The Hindered Drive toward Internationalisation: Thessaloniki (International) Film Festival

Originally a site for the promotion of the Greek film production, the Thessaloniki Film Festival, founded in 1960, gradually evolved to showcase international cinema, with a special emphasis on Balkan film. By focusing on the festival’s international aspirations, this account highlights certain under-researched parts of its history during which the festival offered parallel, competitive or not, programs of non-Greek films. In exploring this history, this article foregrounds tensions among key stakeholders, and maps these over the country’s broader sociopolitical dynamics, as well as in relation to broader developments in the European and international film festival scene