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Thessaloniki Documentary Festival Head on Power of Art to ‘Preserve Reality’ With Truth, Democracy Under Threat
The Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, which runs March 6-16, showcases the role of art as a 'bulwark' against threats to truth and democracy.
While widespread unrest and uncertainty could make the very notion of a documentary film festival seem quaint, however, Andreadakis insists such events underscore the importance of art as a “bulwark” against the assaults on our fundamental principles “as the value of truth is in danger of becoming irrelevant.” Highlights from the international competition, which sees 10 films vying for the Golden Alexander, include a trio of documentaries coming off Sundance premieres — “Coexistence, My Ass!,” Amber Fares’ portrait of Israeli activist and comedian Noam Shuster Eliassi; Jesse Short Bull and David France’s “Free Leonard Peltier,” about the Native American activist who spent nearly half a century in prison; and Gianluca Matarrese’s “GEN_,” about an unconventional doctor at a fertility clinic in Milan — as well as Juanjo Pereira’s “Under the Flags, the Sun,” which follows the discovery of an audiovisual archive documenting Paraguay’s 35-year dictatorship, which debuted at the Berlin Film Festival. Against that backdrop, this year’s festival hopes to accomplish what so many documentary filmmakers set out to achieve: to bear witness, spark debate, speak truth to power, and provide some measure of comfort and community in tumultuous times.
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