Greek port city of Thessaloniki hosts 17th Int'l Documentary Festival

The curtains of the 17th Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival fell in the northern Greece port city of Thessaloniki this weekend.

More than 50,000 tickets were sold during the annual festival which kicked off on March 13 and closed on Sunday. A total of 179 films from 45 countries and regions were screened during the festival which has received international acclaim in recent years.

Director Orlando von Einsiedel with his documentary film "Virunga", a British production which focuses on the conservation work of rangers within Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo, was the festival's big winner.

This year's festival also paid homage to Austrian film director, writer, actor and producer Hubert Sauper, who has become known for his revelatory documentaries, and Romanian director Alexandru Solomon, an important representative of the European political documentary genre.

"Despite Greece's difficult economic circumstances, the festival continues to evolve. Already, based on data from the European Commission, it is considered the third most important festival of its kind in Europe," the director of the Thessaloniki International Documentary festival Dimitri Eipides noted, expressing hope that next year the event will be greater in size and influence. Endit