Thessaloniki Festival: Golden Alexander in the film “Animal” by Sofia Exarchou

At noon on Sunday, November 12, a few hours before the closing ceremony of the 64th edition of Thessaloniki Film Festival in Olympion, the prizes of the departments were awarded in Warehouse 3 of the Port of the city.

A Greek moviewith co-production countries Austria, Romania, Cyprus and Bulgaria, the “Animal” of Sofia Exarchou distracted him Gold Alexandersomething that happens only for the second time in the history of the festival since the FKTH became international in 1992. The previous Greek film that won the Golden Alexander is “From the Snow” by Sotiris Goritsa in 1993.

A great success for the director who in her second feature film after the film “Park” (2016).

“As cinema is changing, this year the Festival has also changed the way it gives out its awards, holding the award ceremony in Warehouse 3, in daylight and with a more casual mood,” says the festival in a statement.

But it probably couldn’t have been done any other way because if the more than …50 (!) awards along with those of the Agora section were announced on the evening of the awarding with the closing film, the ceremony would end at dawn.

The presenter of the awards ceremony was Vassilis Terzopoulos, partner of the Greek program of the Festival.

Below we mention the awards of the three competition sections (International competition, Meet the neighbors+, Film Forward) and selectively some of the other awards.

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION AWARDS

The jury of the International Competition section of the 64th Thessaloniki Film Festival consisted of Diana Elbaum (producer), Dieter Koslick (former director of the Berlin International Film Festival, journalist) and Elina Psykou (director, producer).

Best Film Award – Golden Alexander “Theodoros Angelopoulos”: ANIMAL by Sofia Exarchou, Greece-Austria-Romania-Cyprus-Bulgaria, 2023

Director Award – Argyros Alexandros:

THE FEELING THAT THE TIME FOR DOING SOMETHING HAS PASSED / THE FEELING THAT THE TIME FOR DOING SOMETHING HAS PASSED by Joanna Arnow, USA, 2023

Female Performance Award, halftime on:

DIMITRA VLAGOPOULOU for the film ANIMAL by Sofia Exarchou, Greece-Austria-Romania-Cyprus-Bulgaria, 2023

and

JOANNA ARNOW for the film THE FEELING THAT THE TIME FOR DOING SOMETHING HAS PASSED / THE FEELING THAT THE TIME FOR DOING SOMETHING HAS PASSED, Joanna Arnow, USA, 2023

Male Performance Award:

KOSTAS KORONAIOS for his performance in the film THE LAST TAXI DRIVER by Stergios Paschos, Greece, 2023

Screenplay Award:

THE LOST BOYS by Zeno Graton, Belgium-France, 2023

MEET THE NEIGHBORS+ AWARDS

The jury of the Meet the Neighbors+ competition section consisted of Xenia Kaldara (Chairman of the Board and General Manager of the “Mihalis Kakogiannis” Foundation), Nahuel Peres Biscajart (actor) and Cedric Suchivali (programmer, film critic).

The Best Film Award – Golden Alexander “Michel Dimopoulos”: ÀMA GLORIA by Marie Amatsoukelli, France, 2023

Directing Award – Argyros Alexander: NOTES ON A SUMMER by Diego Llorente, Spain, 2023

Female Performance Award: MOUNA HAWA for her performance in INSHALLAH A BOY by Amjad Al Rashid, Jordan-France-Saudi Arabia-Qatar, 2023

Halftime Male Performance Award to:

RICHARD LANGTON for his performance in the film WE HAVE NEVER BEEN MODERN by Mackie Hlupacek, Czech-Slovakia, 2023

and

SOMA SANTOR for his performance in Katalin Moldovai’s film CHOKE / WITHOUT AIR, Hungary, 2023

Artistic Achievement Award:

FONISSA of Eva Nathena, Greece, 2023

FILM FORWARD AWARDS

The jury of the Film Forward competition section consisted of Keken Ergun (director, animation artist), Ana Grigic (cinematographer, academic) and Nikos Pastra (director).

Golden Alexander: SAMSARA / SAMSARA by Lois Patinho, Spain, 2023

Argyros Alexander, part-time in the movies:

ALL DIRT ROADS TASTE OF SALT / ALL DIRT ROADS TASTE OF SALT by Raven Jackson, USA, 2023

and

THE HUMAN SURGE 3 by Eduardo Williams, Argentina-Portugal-Brazil-Netherlands-Taiwan-Hong Kong-Sri Lanka-Peru, 2023

Other prizes

• IMMERSIVE AWARD: ALL AROUND CINEMA
• FINALLY ME / FINALLY ME by Marcio Sal, Brazil, 2023
• PODCAST AWARD
• PERSISTENCE OF MEMORY by Courtney Hope Theron & Rhiannon Kiara Vaughan, USA, 2022
• MERMAID AWARD
• THE SUMMER WITH CARMEN by Zacharias Mavroidi, Greece, 2023
• SMART AWARD7
• INDIA / INDIA, by Telmo Tsouro, Portugal, 2022
• “HUMAN VALUES” AWARD OF THE GREEK PARLIAMENT
• FINGERNAILS by Christos Nikos, USA, 2023
• ALPHA BANK ACCESSIBILITY AWARD
• To STAVROS ZAFIRIS for his performance in the film TOUCHED by Claudia Rorarius, Germany, 2023
• FIPRESCI AWARDS (The International Federation of Film Critics)
• Best Film in International Competition: IN CAMERA by Nakas Khalid, United Kingdom, 2023
• Best Greek film: FONISSA / MURDERESS by Eva Nathena, Greece, 2023
• PEKK AWARD
• THE LAST TAXI DRIVER by Stergios Paschos, Greece, 2023