International independent cinema is to take over the amphitheatre of Eleftheria Square this June as the European Film Festival takes place. Opening on June 7 and lasting until July 1, the festival will bring 17 films from around Europe to Nicosia.

With a free entrance to the public, the festival is being organised by a number of official bodies and institutions. Firstly, it takes place within the framework of the French Presidency of the European Union and of the EU National Institutes for Culture network by the French Embassy and is realised in collaboration with 15 member states and Ukraine, the Municipality of Nicosia, Friends of Cinema Society Cyprus, the Cultural Services of Ministry of Education with the support of Société Générale – Cyprus.

Almost every other day films will be screened at 9pm at the open-air amphitheatre underneath Eleftheria Square, all in their original language and with English subtitles. The festival will open with the French film Medicin de Nuit, translated as The Night Doctor, which is about a doctor who tries to extricate himself from the stressful work of treating drug addicts, the homeless and the destitute in difficult neighbourhoods at night.

A Bulgarian documentary will follow on June 9 titled The Path of Life before a Croatian film is screened on the following evening. More films from Germany, Spain, Poland, Italy, Lithuania, Hungary, Slovakia, Finland, Sweden, Norway and Ukraine will be shown as well as a Cypriot film. Adding this local touch is Stavros Pamballis’ film Siege on Liperti Street which is set beside the UN buffer zone and follows a family’s struggle to hold on to their home.

European Film Festival

13 film screenings. June 7-July 1. Municipal Amphitheatre of Eleftheria Square, Nicosia. 9pm. Free. Screened in original language with English subtitles. Programme here