47th Thessaloniki International Film Festival to open Friday

The 47th Thessaloniki Film Festival will open on Friday, November 17, 2006 in Thessaloniki, Greece. According to the Festival's officials, a record number of three hundred plus films will compose this year’s festival programme. The Venice Film Festival prize winner The Queen, directed by Stephen Frears and starring the award winner, British actress Helen Mirren, will be the opening film. According to the Festival's Director, this year's international competition section will "leans towards the adventure of narrative. It creates a world of vital stories, which film makers from four continents believe they must tell at any cost". Among the official guests of the 47th Film Festival are the French actress Emmanuele Béart, director Wim Wenders, and the American actress and singer Juliette Lewis, who will give a concert at the Mylos Hall, in Thessaloniki's Port. Also, the France-based Greek director Costa Gavras will give a seminar regarding the Greek-American actor-director, John Cassavetes.

According to the President of the Thessaloniki Film Festival, actor Georges Corraface, this year's bill of the Festival reaches 7.5 million Euro. From his side, the Minister for Culture, Giorgos Voulgarakis stated that the Ministry acts towards the increase of the International character of the Film Festival. Thessaloniki's Film Festival is regarded the most important cinema festival in the Balkans. Many famous actors, actresses and directors like Francis Ford Coppola, Faye Dunaway and Catherine Deneuve have been among the official guests of the Thessaloniki Film Festival during the last decade. Former Presidents of Thessaloniki's Festival were the film directors Theo Angelopoulos and Pantelis Voulgaris.