50th Thessaloniki International Film Festival Line Up - Update

Today, November 18, the news are out with more than 200 directors, producers and screenwriters withdrew 52 films from the fest. The official site does not have the news, but if you wish to learn more, please go Variety. Not good news for the fest but filmmakers in Greece want to change an older cinema law.

I'll be checking if any of the films in the Official Competition were withdraw and post accordingly.

--end of update--

Yesterday the other TIFF that I always check opened with the screening of Faith Akin’s Soul Kitchen out of competition. The fest will run until November 22 and these are the films in the International Competition.

International Competition

Apafold (Father's Acre), Viktor Oszkar Nagy, Hungary, 2009
Ajami, Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani, Israel, Germany, 2009
Bakal Boys (Children Metal Divers), Ralston Jover, Philippines, 2009
Dancing on Ice, Stavros Ioannou, Greece, 2009
El Ultimo Verano De La Boyita (The Last Summer Of La Boyita), Julia Solomonoff, Argentina, Spain, and France, 2009
Es Kommt Der Tag (The Day Will Come), Susanne Schneider, Germany and France, 2009
Heliopolis, Ahmad Abdalla, Egypt, 2009
La Sangre Y La Lluvia (Blood And Rain), Jorge Navas, Colombia and Argentina, 2009
Le Jour Ou Dieu Est Parti En Voyage (The Day God Walked Away), Philippe Van Leeuw, Belgium and France, 2009
Medalia De Onoare (Medal Of Honor) Calin Netzer, Romania, 2009
Norteado (Northless), Rigoberto Perezcano, Mexico and Spain, 2009
Sarameul Chatseumnida (Missing Person), Seo Lee, Korea, 2009
Small Revolts, Kyriakos Katzourakis, Greece, 2009
St. Nick, David Lowery, USA, 2009
The Unloved, Samantha Morton, United Kingdom, 2009

Out of Competition
J' Ai Tue Ma Mere (I Killed My Mother), Xavier Dolan, Canada, 2009
La Teta Asustada (Milk Of Sorrow), Claudia Llosa, Spain, and Peru, 2009
Nord (North), Rune Denstad Langlo, Norway, 2009, 78’

There is a Werner Herzog Retrospective with many of his films, if not all; a Tribute to Jeremy Thomas and interesting sections like Philippines Rising, Independence Days, Pink Eiga, Balkan Survey and others that you can check here.

In the year of its golden anniversary the fest was inspired by the words of Jean Renoir "In order to stay alive cinema will have to invent everything from scratch," organizers hope that the festival will be an occasion for dialogue and a redefinition of cinema, during the screenings of dozens of films from around the world and open discussions with famous guests. Hmm… let’s hope something interesting comes out from such an important issue in cinema as we know that cinema has to reinvent itself periodically to keep alive its raison d’être.