«Our celebration,» says artistic director Orestis Andreadakis, «will be less nostalgic and more dynamic toward the future of cinema: the future of the festival, the future of distributing the moving image in our age and connections with all the other arts.»

The lineup for the 2019 edition — running Oct. 31 through Nov. 11 — underscores Andreadakis’ outlook. Alongside an international competition limited to first- and second-time features and an Open Horizon section aimed at showcasing the latest trends in indie production, the festival also boasts a VR competition, launched in 2017 immediately following Cannes and Venice and still one of just a handful across Europe (and this year set to include augmented reality films).

While there are nods to filmmaking icons, such as a three-day celebration of cult cinema hero John Waters (he has been given «carte blanche» to select 10 of his favorite films and will receive the festival’s Golden Alexander award), elsewhere there will be a tribute to Joanna Hogg. The rising British filmmaker, a regular collaborator with Tilda Swinton, made a strong impression with her 2007 debut feature Unrelated, but it’s only this year that she’s truly broken into the indie mainstream with her acclaimed fourth feature, The Souvenir, a jury prize winner at Sundance.

«It’s more interesting to throw the spotlight on those kinds of names,» says Andreadakis, who adds that the festival’s main goal «is to discover and promote new voices.»

The list of new voices spotlighted over the years at Thessaloniki is an impressive one. Darren Aronofsky and Apichatpong Weerasethakul came to the festival as up-and-comers with their first features, while Abbas Kiarostami was offered a special tribute a quarter century ago. (Andreadakis claims his festival was the first to honor the late Iranian master.)

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