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Modern independent cinema will once again be sheltered in early November this year by the 52^nd annual Film Festival in Thessaloniki. It will take place from November 4 to 13, and the focus is currently on three talented foreign directors and their latest works. During the festival will be the Greek premiere of Paolo Sorrentino’s last film "This must be the place"(2011) and the Academy Award winner Sean Penn plays the leading part. This is the first English-language film by the Italian director and the story is about an aging rock star played by Sean Penn, visually based on The Cure’s singer Robert Smith. He is at a crossroads in his life and decides to find a Nazi, a former war criminal, who tortured his father at Auschwitz and who is now hiding in the USA.

Another star will be honoured during the Thessaloniki Film Festival - Sarah Driver, who made her directorial debut in 1981 with the low-budget but impressive film "You are not I" - 1981. Shortly after the premiere, the film has not been shown due to a fire in the warehouse storing the films. It is considered extinct for many years until in 2010, her boyfriend finds a copy in the archives and it is released in digital format.

The festival will present her later works, the films "Sleepwalking" (1986) and "When pigs fly" (1993).

The program of the festival will pay special attention to Ole Christian Madsen who is considered one of the most important artists in the new wave of cinema in the last century. With subtlety, boldness in the story and humour, the Danish artist draws inspiration from his personal experience to penetrate the most fragile part of human existence. Born in 1966, he graduated from the National Film School of Denmark together with Thomas Vinterberg and Pere Fli.  With Sinan Wedding (1997) and Pizza King (1999), he became one of the first Danish directors who showed the public the immigration issues. Then comes "Kira's Reason: A love story" (2001), which focuses on the fate of a young woman who has to deal with reality and keep her family after leaving a hospital for the mentally ill.

Madsen is also known for his later films Prague (2006), Flame and Citron (2008) and the comedy Superclasico (2011), which will be premiered during the film festival in Thessaloniki.