"History repeats itself, "the first as tragedy, then as farce." Finnish director Arto Halonen apparently drew on Marx's famed maxim when he made his 2012 documentary about doping in cross-country skiing, When Heroes Lie, and followed it up with this year's black comedy on the same topic, A Patriotic Man (Isänmaallinen mies). How fitting that these two films also explore individuals as vehicles of collectives -- and how this ideal can zigzag off-piste. A Patrioti...

The 10th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival honored one of the most important directors of the new generation of Finnish documentary makers, Arto Halonen. The special event took place on the evening of Tuesday, March 11, in the Olympion's Pavlos Zannas theater. Introducing the Guest of Honor, the Director of the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, Dimitris Eipides said: "Each year, it is the tradition of the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival to honor the work of a distinguished documentary ma...

 On Wednesday, March 12, at the Olympion's Green Room, a press conference was by Arto Halonen, the Finnish director and Guest of Honor of the 10th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival - Images of the 21st Century. The artist was welcomed by the Artistic Director of the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, Dimitri Eipides, who referred to him as one of the most important European documentary makers working today. Arto Halonen, mainly distinguished as a documentary maker, has also written and dire...