TDF's initial edition was organized with the contribution of an honorary international committee, consisting of prominent film auteurs as Chantal Ackerman, Judith Elek, Marceline Loridan-Ivens, Johan van der Keuken, Robert Kramer, Alexandr Sokurov, Frederick Wiseman, D.A.

In 2020, TDF's 22nd edition was held online from May 19 to May 28, for the first time in the festival's history, due to the global coronavirus pandemic.

[5] Leading documentarists that have attended TDF include Barbara Kopple, Kim Longinotto, Pirjo Honkasalo, Louie Psichoyos, Joe Berlinger, Bruce Sinofsky, Jennifer Fox, Claire Simon, Helena Třeštíková, Albert & David Maysles, Heddy Honigmann, Talal Derki and others.

Pennebaker: Rock’ n’ Roll Concerts Backstage and literature Tassos Psarras 1st TDF – 1999 Dimitris Mavrikios The Thessaloniki Documentary Festival comprises the following sections: TDF's program further includes sidebar events such as lectures, masterclasses, concerts, exhibitions and workshops.

The actions of the Agora Doc Market match the needs of film directors from Central and Southeastern Europe and the Mediterranean.

Docs in Progress Agora DiP gives the chance to selected sales agents, distributors and festival programmers from all over the world to be the first to discover feature films from the Mediterranean and the Balkan countries that are currently one step away from their completion.

The “Golden Alexander” award for the Best Documentary in the Feature Length International Competition section has been awarded to the following films: 2024 My Stolen Planet by Farahnaz Sharifi[7] 2023 Under the Sky of Damascus, Talal Derki, Heba Khaled, Ali Wajeeh (Denmark, Germany, USA) 2022 A House Made of Splinters, Simon Lereng Wilmont (Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Ukraine)[8] 2020 Welcome to Chechnya, David France (USA) 2019 Advocate, Rachel Leah Jones and Philippe Bellaïche (Israel, Canada, Switzerland) 2018 The Distant Barking of Dogs, Simon Lereng Wilmont (Denmark, Finland, Sweden) 2017 Dream Empire, David Borenstein (Denmark)