The Cyprus Film Days International Festival is gearing up to unveil its 21^st edition, which features a number of changes. As the largest international film event in Cyprus, it will take place from 21-29 April at its usual venues in the country's two largest cities: the Rialto Theatre in Limassol and the Zena Palace Cinema in Nicosia.

This year's line-up and parallel events have been carefully selected and organised by the festival's newly appointed artistic directors, Argyro Nicolaou and Marios Lizides, who are both filmmakers and educators. Their goal is to build upon the success of previous iterations of Cyprus Film Days and establish the festival as a reference point for the wider region. They aim to create “a festival of creative encounters” that embraces social awareness, nurtures the discovery of new talent and encourages open discussion. Their vision is to offer a cinematic experience that engages all the senses, highlighting different lifestyles, emotions and narratives, and encouraging viewers to see life from a fresh perspective.

The Glocal Images International Competition will showcase eight works that touch on universal themes with a sociopolitical, environmental and existential tone, including comedies and coming-of-age stories. Among these are The Fishbowl [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Glorimar Marrero Sánchez (Puerto Rico/Spain), IMAN by Corinna Avraamidou and Kyriacos Tofarides (Cyprus), Love Dog [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Bianca Lucas
scheda film] by Bianca Lucas (Poland/Mexico/USA), Mediterranean Fever [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Maha Haj (Palestine/Germany/France/Cyprus/Qatar), Mountain Onion by Eldar Shibanov (Kazakhstan), The Other Widow [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Ma'ayan Rypp (Israel/France), Sick of Myself [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Kristine Kujath Thorp
intervista: Kristoffer Borgli
scheda film] by Kristoffer Borgli (Norway/Sweden) and Silence 6-9 [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Christos Passalis
scheda film] by Christos Passalis (Greece).

French filmmaker Julie Bertuccelli leads the five-member international jury that will present the Cyprus Film Days Awards. Joining her on the panel are talent agent Georg Georgi, Sebastian Markt (who heads up the Generation section of the Berlinale), Sophie Cavoulacos (associate curator of film at the Museum of Modern Art in New York) and Cypriot filmmaker Yianna Americanou.

The non-competitive Viewfinder section will feature seven globally acclaimed productions that have distinguished themselves on the festival circuit, earning numerous awards and international recognition from critics. Among them are Aftersun [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Charlotte Wells (UK/USA), Aleph [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Iva Radivojević (USA/Croatia/Qatar), The Eight Mountains [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Felix van Groeningen & Cha…
scheda film] by Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch (Italy/Belgium/France/UK), EO [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Jerzy Skolimowski (Poland/Italy), Joyland by Saim Sadiq (Pakistan), Neptune Frost by Anisia Uzeyman and Saul Williams (Rwanda/France/Canada/USA), and No Bears by Jafar Panahi (Iran).

The festival will showcase not only these two main sections, but also a series of parallel events and screenings. In the Cyprus Collaborates section, viewers can enjoy the historical drama Tel Aviv Beirut [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Michale Boganim (France/Germany/Cyprus), depicting the Israeli-Lebanese conflict in 1982 and 2006, as well as the surrealistic Snow White Dies at the End by Kristijan Risteski (North Macedonia/Cyprus). Two Special Screenings have also been added, featuring the documentary Jane Campion, La Femme Cinéma by the festival's jury president, Julie Bertuccelli (France), and the Cypriot production Au revoir, Slumdogz! by Andreas Kyriacou, with abundant Tarantino references.

Cyprus Film Days is co-organised by the Cultural Services of the Ministry of Education and Culture and the Rialto Theatre in Limassol, under the auspices of the municipalities of Limassol and Nicosia.