Eye For Film >> Festivals >> Thessaloniki >> 2023 >> Open Horizons
View other Thessaloniki International Film Festival Films by strand: Fantasmas, Film Forward, International Competition, Meet The Neighbours+, NextGen, Out Of Competition, Round Midnight, Smart7, Special Screenings, Survey Expanded: Reflections of Topos
Cat Person and Sorcery
Behind The Moutains (Oura El Jbel)
(Country: Tunisia, Belgium, France, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Qatar; Year: 2023; Director: Mohamed Ben Attia; Writer: Mohamed Ben Attia; Stars: Majd Mastoura, Walid Bouchhioua, Samer Bisharat, Selma Zghidi, Helmi Dridi, Wissem Belgharak, Ayoub Hedhili, Mondher Chouchen, Amel Karray, Ammar Chikha, Rania Agrebi, Mahmoud Said, Walid Bel Haj Ammar, Jasser Oueslati, Yosra Rebai)
After spending four years in jail, Rafik has only one plan, to take his son behind the mountains and show him his amazing discovery.
Blaga's Lessons (Urotcite na Blaga)
(Country: Bulgaria, Germany; Year: 2023; Director: Stephan Komandarev; Writer: Simeon Ventsislavov, Stephan Komandarev; Stars: Eli Skorcheva, Gerasim Georgiev, Rozalia Abgarian, Ivan Barnev, Stefan Denolyubov, Ivaylo Hristov)
A woman's moral compass starts to slip after she is conned out of her savings by a phone scammer.
Blondi
(Country: Argentina, Spain, United States; Year: 2023; Director: Dolores Fonzi; Writer: Dolores Fonzi, Laura Paredes; Stars: Dolores Fonzi, Carla Peterson, Rita Cortese, Toto Rovito, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Milagros Iturriza, Federico Pereyra, Simón Saieg, Felipe Saade, Micaela Rey, Elvira Onetto, Margarita Israel Gurman, Celeste Chu, Lucila Mangone, Gala Núñez)
Blondi and Mirko are best friends. They love living together, listen to the same music, watch the same films, they like smoking grass, going to concerts, they share the same friends, everything is perfect between them… but even if they look almost the same age, Blondi is Mirko’s mother.
The Breaking Ice
(Country: China; Year: 2023; Director: Anthony Chen; Writer: Anthony Chen; Stars: Zhou Dongyu, Liu Haoran, Qu Chuxiao)
The relationship between a trio of young people over a period of a few days in the snow.
The Burdened (Al Murhaqoon)
(Country: Yemen, Sudan, Saudi Arabia; Year: 2023; Director: Amr Gamal; Stars: Khaled Hamdan, Abeer Mohammed, Samah Alamrani, Awsam Abdulrahman, Shahd Algonfedy)
During the civil war in Yemen, Isra’a becomes pregnant again and, together with her husband, she decides to have an abortion. But this creates enormous problems, including in their relationship.
Drift and Through The Night
Cafe
(Country: Iran; Year: 2023; Director: Navid Mihandoust; Writer: Navid Mihandoust; Stars: Ramin Sayar Dashti, Setareh Maleki, Mahsa Mahjoor, Mehdi Sajadifar, Masood Esmaeeli)
A director barred from making films runs a cafe... and finds himself facing challenges from a young performance artist.
The Cage Is Looking For A Bird (Kletka ishet ptitsu)
(Country: France, Russia; Year: 2023; Director: Malika Musaeva; Stars: Khadizha Bataeva, Madina Akkieva, Fatima Elzhurkaeva, Rita Merzhoeva, Magomed Alhastov)
Yakha, 17, lives in a village in Chechnya and loves roaming the fields with her friend Madina. She is open to life and knows what she wants, but there are limits to her ability to make her own choices.
Cat Person
(Country: France, US; Year: 2023; Director: Susanna Fogel; Writer: Michelle Ashford; Stars: Emilia Jones, Nicholas Braun, Geraldine Viswanathan, Hope Davis, Fred Melamed, Isabella Rossellini)
College student Margot meets 33-year-old Robert at the cinema where she works. After a casual flirtation at the concession stand, they carry on conversations through texts. As their perceptions of each other collide, events spiral out of control. Based on The New Yorker short story by Kristen Roupenian.
Chicken For Linda!
(Country: France; Year: 2023; Director: Chiara Malta, Sebastien Laudenbach; Writer: Chiara Malta, Sebastien Laudenbach; Stars: Voiced by, Laetitia Dosch, Clotilde Hesme, Estéban)
When a mum makes a promise to her daughter after unfairly punishing her, she finds herself having to go the extra mile to make it come true.
