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Thessaloniki International Film Festival · 2026

Thessaloniki International Film Festival 2026

Film Forward

Programme

12 films

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Alexander The Great And The Accursed Dragon

In Karagiozis's dream, a man‑eating Dragon seizes control of the city's aqueduct. In order to prevent panic, Rigas persuades him to accept his victims by lottery. When the lot falls on Rigopoula, twelve‑year‑old Alexandre, searching for the horse he adores, unexpectedly comes upon the Dragon. He does not panic. Selfless love completely conquers fear.

(Country: Greece; Year: 2026; Director: Dimos Avdeliodis; Stars: Konstantinos Passas, Yorgos Nikopoulos, Veronika Argentzi, Themistocles Karpodinis, Danae Roussou)

Angel Downtown

The path to performance runs through life. Aggelos shares stories, encounters, and small adventures on his way to the theatre. As he wanders through downtown Athens, everyday life becomes a stage, and the people he meets illuminate the delicate relationship between art, care, and life itself.

(Country: Greece; Year: 2026; Director: Freddy Vianellis; Stars: Aggelos Papadimitriou, Sofia Kokkali, Katia Leclerc O’Wallis, Myrto Makri)

Apart

1974. When Turkey invades Cyprus, young Eleni escapes through an arranged marriage to a fellow Greek-Cypriot in apartheid South Africa. They begin to build a life together but a secret from her past forces her to make a decision that could change her life forever.

(Country: Greece; Year: 2026; Director: Stelana Kliris)

Don't Forget the Sunshine

After six years in Germany, Maria gradually loses touch with who she is, trapped between the routine of her work and the intensity of her nights in the techno scene. When her ailing mother and older brother come to visit from Greece for the first time, old wounds reopen and long-suppressed conflicts rise to the surface.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2026; Director: Marco Papadopoulos; Writer: Marco Papadopoulos; Stars: Lydia Maria Makrides, Stefania Goulioti, Alexandros Nikolaidis, Moritz Zielke, Joan Pascu)

The Flaw

In a bleak future where the Regime decides who belongs and who doesn't, the Line divides everyone. Now, a ruthless Interrogator is ordered to prove a Suspect’s guilt. A game of psychological manipulation unfolds as the Plan advances with cold precision. Every word or action is cast in a new light. Reality itself becomes twisted. But just as the puzzle seems complete, a single flaw changes everything.

(Country: Greece, Latvia; Year: 2026; Director: Theophilos Papastylianos; Writer: Theophilos Papastylianos; Stars: David Dawson, Arthur McBain, Ralf Little, Angela Brouskou, Lyne Renee, Sarah Akokhia, Georgia Small)

Foreign Blood

Dennis, a man in his late fifties, leads a quiet life in Zakynthos, running a bar with Vera, his Bulgarian partner, and her 20-year-old son, Alex, whom he regards as his own. One winter night, Alex takes a mysterious foreign girl on a ride and causes an accident. Dennis rushes her to hospital, only to discover she is his estranged daughter. Dennis must confront his past.

(Country: Greece; Year: 2026; Director: Adonis Lykouresis; Writer: Nikos Panayotopoulos; Stars: Renos Haralambidis, Andri Theodotou, Thodoris Kampitsis, Marlene Kaminsky)

Game Theory

​Trapped in a forbidden affair with his stepmother, a man under the growing influence of an AI companion enters a deadly game.

(Country: Greece; Year: 2026; Director: Karolos Zonaras; Writer: Karolos Zonaras; Stars: Georges Corraface, Dimitris Passas, Katia Leclerc O’Wallis, Pavlos Evagelopoulos, Harrys Tzortzakis, Pantelis Dentakis, Alexia Kaltsiki)

The Gleaner

On Christmas Eve, on a small snow-covered Aegean island in the late 19th century, Ahtitsa, a poor elderly woman, struggles to raise her two orphaned grandchildre. A cheque from her long-lost son in America brings hope but she faces exploitation from a local.

(Year: 2026; Director: Panagiotis Rappas; Writer: Panagiotis Rappas)

The Megalomaniacs

A collaboration between an archaeologist and a potter begins as scholarly curiosity and evolves into a seductive duel of wit, vanity, and power.

(Country: Greece, Cyprus, Colombia; Year: 2025; Director: Spiros Stathoulopoulos)

Particles Of Dust

The corpse of a young man washes up on the shores of Atalante, marking Isidore’s return to the land of the living. As he follows the traces of his past lives in search of lost memories, Isidore finds himself caught in a deceptive web of stories within stories.

(Country: Greece, Germany; Year: 2026; Director: Argyris Germanidis; Stars: Sofia Kokkali, Nikolas Papadomihelakis, Giorgos Efthimiou)

Under The Judas Tree

In a remote village, Elias, a self-exiled father, reconnects with his best friend, a local police officer. When a young woman is found murdered outside the village, solving the crime becomes an obsession for him.

(Country: Greece; Year: 2026; Director: Christos Houliaras; Writer: Christos Houliaras, George Zafeiropoulos; Stars: Eleni Vergeti, Giorgos Dambasis, Vasilis Siafis, Tasos Karlis, Alexis Kalofolias, Marina Argyropoulou)

Worthy

The discovery of an icon, which Ilias believes to be crying, sets him on his journey from cemetery caretaker to the chosen one. While he is on his quest to bring the icon to the people of the small town, we also follow three other stories of people who could do with a little help from a miraculous icon.

(Country: Cyprus, Greece; Year: 2026; Director: Christos Georgiou; Writer: Christos Georgiou, Giorgos Kousouris; Stars: Makis Papadimitriou, Marina Argyridou, Andreas Vasileiou, Andreas C. Tselepos, Lenia Sorokkou, Marina Makris, Stella Fyrogeni, Ioanna Siafkali, Elena Kallinikou)