Three must-sees from Thessaloniki.(Communiques)

The Thessaloniki International Film Festival has always prided itself on providing a venue for films from the Balkans and the Near East. The 2003 edition of the festival was no exception, featuring forty films from the Balkans, twenty-six from the Near and Middle East, and forty-three from the steppes of Central Asia. These films are sociologically fascinating as they depict everyday life in nations known to most Americans only through television glimpses on the occasion of a major news event. The majority also stand up as cinema. Most offer gripping personal portraits even as the