Aristotelous University.
Once inexpensive, Thessaloniki became a pricey city even without the Euro tickling the $1.50 mark. It's a complex metropolis with an intricate history, youthful and vibrant, built along a deep-sea port first dug by Alexander the Great; modernity and antiquity jostle on every street corner. When a festival, even one with over 100 programs and impressive taste in all manner of serious-minded cinema, is not a world premiere festival, it's at its best when it groups schools and national cinemas.
This year, among sidebars that included an extensive Miko Naruse look-back that had viewers in the aisles, Thessaloniki offered the first complete John Sayles retrospective, with all 16 features, also inviting his collaborators, Maggie Renzi, David Straitharn, Chris Cooper and Danny Glover for their own sessions within the festival's many forms of endearingly democratic public conversation. John Malkovich, Alfonso Cuaron and Diego Luna are among the other independent-minded filmmakers on show.
Here are a few sideways glimpses of how city and festival enrich each other.
John Malkovich listens to his producing partner Russ Smith during his acting masterclass.
Each afternoon there's an intimate gathering for conversation with food and beer with the younger or neophyte filmmakers and actors called "just talking."
Eventually, the style of line-up becomes amusing.
The drink is flowing.
The genial president of the festival, George Corraface, ready with expressive hands.
Ray Pride is film critic of the Chicago weekly Newcity and a contributing editor of Movie City News and Filmmaker Magazine, as well as a photographer. He observes independent film at moviecityindie.com; links to his work are at http://raypride.blogspot.com.
Michael Jones is the film festival editor at Variety.com. 
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