A still from ‘Macedonian Wedding,’ directed by Takis Kanellopoulos.
The upcoming Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival (stylized as TiDF) will showcase a selection of vintage and rarely screened documentaries, offering a multifaceted portrait of Greece’s social, political and cultural life in the second half of the 20th century.
The tribute, titled “Geography of the Gaze: Off-Plan Greece (1950-2000),” features 19 films exploring themes of tradition, collective memory, and human geography. Through resourceful and incisive storytelling, the documentaries examine key concepts such as personal experience, trauma, and coexistence.
The tribute was inspired by the recent recovery of “Kastoria,” a 1969 film by the late director and screenwriter Takis Kanellopoulos, long thought to be lost.
Born in Thessaloniki in October 1933, Kanellopoulos attended Anatolia College before briefly pursuing journalism. He later moved to Athens to study at the Stavrakos Film and Television School and continued his education in Munich, where he spent two years observing productions at Bavaria Studios.
Considered a forerunner to the New Greek Cinema movement, Kanellopoulos directed “Kastoria,” a 24-minute film that follows a foreign traveler on horseback searching for a fairy, set against the modern yet timeless everyday life of the lakeside Macedonian city. The film won Best Short Documentary at the 1969 Thessaloniki Film Festival. It will be screened alongside “Thasos” and “Macedonian Wedding,” completing Kanellopoulos’ informal Macedonian trilogy.
The tribute’s curators are Eleni Androutsopoulou, head of TiDF’s Greek Program; Manolis Kranakis, film critic; and Yannis Palavos, from the festival’s International Program.
An open discussion, titled “Kastoria: The Rediscovered Land of Takis Kanellopoulos,” will take place at the Pavlos Zannas Theater on Saturday, March 8, starting at 1 p.m. The curators will discuss the film’s rediscovery and explore the tribute’s central question: How is the psyche of a place – particularly the Greek landscape – captured through the singular gaze of prolific Greek filmmakers?
Below is a list of the films showcased in the tribute:
- “Leucada, the Island of the Poets,” Roviros Manthoulis, 1958, 16 min.
- “Firewalkers of Greece,” Roussos Koundouros, 1959, 10 min.
- “Macedonian Wedding,” Takis Kanellopoulos, 1960, 23 min.
- “Thasos,” Takis Kanellopoulos, 1961, 18 min.
- “Aluminium of Greece,” Roussos Koundouros, 1965, 18 min.
- “Prespes,” Takis Hatzopoulos, 1966, 14 min.
- “Thirean Matins,” Kostas Sfikas and Stavros Tornes, 1968, 22 min.
- “Visit Greece,” Fotos Lamprinos, 1969, 25 min.
- “Kastoria,” Takis Kanellopoulos, 1969, 24 min.
- “The Goat Dance,” Pantelis Voulgaris, 1971, 22 min
- “In Mytilene,” Manos Efstratiadis, 1973, 13 min.
- “Megara,” Sakis Maniatis – Yorgos Tsemberopoulos, 1974, 72 min.
- “Gazoros Serron,” Takis Hatzopoulos, 1974, 77 min.
- “On a Little Greek Island,” Matheo Yamalakis, 1978, 56 min.
- “A Documentary,” Nikos Koutelidakis, 1980, 20 min.
- “Layer of Destruction,” Costas Vrettakos, 1980, 32 min.
- “Fournoi, a Female Society,” Alinda Dimitriou and Nikos Kanakis, 1983, 47 min.
- “Heracles, Acheloos and My Granny,” Dimitris Koutsiabasakos, 1997, 29 min.
- “The Dance of the Horses,” Christos Voupouras, 2000, 64 min.
Now in its 27th edition, TiDF runs from March 6 to 16.