Festival Thessaloniki Documentary festival Thessaloniki, Greece’s second largest city, is in its 24th year, from 10 to 20 March this year, both online and in person at several cinemas. The festival will screen 233 films of various formats, selected for several competitions and screenings in other formats, including two retrospectives dedicated to the creative work of important directors – with a program of six films Spotlight Finnish documentary filmmaker Virpi Suutari (1967) will be highlighted, while a program of 19 films will be highlighted Tribute to Laila Pakalniņa (https://www.filmfestival.gr/en/section-tdf/section/1223) is described on the festival website as “a wide dedication to the unique work of the outstanding Latvian author”.
In the context of the Latvian film industry, Laila Pakalniņa is indeed the most well-known film director in the world – “(..) the interests and recognitions of world film festivals and other art institutions, including international retrospectives and director film scientist Inga Pērkone in the book Latvian cinema. New times. 1990-2020. “Laila Pakalniņa’s films have been screened not only in Cannes, but also in Amsterdam, Berlin, Karlovy Vary, Locarno, Busan, Rome, Tallinn, Venice and other important festivals; Leiputrija (2004) one Fire (2007) were nominated for an award from the European Film Academy in the documentary and short film categories respectively. “
Director Laila Pakalniņa reveals: “My retrospects don’t seem to cause me any emotions, because emotions usually – until now, until the war – belonged to new ideas. But, of course, movies are alive when they are watched. “What we’ve said at some point in the past still makes sense. That’s how I felt until the war. Now everything has changed.
Laila Pakalniņa’s film retrospective includes 19 documentaries, starting with a short film made in 1991 Underwear and chronologically concluding with the latest feature film Home (2021), which is still waiting for its premiere in Latvia. The list of films also includes important films Ferry (1994), Mail (1995), Papa Gena (2001), Leiputrija (2004), Theodore (2006), About the homeland (2008), Along the Rubik’s Road (2010), Horse, hello! (2017), Spoon (2019), The first bridge (2020) and others. From March 10, these films will be available on the festival’s digital platform online.filmfestival.gr, film screenings and directors’ meetings with viewers will start on March 15. This year, Laila Pakalniņa has also been invited to work in the main jury of the Thessaloniki Festival, which will award one of the 12 feature films in the international competition. Golden Alexander and 12,000 euros, while Zane Balčus, the head of the Baltic Sea Documentary Film Forum, will serve on the FIPRESCI jury.
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