32nd Athens International Film Festival: These Are the Films in the International Competition!

SIX MONTHS IN A PINK AND BLUE BUILDING | 6 MESES EN EL EDIFICIO ROSA CON AZUL

DIRECTOR: Bruno Santamaría Razo

During the years of mass hysteria surrounding AIDS, and whilst Bruno is on the cusp of adolescence, the family happiness in his ‘Pink and Blue’ home is shattered by the news that his father has been diagnosed with the deadly virus. Thirty years later, the director returns to the six months that followed so as to recount the story of his parents, the fluidity of childhood, social stigma and the first, raw awakening of his own erotic desire. Rarely does an autobiographical film manage to resemble at once a poignant 16mm chronicle, a euphoric home movie and a belated confession of a child before the mirror of his own catharsis.

01/10/2026, 22:00, ASTOR
06/10/2026, 19:30, ASTOR

YESTERDAY THE EYE DIDN’T SLEEP | البارح العين ما نامت

DIRECTOR: Rakan Mayasi

In the cloudy Beqaa Valley, on the border between Lebanon and Syria, the search for a missing girl triggers a chain of violence between two families. When revenge threatens the fragile balance, two sisters are offered against their will as a marriage exchange to bring about peace. In a stunning debut—which shares certain affinities with the cinema of Abbas Kiarostami and was created through improvisations with amateur actors (including a real Bedouin family)— Palestinian director Rakan Mayasi employs a neorealist, almost ritualistic gaze to respond with disarming cinematic poetry to the violence of authoritarian traditions and archaic patriarchal norms.

THE ONLY LIVING PICKPOCKET IN NEW YORK

DIRECTOR: Noah Segan

 

Αs if beamed up from the great American cinema of the 1970s, this little cinematic gem features a veteran pickpocket with a big heart and old-fashioned values as its protagonist. A romantically anachronistic figure in a relentless modern world, Harry wanders like a ghost from another era through the streets of a big city to which he seems to belong less and less. When, one night, he unwittingly pickpockets the son of a powerful criminal family, his life is suddenly in immediate danger. A wonderfully old-fashioned film that knows how to tell a simple story in an irresistible way, a love letter to an authentic New York of the past, the film features a superb lead performance by John Turturro in a role that may well earn him his first (and well-deserved) Oscar nomination. Full of small but generous rewards that we have sorely missed on the big screen, this heartfelt ‘Pickpocket’ is the ultimate cinematic comfort food of 2026.

02/10/2026, 22:00, CINOBO OPERA 1
08/10/2026, 22:00, CINOBO OPERA 1

THE RED HANGAR | HANGAR ROJO

DIRECTOR: Juan Pablo Sallato

The morning of September 11th, 1973 will forever be remembered in Chile. It was the day of the military coup that violently overthrew Salvador Allende from power and established the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet for the next 17 years. That morning, Captain Jorge Silva was preparing for his duty as a trainer at an airbase. However, in the blink of an eye, the world crumbles around him. He receives orders to turn the base into a detention centre and interrogation facility. Trucks continuously unload political prisoners, violence erupts, and every freedom and dignity is lost in the blink of an eye. Faced with this new order of things, Silva confronts the great dilemma: Will he collaborate with the tyrants and torturers turning a blind eye? Or will he react, risking his life? Will he sell his soul? Or will he safeguard his humanity at all costs? The director poses these critical moral questions to us all. And as time counts down to the purging finale, this masterful debut becomes an unbearable noose that traps both heroes and spectators in the dimensions of a fierce Kafkaesque nightmare.

03/10/2026, 21:45, ASTOR
07/10/2026, 19:30, ASTOR

LA GRADIVA

DIRECTOR: Marine Atlan

One of the increasingly rare occasions when the experience of watching a film feels like an exhilarating discovery, the feature debut of Marine Atlan is not merely another hopeful first but the announcement of a significant directorial talent. Irresistibly photographed in the hues of summer, "Gradiva" follows a group of French high school seniors on a school trip to Naples and the ruins of Pompeii, juxtaposing their expectations for the future with the grand and mysterious past that suddenly surrounds them. With keen insight into the characters, bodies and behaviours, and with the multifaceted contribution of an exceptional ensemble of amateur actors, Atlan captures the existential moment of the young people as a collective sigh, made up of tiny breaths. Her film becomes a psychological excavation into adolescence, a seismograph of youth and its unceasing tremors, a sensor for the tectonic passage into adulthood, as it unfolds through thrills, unfulfilled loves, and silent longings. At some point, Atlan will map the abrupt end of innocence as the expensive entrance fee into the world of adults. Then, the teasing and the flirting of the young protagonists will abruptly fade in the face of a rude awakening to real life. Critics' Week Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival for a small masterpiece with the hallmarks of a classic film.

