Dear friends of Cinema,

Welcome to the 20th edition of Cyprus Film Days International Festival!

The Festival celebrates this year its 20th anniversary! During these past two decades, the CFD became home to the independent, alternative, artistic fiction feature film. It began its journey as an event showcasing international multi-awarded films and gradually took on the form it has today: an international film festival with an official competition section, a Cypriot films competition section, a section for children and youth, as well as a section for film industry professionals in addition to the multiple events taking place annually as part of the Festival’s collaboration with film organisations of other countries.

Today, Cyprus Film Days is considered to be one of the island’s most important cultural events and, for this reason, we must express our gratitude to all those who have contributed to its creation and further development, as well as to all the filmmakers who have shared their stories with our audience. Last but not least, we would like to thank you, the viewers, since the expression “celebration of Cinema” would have been meaningless if it weren’t for your support.

We are truly happy to be hosting for the first time this year Dot.on.the.Map Industry Days in the physical presence of the participants. This development significantly enhances the international character of the festival, since Dot.on.the.Map will be hosting a great number of film industry professionals from abroad. The platform intends to become a starting point for synergies and co-productions that aspire to become successful film productions. In this way, the Festival wishes to contribute in a dynamic way to the development and mobility of film projects originating from the Mediterranean region.

This year’s international jury consists of prominent personalities from the international and local film community. The jury president is the Artistic Director of Karlovy Vary IFF, Karel Och, accompanied by fellow jury members: Producer Alise Gelze, whose filmography as a producer includes Mellow Mud, directed by Renars Vimba who received the Best Director Award at Cyprus Film Days in 2016; Actress Daphne Alexander who became known to our audience as the lead actress in Stavros Pamballis’ Siege on Liperti Street; David Martinez, Festival Producer of London’s Raindance Film Festival, whom we met through the collaboration between our festival and Raindance FF at its last edition, which hosted a selection of Cypriot film productions; and Greg Stepniak, Head of the Programming Department of Mastercard OFF CAMERA International Festival of Independent Cinema in Krakow, Poland.

We would like to thank the members of the international jury for accepting our invitation despite the challenging conditions imposed by the pandemic. Moreover, we would like to thank the Deputy Director of the Cultural Services, Dr Kyprianos Louis, and Dr Elena Christodoulidou, Senior Cultural Officer of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports and Youth, as well as the Rialto Theatre for their continuous support. Moreover, we would like to thank the Mayors of Limassol and Nicosia, as well as the members of the production, co-ordination, management, communication and hospitality teams for their tireless efforts.

The success of this year’s edition would not have been possible without the invaluable contribution of the volunteers, partners, sponsors and supporters of Cyprus Film Days.

The Artistic Directors