November for the Greek “tribe” of cinema means the festival in Thessaloniki. For ten days, world cinema meets with the latest domestic production, in a marriage that, even in the worst moments, is of interest and pleasant surprises. Especially this year, when the 63rd festival (3-13/11) seems to be leaning towards certain values ​​without missing out on new voices, with a strong program inside and outside the competition that promises emotions.

Since we are talking about traditional values, there is no more representative example than Steven Spielberg, who opens the long-awaited Fabelmans on November 3rd. And in our area there are, of course, their star-makers. Such is Fatih Akin, who will personally come to Thessaloniki to present his new film. In Robbery of the Rhine, the Turkish-born German director turns to pure biography for the first time, telling the story of the well-known German rapper Xatar. From the hell of an Iraqi prison to the immigration ghettos, from there to crime, and finally to a career in music, the fascinating story of this special hero has undoubtedly challenged Akin’s creative imagination. Continued on screen.

There, on the big Olympian screen, you will find the latest film of two more veterans. The Dardenne brothers, true to their socially conscious cinematography, bring us “Tori and Lokita”, the story of two tormented young children from Africa, two “unaccompanied minor aliens”, as the Western world coldly classifies them, who will face severe trials. , the often inhospitable reality of immigration. From the social abyss to the personal and Steve Buscemi’s Night Talk, a film starring Tessa Thompson as a support volunteer who spends endless nights listening to the thoughts and feelings of lonely, depressed and desperate people in the midst of pandemic lockdown.

Aronofsky’s “Kit” and films by the Dardenne brothers, Buscemi, Serra and Van Groningen will be screened at the 63rd FKTH.

Loneliness, but also redemption, is the theme of Darren Aronofsky’s new film The Whale, one of the best we’ve seen at the last Venice Film Festival, which will also premiere in Thessaloniki. Brendan Fraser is simply touching as a morbidly obese English literature teacher living in isolation with an unusual longing to be reunited with his estranged daughter. With minimalism and skill, Aronofsky directs a deeply human film that is unlikely to leave viewers of the Olympian in tears.

As you know, of course, each festival has its favorites. One such person for FKTH is the heretic Albert Serra, who this time brings his “gift” with something completely different from what we are used to. Appeasement deals with the history of French nuclear testing in Tahiti, French Polynesia, and is visually dazzling at least, and received rave reviews at Cannes, where it premiered. Also on the Croisette this year, and indeed with a prize in the bag, is Eight Mountains by Felix van Groningen and Charlotte Vandermis, a story of true friendship when two children become men in an attempt to erase the traces of their fathers.

Finally, mention should also be made of the Festival’s multi-layered tribute to Theodoros Angelopoulos, ten years after the death of the leading Greek director. Using the motto “Angelopoulos forever” and “Representation” as a basis, the organizers seek to bring us a little closer to the deeper meaning of a particular work, but also of the universe of its creator as a whole: representation is nothing but a human interpretation of reality, that is, power, that makes up the world around us.

In addition to the film itself, a documentary-discussion between Theodoros Angelopoulos and Nikos Panagiotopoulos will be shown during the festival, and two large exhibitions, one visual and one photographic, form a bridge between the great director’s debut (vol. “Performance”) and the swan song (“Other sea”), during the filming of which he also died.