_{Inside my Heart by Saskia Boddeke}

Film Forward International Competition

Inside my Heart**, directed by Saskia Boddeke and produced by Witfilm, world premiered at IDFA 2022. Inside my Heart is a film that moves between the magic of an opera and the depth of a documentary about – and featuring – professional actors with intellectual disabilities.

Top Docs

Minority Dutch co-production The Natural History of Destruction* is directed by Sergei Loznitsa. Co-produced by Atoms & Void, the documentary is inspired by W.G. Sebald’s book and posits the question: is it morally acceptable to use a civilian population as an instrument of war? Sales are handled by Progress Film.

Open Horizons

All You See* by Niki Padidar world premiered at IDFA 2022 as the Opening Film. The documentary is produced by Mint Film Office. In their new lives in the Netherlands, three protagonists unintentionally provoke reactions on a daily basis: where are you from, do you speak Dutch, do you tan in the sun? It's an experience all too familiar to director Niki Padidar, who enters into conversation with them, interspersed with a visual exploration of what it means to be subjected to the projections of others.

Directed by Peter Lataster and Petra Lataster-Czisch, and produced by L&F Productions, Journey Through our World* celebrates its international premiere. When the pandemic came and the world halted to a standstill, the filmmakers decided to point their camera at a shrunken world: their garden, neighbours, animals and plants and themselves. They marvelled at the many forms of life in their mini jungle. The beauty and vulnerability of this little patch of nature helped them accept the turmoil around them: the threat of the virus, the ever-bigger effects of climate change, illness and death of a dear friend.

In Nikki we follow a 12-year-old girl into young adulthood, struggling with her absent father and a psychologically damaged mother, who must choose between herself and her parents. Nikki is directed by Monique Nolte and produced by Doclines. The film celebrates its international premiere.

In Grief*, directed by Marleen van der Werf and produced by Zinnebeeld&, the filmmaker has to deal with a fatal loss. The natural environment that was previously so safe and familiar to her becomes unrecognizable and sometimes even hostile. Armed with courage and sharpened empathy, we enter a realm that feels like a twilight zone, where the absence of a beloved person can suddenly appear from behind the horizon. The film will have its international premiere in Thessaloniki.

_{My Pet and Me by Johan Kramer}

Special Screenings

Can pets fill a gap that should actually be filled by humans? To what extent do we project our own shortcomings and desires onto our lovely animals? The main characters in the documentary My Pet and Me** (international premiere) by Johan Kramer all have a void to fill in their own way. We observe their relationship with their pets and follow them as they set out to overcome their fears and insecurities, and try to immerse themselves further into the human world. The documentary is produced by Halal Docs and sales are handled by Cats & Docs. It is the Closing Film of the festival. 

International Competition

An aspiring young woman filmmaker in the documentary Lights Fall Vertical combines the story of a perpetrator and her own experiences with violence in a poetic film that offers insight into the causes and consequences of abuse, triggering our subconscious in a register that only cinema can approach. The minority Dutch co-production is directed by Efthymia Zymvragaki and co-produced by Witfilm.

"Newcomers" International Competition

In minority Dutch co-production 5 Seasons of Revolution*, Lina, born in Damascus, Syria, starts to report on the events around her until she is compelled to become a war reporter and the unexpected narrator of her own destiny. The documentary, which world premiered at Sundance Film Festival, is co-produced by Docmakers.

For more information on Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival, click here.
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*Film is supported by the Netherlands Film Fund
**Film is supported by the Netherlands Film Fund and Film Production Incentive