The 65th Thessaloniki Film Festival welcomed two of the most prolific stars of contemporary cinema, Juliette Binoche and Ralph Fiennes, on Friday, November 1st 2024, at the Olympion theater. The two renowned actors received the Festival’s honorary Golden Alexander award prior to the screening of the monumental film The English Patient (1996), which marked their second collaboration (their first was in 1992's Wuthering Heights) and garnered Juliette Binoche an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, and Ralph Fiennes a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor.
The thank you speech of Juliette Binoche was particularly interesting for Greek Orthodox Christians, because she opened with the following words:
"Your skies and seas are an inspiration in my life - in our lives. Your words and thoughts through Sophocles, Homer, the great philosophers and the saints, especially Saint Paisios, are feeding my path and heart. Thank you for what you give to the world (applause). I had the most amazing day today in Thessaloniki (applause). Visiting your monasteries, walking in your streets, feeling your stones and trees and eating your bread, fish and vegetables and admiring your Byzantine Treasures, like icons. What a beautiful journey!"
The thank you speech of Juliette Binoche was particularly interesting for Greek Orthodox Christians, because she opened with the following words:
"Your skies and seas are an inspiration in my life - in our lives. Your words and thoughts through Sophocles, Homer, the great philosophers and the saints, especially Saint Paisios, are feeding my path and heart. Thank you for what you give to the world (applause). I had the most amazing day today in Thessaloniki (applause). Visiting your monasteries, walking in your streets, feeling your stones and trees and eating your bread, fish and vegetables and admiring your Byzantine Treasures, like icons. What a beautiful journey!"
A few years ago in Greece a former MP Petros Tatsopoulos caused a major uproar when he publicly mocked a Greek tv series based on the life of Saint Paisios the Athonite as a work of fiction, since it portrays him working miracles and having visions, which he does not believe in, and he criticized such depictions as keeping Greeks in the Middle Ages. Now, just a few days ago, a renowned foreign actress from France received a prestigious award in Greece, and not only acclaimed Saint Paisios, but put him and other Orthodox Christian saints in succession with Sophocles and Homer, and with them spoke of her admiration for the monasteries of Thessaloniki and the treasures of Byzantium, especially its iconography. Essentially she sees the ancient Greek spirit and Orthodox Christianity are an unbroken historical continuity that proclaims the greatness of Greece to the world. And this isn't just an ordinary actress saying this, but Juliette Binoche is the first actress to win the European "Best Actress Triple Crown" (winning the Best Actress awards at the Berlin, Cannes & Venice film festivals), as well as the previously mentioned Academy Award, among many others.
It is worth noting that according to reliable information, Juliette Binoche has been fascinated by the Orthodox faith for several years, she is learning about its Saints, she is an admirer of Byzantine Iconography and she even had the desire to visit the tomb of Saint Paisios. Earlier in the day before she received her award, the Festival contacted the Theological Department of the University of Thessaloniki and informed them that the actress would like to visit the Church of Panagia Acheiropoietos and the Monastery of Souroti where Saint Paisios is buried. And according to the source of this information, they referred to the actress as an "Orthodox" who would like to visit them.
Juliette Binoche and Ralph Fiennes have reunited in a new film directed by Uberto Pasolini, titled The Return, which is a project that has been 30 years in the making for the director. In the epic — which opens in the U.S. December 6th via Bleecker Street — Fiennes plays Odysseus as he washes up on the shores of his home island of Ithaca after 20 years of fighting in the Trojan War. Binoche plays Penelope, Odysseus’ wife who spent two decades defending the family’s legacy and now finds herself a prisoner in her own home. The film was shot in Greece, including Ithaca. On November 3rd it screened in Thessaloniki with the two actors and director in attendance.