Comandante
(Country: Italy, Belgium; Year: 2023; Director: Edoardo De Angelis; Writer: Edoardo De Angelis, Sandro Veronesi; Stars: Pierfrancesco Favino, Johannes Wirix, Johan Heldenbergh, Tim Daish, Silvia D'Amico, Luca Chikovani, Mario Russo, Massimiliano Rossi, Arianna di Claudio, Giuseppe Brunetti, Lucas Tavernier, Giuseppe Lo Piccolo, Giustiniano Alpi, Giulio Greco, Giacomo Bottoni)
The true story of Commander Salvatore Todaro, who saved the lives of enemy sailors who had survived the sinking of their merchant ship.
Oceans Are The Real Continents and The Delinquents
Critical Zone (Mantagheye bohrani)
(Country: Iran, Germany; Year: 2023; Director: Ali Ahmadzadeh; Writer: Ali Ahmadzadeh)
Guided by the voice of his GPS, Amir navigates the underworld districts of Tehran to comfort the troubled souls of the night.
The Delinquents (Los Delincuentes)
(Country: Argentina, Brazil, Luxembourg, Chile; Year: 2023; Director: Rodrigo Moreno; Writer: Rodrigo Moreno; Stars: Margarita Molfino, Esteban Bigliardi, Cecilia Rainero)
Two bank staff rob their own establishment.
Drift
(Country: France, UK, Greece; Year: 2023; Director: Anthony Chen; Writer: Susanne Farrell, Alexander Maksik, based on the novel by Alexander Maksik; Stars: Cynthia Erivo, Alia Shawkat, Ibrahima Ba, Honor Swinton Byrne, Zainab Jah, Suzy Bemba)
Refugee Jacqueline, alone and penniless on a Greek island embarks on a friendship with a tour guide.
Enea
(Country: Italy; Year: 2023; Director: Pietro Castellitto; Writer: Pietro Castellitto; Stars: Benedetta Porcaroli, Sergio Castellitto, Pietro Castellitto, Adamo Dionisi, Matteo Branciamore, Chiara Noschese, Giorgio Montanini, Cesare Castellitto, Giorgio Quarzo Guarascio)
Aeneas chases the myth that bears his name in order to feel alive in a decadent age.
The Erection Of Toribio Bardelli (La Erección de Toribio Bardelli)
(Country: Peru, Brazil; Year: 2023; Director: Adrián Saba; Writer: Adrián Saba; Stars: Gustavo Bueno, Gisela Ponce de León, Rodrigo Sánchez Patiño, Michele Abascal, Lucélia Santos)
A widower in his seventies dives headfirst into the world of paid sex in a self-destructive attempt to cope with the grief and anger over his wife's death.
Sometimes I Think About Dying and Chicken For Linda!
The Falling Star (L'Etoile Filante)
(Country: France, Belgium; Year: 2023; Director: Fiona Gordon, Dominique Abel; Writer: Fiona Gordon, Dominique Abel; Stars: Fiona Gordon, Dominique Abel, Kaori Ito, Philippe Martz, Bruno Romy)
Boris, a former activist, lives underground as a bartender at L'Étoile Filante. His guilty past resurfaces when a victim finds him and wants revenge. The appearance of a double, the depressed and solitary Dom, provides Boris, his resourceful partner Kayoko and their faithful friend, Tim, with the perfect escape plan. But they haven’t considered Dom’s ex-wife, a suspicious detective on their trail.
Here
(Country: Belgium; Year: 2023; Director: Bas Devos; Stars: Stefan Gota, Liyo Gong)
Stefan, a Romanian construction worker living in Brussels, is about to move back home. He cooks up a big pot of soup as a goodbye gift for friends and family. Just then, he meets a Belgian-Chinese doctoral student who specialises in mosses.
If Only I Could Hibernate
(Country: Mongolia; Year: 2023; Director: Zoljargal Purevdash)
A poor but proud Mongolian teen aspires to win an Academic Olympiad; first, he and his siblings
must survive the bitter winter in Ulaanbaatar’s Ger district.
It's Raining In The House (Il pleut dans la maison)
(Country: Belgium, France; Year: 2023; Director: Paloma Sermon-Daï; Writer: Paloma Sermon-Daï; Stars: Makenzy Lombet, Purdey Lombet, Donovan Nizet, Amine Hamidou, Louise Manteau)
Two siblings, 15-year-old Makenzy and 17-year-old Purdey, live almost on their own in the house their grandmother left them with only each other to help navigate life's challenges.
