‘Closure,’ About a Father’s Obsessive Search for His Missing Son, Wins the Golden Alexander at Thessaloniki Documentary Festival

Polish filmmaker Michał Marczak’s “Closure,” which follows a father’s obsessive search for his vanished son and its devastating aftermath, won the Golden Alexander at the Thessaloniki Intl. Documentary Festival on Sunday.

An International Competition jury comprised of film editor Dana Bunescu, curator, programmer, producer and creative executive Caroline Libresco and producer Yorgos Papalios handed the festival’s top prize to a film “that mobilizes cinema to the fullest degree, giving us the experience of being one with the interior life of a father in an impossible state, and making something radically present out of absence.”

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Accepting the award, Marczak — who was at the Thessaloniki fest last year, pitching “Closure” in the Agora industry program — described the win as “a very important moment for the film,” which centers on a family in Warsaw whose teenage son disappears one day without a trace. He also thanked the film’s central protagonist, Daniel, and his family for “allowing me to tell this story.” 

Marczak’s sophomore film premiered to rave reviews at the Sundance Film Festival, where Variety’s Murtada Elfadl described the “spellbinding non-fiction” as a “devastating study of love and loss,” noting that the film “plays like a thriller but manages to deliver honest and piercing emotions at almost every sequence along the way.”

The Polish filmmaker’s previous documentary feature, “All These Sleepless Nights,” premiered in Park City in 2016, picking up the directing prize in the World Cinema Documentary Competition.

The Silver Alexander in the International Competition went to debut directing duo Janay Boulos and Abd Alkader Habak for “Birds of War,” which scooped four prizes on the afternoon. The film, which premiered in the World Cinema Documentary Competition at Sundance, tells the love story of London-based Lebanese journalist Boulos and Syrian-based activist/cameraman Habak, delving into their personal archive across 13 years of revolutions, war and exile. 

Special Jury Prizes in the category were also awarded to Jukka Kärkkäinen, for “The Beauty of Errors,” and Yulia Lokshina’s “Around Paradise.”

The Golden Alexander in the Newcomers competition, featuring debut and sophomore films from up-and-coming directors, went to Mary Bouli for “At No Cost,” a documentary about a young Athenian woman with dreams of becoming a ballet dancer who decides to become an egg donor to make ends meet. The Silver Alexander went to Chouwa Liang for “Replica,” about the growing number of young women in China who are choosing partners generated on demand by AI programs. 

The Newcomers jury included documentary filmmaker Melody Gilbert, filmmaker and editor Farahnaz Sharifi and documentary filmmaker Chryssa Tzelepi.

In the Film Forward competition, which “challenges cinematic conventions and showcases unconventional films,” the Golden Alexander went to “Dear Future,” by Christiana Cheiranagnostaki, which is described as a documentary exploring “a liminal space between what’s lost and what’s yet to come.” The Silver Alexander went to Carlos Mora Fuentes and Anna Berkhof for “Level,” a film about landscapes that are being irrevocably altered due to climate change.

The jury consisted of programmer and visual artist Aikaterini Gegisian, architect and cultural programmer Sandra Pires and programmer and ECAM Forum coordinator Alberto Valverde.

In the Immersive: All Around Cinema competition, the Golden Alexander went to “Another Place,” by Domenico Singha Pedroli.

The 28th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, which runs March 5 – 15, closes with a special screening of Academy Award nominee “Mr. Nobody Against Putin,” followed by a live broadcast of the Oscars from the Dolby Theatre.