Between 4 and 12 April 2025, Cyprus will welcome its largest cinematic event and one of the foremost festivals taking place annually on the island.
In keeping with its global vibe, the 23rd Cyprus Film Days International Festival 2025 sets out to forge a manifold, immersive experience of cinematic art and narrative. Limassol’s Rialto Theatre and Nicosia’s Zena Palace will provide the setting for a vibrant dialogue engaging artists and audience alike as they host an exciting film screening programme with parallel events.
The Festival is organised by the Department of Modern and Contemporary Culture of the Deputy Ministry of Culture and the Rialto Theatre, offering cinephiles a rare opportunity to discover groundbreaking movies. This year’s screenings include premieres of distinguished films by acclaimed and emerging Cypriot and international filmmakers – films that employ sensitivity, grit and a subversive disposition to tap into social and artistic issues of our time.
Like last year, filmmakers Argyro Nicolaou and Marios Lizides are the Cyprus Film Days IFF’s artistic directors. The programme is put together on grounds of film variety and freshness of cinematic language, encompassing a lineup of quality fiction films. The Viewfinder section showcases films that have stirred the waters in the international arena whereas the International Competition Section – Glocal Images pledges to deliver poignant narratives from different parts of the world. The selected films explore various forms of bearing testimony, from social and political movements to more personal and deeply humane stories. The films trace the complexity of our contemporary world, inviting spectators as witnesses to ponder on the weight of their own responsibility in the stories that lie hidden behind each film and its images.
A special place is reserved for the Cypriot Films Competition Section that brings audiences three new films, nodding to the creativity of local filmmakers.
The visual identity of the festival’s 23rd edition reflects the concept of witnessing in our hyper-mediated information age. Through the design of Philippos Vassiliades, the deliberately ambiguous images act as a kaleidoscope of interpretations that depend on the spectator’s mood and point of view.
Among the most anticipated screenings in this year’s edition are award-winning films: All we Imagine as Light by Indian filmmaker Payal Kapadia; The Seed of the Sacred Fig by the self-exiled Iranian Mohammad Rasoulof and Queer by Italian Luca Guadagnino, starring Daniel Craig.
Screenings will be enriched with films from the parallel programme and this edition’s Cyprus Film Days for Children and Youth. What is more, CFD IFF 2025 pays homage to the recently departed visionary filmmaker David Lynch through an in memoriam segment featuring a few of his most trailblazing films.
The opening and closing ceremony at the Rialto, on 4 and 12 April respectively, will be staged by interdisciplinary artist Korallia Stergidou.
The parallel events are equally fascinating and include a masterclass in VR filmmaking by media artist Deniz Tortum at the CYENS; a practical filmmaking workshop inspired by Cyprus’s invisible myths with Mariangela Ciccarello and Oliwia Tado, and a special casting workshop led by acclaimed casting directors Francesco Vedovati (The White Lotus, Io Capitano) and Makis Gazis (The Lost Daughter, Salade Grecque).
The Awards
The International Jury is made up of five prominent personalities of the international independent film community.
At the award ceremony scheduled for 12 April, the following awards will be presented: Best Film Award, Best Cypriot Film Award sponsored by Authorwave, Special Jury Award, Best Director Award, Best Cinematography Award sponsored by Caretta Films, Best Cypriot Director Award sponsored by CYENS and Best Performance Award in a Cypriot Film, courtesy of the Municipality of Limassol. All the films screened in the official international competition section and the Cypriot films competition section are eligible for the Audience Award, decided on viewer votes cast right after each screening, sponsored by Breaking Wave Productions.
Cinema for children and youth
The 10th edition of Cyprus Film Days for Children and Youth 2025 aspires to educate younger audiences and expand their horizons with films that foster equality, respect and solidarity. Six select films will be screened at the Rialto, Limassol and at K-Cineplex, Strovolos, while two masterclasses and five workshops will be held by professionals. This year marks the return of the successful short film competition for students and young people up to 24 years of age. Director Athena Xenidou is the Artistic Director of Cyprus Film Days for Children and Youth.
6th Dot.on.the.Map Industry Days for film professionals
The developmental dimension of the festival is made manifest during the deliberations, between 10-12 April, of the 6th edition of Dot.on.the.Map Industry Days, a co-production, training and networking platform headed by producer and director Danae Stylianou. This institutional action is looking to encourage partnerships between producers, directors and screenwriters from the Mediterranean countries with international film industry professionals.
It includes two main actions: Meeting Point and Cinema Talks.
For more information, please visit dot.cyprusfilmdays.com
The full programme will soon be available on cyprusfilmdays.com and on the Festival’s Facebook (facebook.com/cyprusfilmdays) and Instagram (@cyprusfilmdays) pages.
Information:
- €5 per screening | €30 festival pass (for all screenings).
- Free for students upon display of student card.
- Free for children (Children and Youth Section).
- Free for holders of Disability Card.
- All films aside the Children and Youth Section are suitable for 18+.
- All films will be screened in their original language with Greek and English subtitles. Films of the Cypriot Films Competition Section will also be screened with Turkish subtitles.
For more information: Rialto Theatre 77 77 77 45
