Film looks at current issues
Celebrating two decades of films, the Limassol International Documentary Festival will next week fill Limassol with captivating human stories and cinematic explorations. It will be held from August 1 to 8 at Lanitis Carob Mill next to the Medieval Castle.
Throughout its 20-year presence on the Cyprus festival scene, the festival highlighted in the most dynamic ways the art of documentary, showcasing extraordinary films from the cinema of the real, and honouring its creators.
Remaining true to its core goals – the transmission of knowledge, quality information and the cultivation of a fertile dialogue through the showcase of documentary film – the festival is preparing a must-see programme of screenings.
Placing its focus on vital issues of our times, the programme will cover an array of themes. Alongside the screenings, the festival will welcome international and local guests, host Q&A sessions and DJ sets, while all films are Cyprus premieres.
The programme comprises multi-award-winning films by acclaimed directors, emerging international talent and Cypriot filmmakers. Driven by their immersive gaze, this year’s documentaries propose new cinematic approaches and deal with significant current issues.
The festival will showcase documentaries that touch on the following themes; Women and politics: controversial personalities, Decolonising Narratives, On Human Dignity, Within Dangerous zones, Οn survival and identity, Documentary poetry, Contemporary Greece in the cinema of the real and Cypriot filmmakers.
The Cypriot films will include the experimental documentary Waves Won’t Stop, directed by Ioannis Papaloizou and produced by Harry Mavromichalis, in which the narrator evokes his childhood memories of Cyprus, and his connection to an indelible friendship defined by separation.
Sympraxis: Between Vessels – the first of the two films by Christina Skarpari will also be presented at the festival this year, rooted in long-term, practice-based research and ongoing community engagement. Set in the Cypriot village of Kornos, it traces the endangered craft of red clay pottery while following the rhythms of potters’ lives. Through a feminist lens, Skarpari explores notions of identity, labour and belonging, highlighting the often-unseen, intergenerational labour of women in sustaining cultural ecosystems.
Tastes in Plates; Getting together with Neighbours is a documentary by Stella Georgiou, which places the viewer at a table where neighbours are gathering to share Mediterranean tastes with the artist. Lastly, Mamma explores the raw and unfiltered reality of motherhood in Cyprus.
There will also be a special screening of three works on the themes of displacement and forced migration by Forensic Architecture in collaboration with The Island Club. These will be The Pylos Shipwreck, When it Stopped Being a War: The Situated Testimony of Dr Ghassan Abu Sittah and Return to Al-Main.
20th Lemesos International Documentary Festival
Annual festival with week-long documentary screenings from Cyprus and abroad. August 1-8. Lanitis Carob Mill Complex, Limassol. €5 per film, €35 Festival Pass. www.soldoutticketbox.com. http://www.filmfestival.com.cy