Jacqueline Lentzou’s A Day in the Life of Jo: Chapter Phaedra has won the Golden Alexander for best film in the Arrivals international competition at the 67th Thessaloniki International Film Festival. The prize, named after Theo Angelopoulos and worth €10,000, was presented at midday on Sunday 15 November, the festival’s closing day, at Warehouse C in the port. Kosovan director Blerta Basholli’s Dua won the Golden Alexander in Meet the Neighbors+, and I Plant My Hand in the Garden, by Boris Hadžija and Hoda Taheri, won it in Film Forward.
Lentzou’s second feature arrived in Thessaloniki with the best director prize from Venice’s Orizzonti section and a North American deal already signed. At home it added three more honours to the main prize. Greek films did well across the board: seven of them won 22 awards between them, the festival said, and Christos Houliaras’s Under the Judas Tree collected more prizes than any other title.
Key facts
- Event: 67th Thessaloniki International Film Festival, 5–15 November 2026; awards presented at midday on 15 November
- Golden Alexanders: A Day in the Life of Jo: Chapter Phaedra, Jacqueline Lentzou (Arrivals); Dua, Blerta Basholli (Meet the Neighbors+); I Plant My Hand in the Garden, Boris Hadžija and Hoda Taheri (Film Forward)
- FilmBunch count of the festival’s awards release: 45 awards and mentions; Under the Judas Tree won five, the most of any film
- FilmBunch tally of prizes with a published cash value: €84,000 ($92,800) across 18 awards
The three competitions
A Day in the Life of Jo: Chapter Phaedra follows Jo, a restless 15-year-old, through a school day that turns when her classmate Phaedra sings in class. Evita Andriopoulou plays Jo and Anastasia Gouliamou plays Phaedra. The Arrivals jury also gave Andriopoulou a special mention, and the film won two partner awards: from Women in Film & Television Greece and from the J.F. Costopoulos Foundation, worth €3,000. Accepting the main prize, Lentzou said Thessaloniki was her mother’s city and dedicated the award to her.
The film is produced by Avion Films and Atalante Productions in Greece with Germany’s Kelek Film and France’s 4A4 Productions. Lucky Number handles world sales, Screen reported in August, and Deadline reported in October that 1-2 Special had bought all North American rights for a theatrical release in 2027.
The Arrivals Silver Alexander for best director, worth €5,000, went to Pauline Julier and Nicolas Chapoulier for Les Indes, which premiered at Venice Days. Arisa Sasaki won best actress for Konstantina Kotzamani’s Titanic Ocean, which also took the artistic achievement award. Caique Copque and Italo Martins shared best actor for The Riverbank, Matheus Farias and Enock Carvalho’s Brazilian thriller, which had already won the jury prize at Locarno and added the FIPRESCI critics’ award here.
Meet the Neighbors+ is the competition for first and second features from 36 countries of south-eastern Europe, the Mediterranean and the Middle East. Its Silver Alexander went to Abdallah Al-Khatib for Chronicles From the Siege, which Variety describes as vignettes of Palestinian lives in Gaza and in refugee camps. Pierre Le Gall’s Flesh and Fuel, a love story between two long-distance lorry drivers, won the City of Thessaloniki screenplay award and a shared best actor prize for Alexis Manenti and Julian Świeżewski. Maria Petrova, in her first screen role, won best actress for Myrsini Aristidou’s Cypriot drama Hold Onto Me, which also won the Finos Film award and the ERT award for original music.
Film Forward, the section for formally adventurous first and second features, gave its Silver Alexander for best director to Rob Rice for Ponderosa, whose lead Alexis Bledel won best actress. Alexis Kalofolias won best actor for Under the Judas Tree, and Argyris Germanidis’s Particles of Dust won the artistic achievement award.
Greek films and the side awards
Under the Judas Tree won five awards: best actor in Film Forward, the Film Forward audience award, the FIPRESCI prize for the best Greek premiere, the ERT award that goes with it and the Crew United award. Titanic Ocean and A Day in the Life of Jo won four each. The Greek Association of Film Critics chose Particles of Dust. Theo Papadoulakis’s Recrucified won the Meet the Neighbors+ audience award and the youth jury’s best film prize, and its location manager, Manolis Kandaloleontas, received the location award of the Hellenic Film and Audiovisual Center (EKKOMED).
The Mermaid award for the best LGBTQ+ film in the official programme went to Abinash Bikram Shah’s Elephants in the Fog, with mentions for Flesh and Fuel and Bertil Nilsson’s Masc. Mari Sanders’s Stand Up won two awards, the Hellenic Parliament’s “Human Values” prize and the Alpha Bank accessibility award.
The industry prizes were handed out earlier in the week: the Agora market announced its co-production and works-in-progress awards on 11 November, and honorary Golden Alexanders went to Nikos Grammatikos and Angelos Papadimitriou during the festival, which opened on 5 November with Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Minotaur. Thessaloniki also hosted the announcement of the European Film Awards nominations on 14 November.
At the ceremony, deputy culture minister Iasonas Fotilas said a ministerial decision creating a register of historic cinemas had been published in the government gazette on 11 November. Cinemas that have operated for at least 30 years, with no break longer than five years, can be listed, and listed venues will receive the financial incentives that apply to monuments.
Full list of winners
From the festival’s official awards release of 15 November. English titles are those used by the festival; prize values are the festival’s.
