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Thessaloniki International Film Festival

Plan your trip to the Thessaloniki International Film Festival (TIFF). One of southeast Europe's premier film events since 1960. Hotels, flights and Thessalo…

Southeast Europe's Premier Film Festival

The Thessaloniki International Film Festival was founded in 1960, making it one of the oldest film festivals in Europe. Each November, over ten days, the city screens hundreds of films across multiple venues: international competition entries, the Greek Film Panorama, retrospectives, special programme screenings, and industry events. The festival has a particular reputation for discovering filmmakers who go on to wider international recognition.

Attending TIFF means arriving in Thessaloniki in November — one of the best times to be in the city. The summer tourist season is over, the food scene is fully open, and the Byzantine heritage (Roman forum, Rotunda, church mosaics, Byzantine walls) can be visited without the heat or the crowds of summer. Thessaloniki's food culture is independently one of the strongest reasons to visit Greece: the city's bougatsa, soutzoukakia, and seafood have devoted followers across the country.

The City

Thessaloniki is Greece's second city and one of the most culturally rich urban environments in the Balkans. The Aristotelous Square waterfront, the Modiano and Kapani markets, the Ladadika neighbourhood, and the Ano Poli (upper town) Byzantine district together constitute a city of extraordinary depth. The Thessaloniki Archaeological Museum houses one of the finest collections of Macedonian antiquities in the world. Direct flights connect to all major European cities via Thessaloniki Makedonia Airport (SKG).

The Thessaloniki Film Festival Programme

The festival programme is published at filmfestival.gr in late October, approximately two weeks before the festival opens. Individual film screenings are ticketed; some screenings sell out quickly, particularly retrospectives of major international filmmakers and the Greek Film Panorama weekend screenings. An all-access pass covering all screenings is available for international visitors and is frequently the most practical option. The festival's industry programme (film market, pitching sessions, master classes) requires separate press or industry credentials. All screenings are subtitled in English; most are in English or Greek with Greek subtitles.

November in Thessaloniki is the ideal time to encounter the city as its residents experience it. The summer tourist season is over, the city's academic community is fully active (Aristotle University is one of the largest in southern Europe), and the cultural infrastructure — concerts at the State Opera, Byzantine museum programmes, the NOESIS technology museum — is fully operational. The city's food culture peaks in autumn: truffle season in the Macedonian interior, the new olive oil from the central Macedonia groves, and the Naoussa Xinomavro harvest. Thessaloniki Airport (SKG) has direct connections to all major European cities.

Thessaloniki's role as Greece's cultural capital — a city with a Jewish, Ottoman, Byzantine, and modern Greek layering that Athens does not have — gives the festival a specific character. The museum infrastructure (the Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki, the Museum of Byzantine Culture, the Archaeological Museum with its Macedonian gold) provides days of cultural depth alongside the film programme.