Libertate
(Country: Romania, Hungary; Year: 2023; Director: Tudor Giurgiu; Writer: Cecilia Ştefănescu, Tudor Giurgiu; Stars: Alex Calangiu, Cat̆alin Herlo, Ionuţ Caras, Iulian Postelnicu, Alexandru Papadopol)
Thriller set against the Romanian Revolution of 1989.
Mutt and The Practice
The Lost Children
(Country: Belgium; Year: 2023; Director: Michèle Jacob; Writer: Michèle Jacob)
Four children find themselves having to take care of each other after they are abandoned in an old house.
Lubo
(Country: Italy, Switzerland; Year: 2023; Director: Giorgio Diritti; Writer: Mario Cavatore, Giorgio Diritti, Fredo Valla, Tania Pedroni; Stars: Franz Rogowski, Valentina Bellè, Joel Basman, Noémi Besedes, Cecilia Steiner, Philippe Graber, Francesco Limenta, Christian Bianco, Oliver Ewy, Christophe Sermet, Federica Garavaglia, Jörg Reichlin, Alessandro Zappella, Filippo Giulini, Anina Sara Baumgartner)
A man is pushed to extraordinary lengths to get back his children in 1930s Switzerland.
Luka
(Country: Belgium, Italy, The Netherlands, Bulgaria, Armenia; Year: 2023; Director: Jessica Woodworth; Writer: Jessica Woodworth; Stars: Jonas Smulders, Geraldine Chaplin, Samvel Tadevossian, Jan Bijvoet, Sam Louwyck, Django Schrevens, Hal Yamanouch)
Determined to do his utmost to protect his homeland from ever-imminent invasion, young Luka – a talented sniper – makes the lengthy trek from region 27 north to Fort Kairos, an outpost on the Steppe .
More Than Strangers
(Country: Germany, Greece; Year: 2023; Director: Sylvie Michel; Writer: Sylvie Michel, Maria Teresa Curzio; Stars: Cyril Gueï, Smaragda Karydi, Julie Kieffer, Samuel Schneider, Léo Daudin)
Five individuals, hailing from diverse national backgrounds but united by a common geographic destination, embark on a journey across the heart of Europe, following the highway that links Berlin to Paris.
Mutt
(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Vuk Lungulov-Klotz; Writer: Vuk Lungulov-Klotz; Stars: Lío Mehiel, Cole Doman, MiMi Ryder, Alejandro Goic)
Over the course of a single hectic day in New York City, three people from Feña's past are thrust back into his life. Having lost touch since transitioning from female to male, he navigates the new dynamics of old relationships while tackling the day-to-day challenges of living life in between.
Critical Zone and Red Rooms
Oceans Are The Real Continents (Los Oceanos son los verdaderos Continentes)
(Year: 2019; Director: Tommaso Santambrogio; Writer: Tommaso Santambrogio; Stars: Alexander Diego, Edith Ybarra Clara, Frank Ernesto Lam, Alain Alain Alfonso González, Milagros Llanes Martínez)
A trio of stories unfold against a backdrop of Cuba.
Oregon
(Country: Turkey; Year: 2023; Director: Kerem Ayan; Writer: Ümit Ünal; Stars: Serkan Çayoğlu, Aslı Inandık, Nejat İşler, Burcu Biricik, Ferit Aktuğ, Selen Uçer)
After a young couple are arrested over a cassette tape, their friends rally to help.
The Practice (La Practica)
(Country: Argentina, Chile, Portugal; Year: 2015; Director: Martin Retjman; Writer: Martín Rejtman; Stars: Esteban Bigliardi, Mirta Busnelli, Manuela Oyarzún, Camila Hirane, Gabriel Cañas)
A yoga teacher finds himself grappling with life and bad luck after his splits from his wife.
The Quiet Migration
(Country: Denmark; Year: 2023; Director: Malene Choi; Stars: Cornelius Won Riedel-Clausen, Bjarne Henriksen, Bodil Jørgensen, Clara Thi Thanh Heilmann Jensen, Dawid Ściupidro)
Carl is expected someday to take over his parents’ agribusiness in a rural backwater of Denmark. But, as an adopted child, he also longs to learn more about his South Korean heritage.
Red Rooms (Les chambres rouges)
(Country: Canada; Year: 2023; Director: Pascal Plante; Writer: Pascal Plante; Stars: Juliette Gariépy, Laurie Babin, Elisabeth Locas, Maxwell McCabe-Lokos)
A woman becomes obsessed with the trial of a murderer.
