25/04/2023 - During our conversation, we got the two new artistic directors’ views on the festival highlights, their mission, and their mid- and long-term goals

This year’s Cyprus Film Days kicked off on 21 April. During the event, which continues unspooling until 29 April, Cineuropa took the opportunity to meet with the two new artistic directors, Marios Lizides and Argyro Nicolaou. We spoke about the festival’s current mission, this year’s highlights and their future plans.

Cineuropa: Could you talk us through Cyprus Film Days’ main mission? What kind of audience does it aim to attract?
Marios Lizides: Cyprus Film Days’ mission is the curation of a diverse and thought-provoking programme that encompasses a variety of perspectives, styles and genres. We are aiming for an equally diverse audience that includes both avid cinephiles and casual moviegoers who are interested in discovering new and exciting voices in cinema. We strongly believe that a film festival has the capacity to inspire, entertain and create communities. We hope to appeal to a broad range of ages, backgrounds and interests, and one of our top priorities is to highlight under-represented voices and perspectives, both on the screen and in front of it.

Argyro Nicolaou: Our mission is twofold: to promote Cypriot filmmaking, and to introduce the best of European and international independent film to a Cypriot audience. This means that we work hard to make it a festival that appeals to both the local film professionals and the public, offering an eclectic selection that encourages viewers to see the world differently. We are also prioritising getting more young people to the cinema – as they are the future of cinema in the country – by offering a programme that involves themes and visual elements that are close to young people’s sensibilities and preoccupations. We aim to work even more closely with universities, art collectives and other organisations, and of course, we intend to continue promoting our Children and Youth section for viewers under 18.

This is your first year at the helm of the festival. What have you changed and what have you decided to keep?
ML: It is only natural that with every change of direction, the choices of films, parallel programmes, master classes, events and the general image of the festival change with it. Of course, we are maintaining our two main sections, the Glocal Images international competition that celebrates independent films from neighbouring continents, and the Viewfinder section, which focuses on award-winning films from the international festival circuit. This year, we have also included a parallel programme called Cyprus Collaborates, which highlights the diverse ways in which Cypriot producers are working together with their European and other regional colleagues.

AN: This year, we have prioritised two major changes: revamping the festival’s image and making the image part of the overall curatorial storytelling of this edition; and involving local artistic, literary and filmmaking communities in the gathering through parallel events and collaborations. For example, we have partnered with performance artist Dimitris Chimonas and the queer collective Sessions for our opening-night film and festival trailer.

Could you touch upon the main highlights of this year’s programme? What are the main themes you wished to cover with your selection of titles?
AN: While developing this year’s edition, we posed a question to ourselves: what now/now what? This question reflects both our anxieties with regard to the future of cinema in an age of artificial intelligence and the crisis of arthouse movie theatres, and also the big existential questions facing humanity in this second decade of the 21st century – climate change, war, migration, gender identities, the suppression of democratic rights, and the challenges that hyper-connectivity poses to our collective psyche. We wanted a programme that would reflect our times, and which would reflect them from various geopolitical and cultural perspectives.

ML: While programming films for this year’s edition, we realised that many of the titles we were drawn to deal with manifestations of grief and the handling of loss, feelings that define the collective and personal experiences of people around the world at this moment in time. But in these visually inspiring, humanely crafted and socially engaged films, we also found smart, compassionate and surprising stories of resilience, which has always been an important part of cinema’s appeal and its history. Some of the highlights from this year’s programme include Saim Sadiq’s Joyland, Jafar Panahi’s No Bears, Saul Williams and Anisia Uzeyman’s Neptune Frost, and Charlotte Wells’ Aftersun [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]. We are also very proud of the Glocal Images selection, which features exciting and diverse works from first-, second- or third-time directors.

What are your medium-to long-term plans?
ML: Building on the festival’s 20-year experience and, of course, on the efforts of our predecessors, we are now focusing on growth and sustainability. One of our priorities is to establish the event as a destination for film enthusiasts and industry professionals alike, both locally and internationally.

AN: Another important medium-term plan is building our audience consistently and in a sustainable way. We want to see more people engaging with the festival, and we want more people in our theatres. We will deepen and expand our collaborations with collectives and institutions in order to ensure the gathering remains a hive of creative exchange, diverse contributions and open discussions.