DISPATCH FROM GREECE | Turkey, Argentina and the U.S. Share Thessaloniki Spotlight; Iran's "Aan Ja" Takes Top Prize by Rania Richardson (November 23, 2008)
Photo by Rania Richardson
At the 49th Thessaloniki International Film Festival, in the cosmopolitan second city of Greece, the staggering number of screenings and events requires daily sprints along the waterfront promenade between the Olympion Complex in the square, and festival venues on the pier. A spotlight shines on Greek films, but in the full lineup of 230 features and shorts from 55 countries, three international hotbeds of cinema stand out this year—Turkey, Argentina, and—from a foreign perspective—the U.S. On Saturday, revered Greek-born filmmaker Theo Angelopoulos screened “The Dust of Time,” his second installment to the trilogy he began with “The Weeping Meadow” (2004), that echoes the history of Greece through the story of one family’s plight. The film feels a bit musty, but stars the reliably good, Willem Dafoe. Earlier that day, Dafoe held a Master Class where he told a packed house that he chooses projects based on his sense of engagement with people, not because of a role or career strategy. Turkish film, this year’s focus in the Balkan Survey, was the subject for a panel moderated by programmer Dimitris Kerkinos. Critics discussed the thriving contemporary cinema that emerged in the mid-‘90s despite, or perhaps in response to, state censorship and a lack of arts funding. Being addressed on film for the first time are issues of gender, class, and ethnicity. Highlights of the section include “Dot,” a crime story by Dervis Zaim, set against the backdrop of expansive white salt flats, filmed with camera movements that follow a calligrapher’s pen, and “Pandora’s Box,” the story of a mother’s dementia, by the only female director in the group, Yesim Ustaoglu. Semih Kaplanoglu‘s “Suet,” the second in a trilogy of “Egg,” “Milk” and “Honey,” and Oezcan Alper‘s “Autumn,” center on the daily rituals and struggles of life in rural Turkey. Two key figures in film production from Argentina, composer Gustavo Santaolalla and producer Lita Stantic, were honored for their body of work on Saturday before a crowded screening of their nostalgic film, “Cafe de los Maestros,” a tribute to tango performers. Santaolalla is known for his scores for “Brokeback Mountain” and “Babel,” and Lita Stantic is a seminal figure behind the new generation of filmmakers flourishing in Argentina, such as Lucretia Martel. Stantic screened “Lamb of God,” directed by Lucia Cedron, a morally engaging true story of a woman who learns that her maternal grandfather was responsible for her father’s disappearance and death. Also from Argentina, Pablo Agueero‘s unusual “Salamandra” follows a young mother adrift, who takes her son to a Patagonian commune of junkies and moochers, where Bible pages are used for toilet paper. In contrast, a group of children commune with privilege in Celina Murga‘s “A Week Alone,” a colorful competition film that has siblings and their cousins ruling the household in a gated community.  A scene from Argentine director Celina Murga’s “A Week Alone.” Image courtesy of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival.
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