Arrivals international competition – Golden Alexander “Theo Angelopoulos” for best film (€10,000): A Day in the Life of Jo: Chapter Phaedra, Jacqueline Lentzou – Silver Alexander for best director (€5,000): Pauline Julier and Nicolas Chapoulier, Les Indes – Best actor (shared): Caique Copque and Italo Martins, The Riverbank – Best actress: Arisa Sasaki, Titanic Ocean – Artistic achievement: Titanic Ocean, Konstantina Kotzamani – Special mention: Evita Andriopoulou, A Day in the Life of Jo: Chapter Phaedra
Meet the Neighbors+ international competition – Golden Alexander “Michel Demopoulos” for best film (€10,000): Dua, Blerta Basholli – Silver Alexander for best director (€5,000): Abdallah Al-Khatib, Chronicles From the Siege – Best actor (shared): Alexis Manenti and Julian Świeżewski, Flesh and Fuel – Best actress: Maria Petrova, Hold Onto Me – City of Thessaloniki award for best screenplay (€5,000): Pierre Le Gall, Flesh and Fuel
Film Forward international competition – Golden Alexander for best film (€10,000): I Plant My Hand in the Garden, Boris Hadžija and Hoda Taheri – Silver Alexander for best director (€5,000): Rob Rice, Ponderosa – Best actor: Alexis Kalofolias, Under the Judas Tree – Best actress: Alexis Bledel, Ponderosa – Artistic achievement: Particles of Dust, Argyris Germanidis
Immersive: All Around Cinema – Golden Alexander for best work (€2,000): Sunset Motel, Gilles Jobin – Special mention: Yesterday Maybe
Podcast competition – Best podcast (€2,000): Tetris – The Coming of Age, Thomas Sideris – Special mention: Radio Utopia, Radio Kivotos: The Story of Self-Managed Radio in Thessaloniki, Zinovia Sapouna
Mermaid award (best LGBTQ+ film) – Award (€3,000): Elephants in the Fog, Abinash Bikram Shah – Special mention: Flesh and Fuel, Pierre Le Gall – Special mention: Masc, Bertil Nilsson
Fischer audience awards – Arrivals: The Incomer, Louis Paxton – Meet the Neighbors+: Recrucified, Theo Papadoulakis – Film Forward: Under the Judas Tree, Christos Houliaras – Official Selection: Learning to Breathe Under Water, Rebekah Fortune – “Michalis Cacoyannis” award for a Greek premiere: Apart, Stelana Kliris
Critics, youth and partner awards – FIPRESCI award, Arrivals: The Riverbank, Matheus Farias and Enock Carvalho – FIPRESCI award, best Greek premiere: Under the Judas Tree, Christos Houliaras – ERT award to the FIPRESCI Greek choice (€3,000): Under the Judas Tree, Christos Houliaras – ERT original music award (€2,000): Alex Weston, Hold Onto Me – Greek Association of Film Critics (PEKK) award: Particles of Dust, Argyris Germanidis – Youth jury best film: Recrucified, Theo Papadoulakis – Youth jury special award: Titanic Ocean, Konstantina Kotzamani – Crew United award: Christos Houliaras, Under the Judas Tree – WIFT GR award: A Day in the Life of Jo: Chapter Phaedra, Jacqueline Lentzou – J.F. Costopoulos Foundation award (€3,000): A Day in the Life of Jo: Chapter Phaedra, Jacqueline Lentzou – Finos Film award (€3,000): Hold Onto Me, Myrsini Aristidou – Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra award: Enrico Ascoli and Celeste Thouin, music for The Golden Age (Bérenger Thouin) – “Human Values” award of the Hellenic Parliament: Stand Up, Mari Sanders – Alpha Bank accessibility award (€3,000): Stand Up, Mari Sanders – EKKOMED New Vision award (€6,000): Konstantina Kotzamani, Titanic Ocean – EKKOMED location award (€2,000): Manolis Kandaloleontas, location manager of Recrucified – Smart7 award (€5,000): The Visitor, Vytautas Katkus
The Agora industry awards are listed in our report of 11 November. Dollar figures use the European Central Bank reference rate for 13 November 2026 ($1.1052 per euro).
Our reading
The Golden Alexander hands Lucky Number a second jury prize for A Day in the Life of Jo, after Venice, to take into the territories still open before 1-2 Special releases the film in North America next year. The Meet the Neighbors+ results say something different about the festival: Dua, Chronicles From the Siege and Flesh and Fuel all arrived with Cannes or Berlin credentials, so Thessaloniki confirmed reputations rather than discovering new titles. The Greek winners are the exception. Under the Judas Tree had its premiere here, and its next test is whether five prizes, from critics, audience and jury, turn into international sales and festival invitations.
Sources
- Thessaloniki International Film Festival, Τα βραβεία του 67ου Φεστιβάλ Κινηματογράφου Θεσσαλονίκης (official awards release), 15 November 2026
- Parallaxi, Αυτά είναι τα βραβεία του 67ου Φεστιβάλ Κινηματογράφου Θεσσαλονίκης (festival award list), 15 November 2026
- eMakedonia, 67ο Φεστιβάλ Κινηματογράφου Θεσσαλονίκης – Βραβεία, 15 November 2026
- Philenews, Θεσσαλονίκη: Οι μεγάλοι νικητές του 67ου Φεστιβάλ, 15 November 2026
- Thessaloniki International Film Festival, Awards & Juries
- Thessaloniki International Film Festival, 67ο ΦΚΘ: οι ελληνικές ταινίες της φετινής διοργάνωσης (prize values)
- Variety, Thessaloniki Awards: A Day in the Life of Jo wins the Golden Alexander, 15 November 2026
- Deadline, Venice winner A Day in the Life of Jo: Chapter Phaedra gets North American deal with 1-2 Special, 9 October 2026
- Screen International, Lucky Number acquires A Day in the Life of Jo: Chapter Phaedra, 6 August 2026
- Tribeca Festival, Ponderosa (cast)