07/09/2023 - The festival returns from 8-17 September for its fourth annual celebration, boasting over 20 screenings, discussion panels and parallel events

The fourth edition of Queer Wave, Cyprus LGBTQIA+ Film Festival will take place from 8-17 September in Nicosia, and it will offer local premieres of many LGBTQ+ titles from all over the world. Diego Armando Aparicio, its director, asserts: “It's still a project in its nascent years, but it does have a devoted following, for sure. Many have embraced it warmly since the very first edition, but it's still being discovered by a wide range of audiences throughout Cyprus. In 2021, I think it's fair to say we were almost the only queer gathering around, when the lockdowns finished that year. I think many LGBTQ+ audiences saw that as an opportunity to experience a sense of community again through an event of this sort, and it was truly touching to witness the turnout that year for our first physical edition (the second in total, after first appearing online in 2020).”

The Queer Wave line-up once again boasts an eclectic selection of recent Cypriot and international works (encompassing short and feature films), alongside gems of queer cinema from decades long past. Among the Cypriot entries are movies such as Overcoming [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Besire Paralik, a documentary that tells the inspiring story of Cypriot women, queers and antimilitarist cismen challenging militarism and gender norms; and the feature By Miracle [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Marinos Kartikkis.

Standing out among the European films on display are features such as the Portuguese-French fantasy-musical Will-o'-the-Wisp [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: João Pedro Rodrigues
film profile] by João Pedro Rodrigues; the UK lesbian drama Blue Jean [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Georgia Oakley
film profile] by Georgia Oakley, about homophobia; the fascinating French flick The Five Devils [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Léa Mysius; the co-production between South Africa and Romania Who I Am Not [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Tunde Skovran, hinging on the intersex community; the Polish film Bread and Salt [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Damian Kocur
film profile] by Damian Kocur, inspired by true events and starring a cast of non-professional actors; Passion [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (Spain/Sweden) by Maja Borg, who, through stories of queer BDSM communities, portrays the humanity at the heart of the practice, shining a light on its similarities with Christianity; Fierce: A Porn Revolution [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Patrick Muroni (Switzerland), a fight for another vision of desire and sexuality; and the dramatic and sensitive Close [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Eden Dambrine
interview: Lukas Dhont
interview: Lukas Dhont
film profile] (Belgium/Netherlands/France), directed by the young and talented Lukas Dhont, which won the Grand Prix at Cannes in 2022 as well as the 2023 LUX Audience Award (see the news).

“This year, we celebrate our fourth edition in collaboration with a newly instigated project that has quickly become very dear to the local queer community in Cyprus: Sessions x SPEL. The majority of this fourth Queer Wave will run there, with screenings held at their brand-new Theatro on level 2 of the State Gallery for Contemporary Art - SPEL. A picnic-style, open-air screening of the UK film The Servant by Joseph Losey [1963] will take place on Friday 15 September in the gardens of Shakespeare House, the former residency of the British High Commissioner in Cyprus. In a way, this is a remnant of British colonialism in Cyprus, and we are symbolically reclaiming that space by celebrating queer cinema on its premises. This is also our one day of screenings on the north side of the dividing line – ie, in territory that has been illegally occupied by Turkey since 1974. We are doing this for the second year in a row, as an act of solidarity with Cypriots from this territory, and with the LGBTQ+ and wider community there that supports our values,” concludes Aparicio.