Nafsika Hadjichristou has won the Critics’ Jury Prize in the National Competition at the 25th Countryside Animafest Cyprus – International Animation Festival of Cyprus, for her film “Missing Frequencies”.
The jury’s citation said: “With courage, the director translates her personal experience of hearing loss into a distinctive visual and audio language. Through a successful blend of live action and different forms of animation, she draws us into her own sensory world with great sensitivity.”
This year’s festival featured 30 international and 7 Cypriot films in competition, alongside 15 international films in the Youth Audience programme. The jury comprised Kaiti Papadima (Cyprus), Roberto Panganelli (Italy) and Jakob Schuh (Germany).
The Grand Prize “Dimitris Eipides” for narrative film went to Stanley Miller for “Hind” (UK/Germany). Using deceptively simple yet powerful drawings and a considered voice-over narration, the film retells the story of Hind Rajab without ever turning the pain into spectacle. The jury noted: “Its restraint makes the story even more devastating, and by confronting us with our own complicity, Hind reminds us of our own responsibility and capacity to act.”
The Grand Prize “Dimitris Eipides” for non-narrative film was awarded to “The Graffiti” by Ryo Orikasa (Japan), which the jury praised “for its ability to combine a poetic text with the stylised, almost abstract images of graffiti and urban structures in a powerful metaphor.” The film, the jury added, also stood out “for creating a visionary film around the importance of writing and the risk of losing our capacity to communicate in a world of concrete and digital walls. Finally, for its skilful use of 2D and three-dimensional animation, combined with voice performance and moments of darkness and silence.”
The Audience Award in the national competition went to Michalis Charalambous for his film “Feed the Cat”. The international competition audience award went to “Virgin Fandango” by Marcy Page (Canada, Portugal), and the Youth Audience competition award went to “Into the Forest” by Antonin Niclass (Switzerland).
The 25th Countryside Animafest Cyprus held its closing ceremony on 9 August in the village of Koilani, Limassol, following four days of screenings, concerts, workshops and artistic interventions.
