Oscar-winning Greek-American director Louie Psihoyos is given a carte blanche in the 21^st Thessaloniki Documentary Festival to select his favorite films. Psihoyios will attend this year’s edition to receive the festival’s top honorary award, the Golden Alexander, as well as to present the carte blanche films and a special screening of his documentary The Cove (2009, Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature).

As a wildlife filmmaker and an experienced National Geographic photographer, Psihoyios has always focused on urgent environmental issues, with the aim to show the world the decline of our planet, shedding light to endangered species, exposing the destructive human intervention on Earth and, of course, calling to action. In this perspective, he is also the founder of the Oceanic Preservation Society, a non-profit organization committed to the sustainability and preservation of our oceans.  

On the occasion of TDF’s carte blanche, Psihoyios selected powerful documentaries that reflect his uncompromising, activist look on the aforementioned issues.

These documentaries also fit together with the tribute “Why Look at Animals” about the man-animal relationship hosted in the 21^st TDF.

Carte Blanche – the films:

• AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH, Davis Guggenheim, USA, 2006, 97’
• BLACKFISH, Gabriela Cowperthwaite, USA, 2013, 83’
• CHASING CORAL, Jeff Orlowski, USA, 2017, 93’ (free screening)
• DAMNATION, Travis Rummel & Ben Knight, USA, 2014, 94’
• EARTHLINGS, Shaun Monson, USA, 2005, 95’ (free screening)
• THE END OF THE LINE, Rupert Murray, United Kingdom, 2009, 85’
• THE HUMAN ELEMENT, Matthew Testa, USA-Iceland, 2018, 76’
• MERCHANTS OF DOUBT, Robert Kenner, USA, 2014, 96’
• WHAT THE HEALTH, Kip Andersen & Keegan Kuhn, USA, 2017, 97’