Blaga's Lessons and The Breaking Ice
The Settlers (Los Colonos)
(Country: Chile, Argentina; Year: 2023; Director: Felipe Gálvez; Writer: Felipe Gálvez)
19th century drama. A man on an expedition is forced to take part in a massacre. Afterwards he forms a bond with the only survivor.
The Shadowless Tower (Bai Ta Zhi Guang)
(Country: China; Year: 2023; Director: Zhang Lu; Writer: Zhang Lu; Stars: Xin Baiqing, Huang Yao, Tian Zhuangzhuang, Nan Ji, Wang Hongwei)
Divorced food critic Gu Wentong finds out where the father he had lost contact with as a child is now living. Meanwhile, he begins a relationship with a younger colleague.
Shortcomings
(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Randall Park; Writer: Adrian Tomine; Stars: Justin H Min, Sherry Cola, Ally Maki, Debby Ryan, Tavi Gevinson, Sonoya Mizuno)
Following Ben, Miko, and Alice as they navigate a range of interpersonal relationships and traverse the country in search of the ideal connection.
Sidonie In Japan (Sidonie En Japon)
(Country: Switzerland, Japan, Germany, France; Year: 2023; Director: Élise Girard; Writer: Maud Ameline, Élise Girard; Stars: Isabelle Huppert, August Diehl, Tsuyoshi Ihara)
Sidonie Perceval, an established French writer, is mourning her deceased husband. Invited to Japan for the re-release of her first book, she is welcomed by her local editor who takes her to Kyot. As they travel together, she slowly opens up to him. But the ghost of her husband follows her.
The Siren (La Sirène)
(Country: France, Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium; Year: 2023; Director: Sepideh Farsi)
Iran, 1980. After an Iraqi missile strike, the oil metropolis of Abadan descends into chaos. Fourteen-year-old Omid, who works as a food delivery boy, is searching for his missing brother – and for an escape route out of the besieged city. Animation.
Blondi and Shortcomings
Sometimes I Think About Dying
(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Rachel Lambert; Writer: Kevin Armento, Stefanie Abel Horowitz, Katy Wright-Mead; Stars: Daisy Ridley, Dave Merheje, Parvesh Cheena, Marcia DeBonis, Meg Stalter, Brittany O’Grady)
Fran likes to think about dying. It brings sensation to her quiet life. When she makes the new guy at work laugh, it leads to more: a date, a slice of pie, a conversation, a spark. The only thing standing in their way is Fran herself.
A Song Sung Blue
(Country: China; Year: 2023; Director: Zihan Geng)
Liu Xian will always remember the summer when she was 15. When her mother went to Africa to provide medical aid as a doctor, she was thrown into the care of her father who had been divorced from her mother for many years.
Sorcery
(Country: Chile, Mexico, Germany; Year: 2023; Director: Christopher Murray; Writer: Christopher Murray; Stars: Valentina Véliz, Daniel Antivilo, Sebastian Hulk, Daniel Muñoz)
On the remote island of Chiloé in the late 19th century, an indigenous girl named Rosa lives and works with her father on a farm. When the foreman brutally turns on Rosa’s father, she sets out for justice, seeking help from the king of a powerful organisation of sorcerers.
The Sweet East
(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Sean Price Williams)
A picaresque journey through contemporary America, undertaken by a young woman granted access to the strange sects and cults that proliferate in this country by a series of gatekeepers eager to win her over.
Terrestrial Verses
(Country: Iran; Year: 2023; Director: Ali Asgari; Writer: Ali Asgari, Alireza Khatami)
Nine individuals facing various accusations by Iranian authorities – from school to police – reveal their revolutionary spirit.
Through The Night (Quiter La Nuit)
(Country: France; Year: 2023; Director: Delphine Girard; Writer: Delphine Girard; Stars: Selma Alaoui, Guillaume Duhesme, Veerle Baetens, Anne Dorval, Adèle Wismes)
The lives of three people are explored after a rape.
White Plastic Sky (Műanyag égbolt)
(Country: Hungary, Slovakia; Year: 2023; Director: Tibor Bánóczki, Sarolta Szabó; Stars: Tamás Keresztes, Zsófia Szamosi, Géza Hegedűs D., Judit Schell, István Znamenák)
Animation. In a not too distant future without animals and plants where the price of human survival is high, a young man breaks every rule to save his wife.
59th New York Film Festival early bird highlights Futura, Jane By Charlotte, James Baldwin: From Another Place and The Velvet Underground
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