04/10/2026, 19:00, OLYMPIA

NARCISO

DIRECTOR: Marcelo Martinessi

 

Narciso is young, charming, charismatic. He is desired by women and men alike, at a time when any form of sexual desire is condemned. In 1959, whilst the country was under a harsh military dictatorship, he arrived in the Paraguayan capital with rock ’n’ roll in his luggage. He became a radio producer, introduced the revolutionary sounds of Elvis Presley and Little Richard, and turned his program into a symbol of freedom for young people, provoking the wrath of conservative society. His meteoric rise is, however, violently cut short when he is found mysteriously dead. Who killed Narciso? The answer seems almost irrelevant in the dark and menacing world depicted by the film, a world that conspires fatally against anything perceived as different. Drawing on a much-publicized true story, the Paraguayan director of “Las Herederas” (Golden Athena at the 2018 AIFF) delivers a captivating political thriller about a country condemned to silence and criminal complicity. Paraguay’s official entry for the 2027 Oscars.

NINA ROZA

DIRECTOR: Geneviève Dulude-De Celles

 

Thirty years after leaving his Bulgarian homeland to move to Montreal, where he went on to make a name for himself as an art appraiser whilst turning his back on his past and his origins, a middle-aged man returns to his country of birth. His aim is to track down an 8-year-old painting prodigy and to determine whether her case is a fraud or a genuine phenomenon. His journey, geographical at first, deeply emotional and existential afterwards, inspires a beautiful and quietly moving film about what constitutes our unique identity and the unseen personal stories that often become the stuff of the purest and most sincere art. “Nina Rosa” won the Silver Bear for Best Screenplay at the Berlin Film Festival and is Canada’s official entry for the 2027 Oscar for Best International Film.

05/10/2026, 22:00, DANAOS 1
09/10/2026, 17:00, DANAOS 1

QUEEN AT SEA

 

DIRECTOR: Lance Hammer

 

It may have taken a full 18 years for the American director of “Ballast” to make his second film, but all things come to those who wait. Thematically akin to Michael Haneke’s “Amour”, “Queen at Sea” features an outstanding Juliette Binoche grappling daily with the demands imposed by her elderly mother’s dementia. By her side is a stepfather who stands by his wife with love and understanding. However, an unpleasant incident forces them to make difficult decisions, sparking a complex dialogue about the power of instinct, the nature of companionship and the right to self-determination. Free of melodrama and easy answers, with a clarity that makes what we see all the more emotionally overwhelming, Lance Hammer’s marvelous drama won the Silver Bear Jury Prize at this year’s Berlin Film Festival and deservedly gave acting prizes to the outstanding Tom Courtenay (“45 Years”) and Anna Calder-Marshall. 

06/10/2026, 19:15, DANAOS 1

BEN’IMANA

DIRECTOR: Marie Clémentine Dusabejambo

How can one forgive something utterly abhorrent? Two decades after the horrific genocide in Rwanda, a survivor of the atrocities attempts to exorcise her own painful memories by taking part in one of the people’s tribunals for justice and community reconciliation being held across the country. However, when her teenage daughter’s sudden pregnancy unwittingly unearths a family secret, the protagonist sees her convictions shaken. Performed almost entirely by amateur actors who lived through the real events –just as the filmmaker herself did– “Ben’Imana” is not merely a commendable directorial debut. It is a call, as painful as it is redemptive, for compassion and the possibility of reconciliation, delivered with magnanimity and tremendous dignity. Winner of the Camera D’ Or and the FIPRESCI Prize at the recent Cannes Film Festival ‘Un Certain Regard’ for a true cinematic milestone in the country’s history.

06/10/2026, 22:00, ASTOR
09/10/2026, 21:15, ASTOR

SAD GIRLZ | CHICAS TRISTES

DIRECTOR: Fernanda Tovar

 

Two sixteen-year-old swimmers in Mexico are training together for the Pan American Games, whilst summer seduces them. However, an incident at a party ends up creating an invisible yet deep rift in their relationship. Fernanda Tovar’s beautiful and exquisitely paced debut focuses on the moment when a teenage friendship ceases to be a refuge and becomes a battleground of emotional survival. With two revelatory performances and a dazzling cinematography at her disposal, she sees the transition to adulthood as a fluid, almost amphibian drama in which guilt and companionship walk hand in hand on the same razor’s edge. Crystal Bear winner Generation 14 plus at the Berlinale.

07/10/2026, 19:00, DANAOS 1
09/10/2026, 17:00, OLYMPIA

The 32nd Athens International Film Festival, the city’s great celebration of cinema, will take place from 30 September to 11 October 2026.

Download the schedule here