19^th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival

3-12 March, 2017

LET’S TALK ABOUT DOCUMENTARIES

               “Sometimes you have to lie to tell the truth” - Robert J. Flaherty 

“In feature films the director is God; in documentary films God is the director” - Alfred Hitchcock

What is documentary?

The question is always there, as long as there are documentary films. And every time the answer keeps changing. There is a worldwide debate about documentaries. The genre keeps expanding and new forms emerge. It is indeed difficult to classify documentary films or measure their impact, because they evolve as rapidly as their driving force: reality itself.

So, what is documentary today? The answer lies in the films. The 19^th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival (3-12 March, 2017) invites us to talk about documentaries and watch some of the most powerful offerings of the latest international documentary production that will be screened in this year’s edition.

History animated: Tower by Keith Maitland (USA)

A haunting, fascinating study about the worst and best of human nature, the Tower blends rotoscopic animation, archival footage and testimonies of witnesses and survivors to chronicle one of America’s first mass school shootings. In 1966 a sniper opened fire from the top floor of the University of Texas Tower in Austin. After holding the campus hostage for 96 minutes, he killed 16 people and injured more than 30, leaving a nation in a state of shock.

Changing the world: The Chocolate Case by Benthe Forrer (Netherlands)

Activism, journalism and the planet’s most delicious treat set the tone in this revealing documentary that sheds light on child slavery in the global chocolate industry. A group of Dutch journalists fight to uncover the tragic dimensions of the issue, as well as to launch the first “slave-free” chocolate bar, proving that some documentaries can really make a difference.  

The art of observation: Austerlitz by Sergei Loznitsa (Germany)

Set in former concentration camps in Germany, the latest work of the renowned Ukrainian filmmaker is a simple yet poignant critique on Holocaust tourism. The film manages to expose the commercialization of horror and comment on morality, naivety and painful memories by observing the hordes of tourists who visit these sites of martyrdom and death.

Treasures from the past: Dawson City: Frozen Time by Bill Morrison (USA)

The inspired use of archive material in documentary filmmaking leads to powerful storytelling and such is the case in Dawson City: Frozen Time. The film shares with us a laconic journey in time by bringing together the discovery of a valuable collection of films from 1910s - 1920s, as well as the story of the gold rush in Alaska.

Challenging the audience: Safari by Ulrich Seidl (Austria)

Austrian filmmaker Ulrich Seidl likes to dare spectators with deeply provocative images, both in fiction and documentary. In Safari he highlights once more the brutal and grotesque side of humans, this time by focusing on hunting tourism in Africa; European tourists who kill wild animals for fun and proudly decorate their homes with the trophies.

People have the power: Transitioning: Transgender Children by Roser Oliver & Lluís Montserrat (Spain)

“I’m David. I’m 6. When I was born, they thought I was a girl, but the doctors were wrong and I was a boy”. David is part of the new trans generation of people assigned the wrong sex at birth who chose to make the transition very early. The documentary tackles with prejudice, diversity and understanding, through the stories of children, adolescents and young adults who speak candidly about their sexuality and identity.

The 19^th TDF is financed by the European Union - European Regional Development Fund under the ROP of Central Macedonia 2014-2020.

Co-financed by Greece and the European Union