The cast of Fatih Akin's 'Soul Kitchen' with the Festival director Despina Mouzaki. (PHOTO: Vasilis Ververidis)

Arriving in Thessaloniki for the 50th film festival I was met with the Greek sunshine (an exception for northern Greece in November) and festival liaison Aspasia who embodied the efficiency, positive energy and can-do attitude of this unique festival. Aspasia’s name goes all the way back to Greece’s Golden Age when she was one of the few women intellectuals around and a long time partner to Pericles, the founder of democracy.

This is not Cannes, Venice or Toronto. It’s a small festival which nevertheless manages to screen 240 films in its 10-day run and takes pride in involving the Thessalonians in its celebrations in every way it can. Hordes of volunteers and young performers storm the city with imaginative acts inspired by memorable film scenes. From an homage to choreographer Dean Collins who taught actresses such as Shirley Temple and Joan Crawford how to swing dance in the legendary Hollywood film studios of the 1940s and 1950s to an experimental dance performance inspired by the angels in the Wim Wenders film "Wings of Desire."

If one word were to be used to describe this festival, it would be accessibility. Festival-goers can turn up and tap into the wisdom of director Werner Herzog, discover the inspiration for "Pans Labyrinth" from production designer Eugenio Caballero and quiz Fox Studio studio exec Jim Gianopoulos about the real story behind Jim Cameron’s "Avatar."

The best part about these masterclasses? Anybody can attend, they’re informal and they’re free. If you want to follow Herzog’s film seminars at his new Rogue Film School, a few hours will cost you a few hundreds dollars.

The former warehouses of the city’s port authority have been transformed into screening rooms, festival offices and exhibition centers and they are only a hop away from the main city square and the scenic boardwalk that runs along the Thermaikos Gulf.

Once you enter the world of the Thessaloniki Film Festival, you enter a whirlpool of late night film screenings, 3 a.m. film debates in tiny cocktail bars and high profile film-makers who get behind the decks to direct their own DJ sets. You soon realize that the city lives by night. Its Byzantine monuments, like the Belvedere castle, take on another life when lit against the dark sky, and there is something very romantic about watching the bar lights reflect off the Thermaikos Gulf.

The organizers are not kidding when it comes to loving film. It’s bestowing Golden Alexander awards on Herzog and Serbian director Goran Paskaljevic – the latter a nod to the festival’s commitment to showcasing films from the Balkan region. Japanese Pink Erotica and Filipino film-makers (including Lav Diaz, whose film "Melancholia" is an eight hour opus) are featured and the main international competition focuses on first- and second-time film-makers.

Domestically though, the festival’s brightness is somewhat dimmed by the absence of some of the brightest lights in Greek film-making. A boycott of the National Film Awards which follow the festival is intended to alert the newly-elected government to long-running concerns about government commitment to the film industry.

But the new Culture Minister Pavlos Geroulanos gives a positive message about attracting European film-makers to Greece, the festival’s dynamic director Despina Mouzaki exudes pride in the landmark event and her festival wraps itself around you – you see it in every corner from posters to ticket booths to promotional projections on the city’s ancient building which themselves become cinematic screens and you even go to bed with it if you happen to turn on the TV in your hotel room.

Thessaloniki’s cuisine is eclectic, bringing together the cuisine of Constantinople, the Mediterranean, and even flavors from the large Jewish community of Thessaloniki. Middle-eastern music mixed with Metallica in a suitably eclectic DJ set by Turkish-German director Fatih Akin followed the opening night premiere of his film "Soul Kitchen."

As a stalwart of Thessaloniki, we quizzed him on his reasons for coming back. His reply was simple: "The food, the people, the place."