# Thessaloniki Film Festival Chief Hopes Event Can Help ‘Ease Pain’ in ‘Difficult’ Times: ‘Cinema Matters’

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/thessaloniki-film-festival-chief-hopes-event-can-help-ease-pain-in-difficult-times-cinema-matters/
- Published: 2026-11-04T14:00:00+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-04T14:55:59+00:00
- Original publisher: Variety
- Original article: https://variety.com/2026/film/global/thessaloniki-film-festival-hope-difficult-times-1236937255/
- Topics: Entertainment, Film

## Key points

- Thessaloniki’s festival opens with 258 films during a period of global turmoil.
- Director Orestis Andreadakis hopes cinema can offer hope and ease pain.
- Greek cinema features 26 films and 28 shorts in the programme.

## Summary

The 67th Thessaloniki International Film Festival opens this week amid global conflict, political polarisation and other crises. Artistic director Orestis Andreadakis hopes the films can offer some hope, ease pain and encourage audiences to think critically about the world.

The festival opens with Andrey Zvyagintsev’s “Minotaur”, about despair and corruption in Russia, and closes on 15 November with May el-Toukhy’s “Woman Unknown”. Its programme includes 258 films, with 10 competing for the Golden Alexander; 26 Greek feature films and 28 shorts will also screen, reflecting what Andreadakis describes as a thriving Greek film scene.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.