Ready to ride the wave of film magic? From 12 to 20 April, join Cyprus’ foremost filmic event and one of the most important initiatives on the island’s annual cultural calendar. Exuding a profoundly international character, the 22nd Cyprus Film Days 2024 International Festival is gearing up to become, once again, the par excellence artistic exploration and entertainment platform for the island’s cinephiles expected to swarm in at Limassol’s Rialto Theatre and Nicosia’s Zena Palace.
Festival organisers, the Department of Contemporary Culture of the Cyprus Deputy Ministry of Culture, and the Rialto Theatre, pledge to deliver a fascinating tour of the most interesting cinematic endeavours of our times, with highly anticipated premieres by acclaimed auteurs and well-chosen “gems” by promising directors. The audience will enjoy a cluster of socially sensitive and artistically subversive submissions of independent quality cinema from across the world and Cyprus.
Calling the tune for another year in putting together the programme and parallel events are the duo of artistic directors: filmmakers and film instructors Argyro Nicolaou and Marios Lizides. A line-up of more than twenty fiction films from different places in the world will be the main pole of attraction to the festival. The Viewfinder section showcases films that have stood out internationally while viewers of the Glocal Images International Competition Section are in for many pleasant surprises. Four recent film productions by Cypriot directors make up the Cypriot Films Competition Section, promoted this year to a significant point of reference.
Bound to catch the cinephiles’ eyes are Ken Loach’s The Old Oak, Wim Wenders’s Perfect Days and Agnieszka Holland’s Green Border. The parallel programme complements the screenings along with this year’s edition of Cyprus Film Days for Children and Youth. A special out-of-competition screening has been scheduled for Asimina Proedrou’s award-winning Behind the Haystacks.
Versatile artist Lia Haraki signs this year’s opening and closing ceremonies at the Rialto on 12 and 20 April respectively.
The 2024 parallel events hold great fascination as they include a practical workshop by expert tutors on how to employ Artificial Intelligence to develop film projects, as well as a masterclass by Berlin-based movement director Marie Scherzer set to explore aspects of cinematic narrative by way of physicality.
The Awards
Five outstanding personalities from the international independent film community make up the International Jury, tasked with selecting the award recipients. At the closing ceremony on 20 April, the following awards will be announced: Glocal Images Best Film Award (€6000), Best Cypriot Film Award (€4000), Glocal Images Special Jury Award (€3000), Glocal Images Best Director Award (€1000), Best Cinematography Award (€500) sponsored by Caretta Films, Best Cypriot Director Award (in services, sponsored by Authorwave) and Best Performance Award in a Cypriot Film (€1000 courtesy of Limassol Municipality). All the films screened in the official international competition section and the Cypriot films competition section are by default contestants for the Audience Award, which will bedecided on viewer votes cast right after each screening, sponsored by TFI Markets.
Cinema for children and youth
This year’s edition of Cyprus Film Days for Children and Youth aspires once again to engage younger audiences with film practice by triggering their thought and expanding their horizons. Purposefully selected films and a highly beneficial array of workshops serve as springboard for creative exchanges that draw on imagination and knowledge. Director Athena Xenidou is the Artistic Director of Cyprus Film Days for Children and Youth 2024. Marking an important change this year is a new venue for Nicosia screenings, K-Cineplex at The Mall of Cyprus.
5th Dot.on.the.Map Industry Days for film professionals
The developmental dimension of the festival is channelled into the 5th edition of Dot.on.the.Map Industry Days, a co-production, training and networking platform headed by director and producer Danae Stylianou. Dot.on.the.Map Industry Days is looking to encourage partnerships between producers, directors and screenwriters from the Mediterranean countries with international film industry professionals.
For more information, please visit dot.cyprusfilmdays.com.
The full programme for the 22nd Cyprus Film Days 2024 International Festival will soon be available on cyprusfilmdays.com and on the Festival’s Facebook (facebook.com/cyprusfilmdays) and Instagram (@cyprusfilmdays) pages.
Information:
- €5 per screening | €30 festival pass (for all screenings).
- Free for students upon display of student card.
- Free for children (Children and Youth Section).
- Free for holders of Disability Card.
- All films aside the Children and Youth Section are suitable for 18+.
- All films will be screened in their original language with English and Greek subtitles. Films of the Cypriot Films Competition Section will be screened with Turkish subtitles.
- For more information: Rialto Theatre 77 77 77 45
- www.cyprusfilmdays.com
- Facebook & Instagram: Cyprus Film Days International Festival
Under the auspices of: Limassol Municipality & Nicosia Municipality
In partnership with: CIPA Film in Cyprus
Supported by: Institut Français de Chypre, German Embassy Nicosia
Technical Partner: Event Pro
Audience Award Sponsor: TFI Markets
Award Sponsors: Caretta Films, Authorwave, CYENS
Hospitality Sponsor: Mediterranean
Media Sponsors: CITY, CyBC
Dot.on.the.Map Industry Days Hospitality Sponsor: Alinea
Supporters: Mall of Cyprus, K-Cineplex, LOEL,
The Friends of Cinema Society (Nicosia), Limassol Cine Club, Larnaca-Famagusta Cinema Society, Directors Guild of Cyprus, Cyprus University of Technology, University of Cyprus (Alumni Office), Dance House Lefkosia, Dance House Lemesos, Cyprus New Movement, EMEL Ltd-Limassol Buses, Cyprus Public Transport, Lemesos Newspaper, Limassol Today, Lemesos Blog, Vestnik Kipra, Limassol Tourism Board.