Cyprus Film Days for children and youth

April at Rialto Theatre and Zena Palace will be all about the cinema world as the latest edition of Cyprus Film Days prepares to take over. A week full of film screenings and parallel events will take place from April 22 and they will not be just for adults but for children as well.

Four creative film workshops and four screenings of films make up this year’s programme. Young cinephiles will have a unique opportunity to watch world-acclaimed films and participate in a series of workshops led by film professionals.

“At a time when young people are facing societal, environmental and technological challenges,” says the festival, “this year’s programme is dedicated to ACTION. It is a call to activism, personal responsibility and empathetic engagement with the world and the people around us.

“With an eclectic team of workshop leaders and with subjects ranging from hand-drawn animation to the creation of VR characters, and from environmental protection to cinematic self-expression,” they add, “our message to young people is clear: Creativity in the audio-visual sector is a field accessible to all; a means to express oneself, and a powerful tool, even in the youngest of hands, for building a better world.”

Film screenings

The first film screening for children, which will be for free as will all the rest, will take place at Rialto Theatre on April 22. At 6pm, the Irish film The Quiet Girl will be screened about a young girl who stays with distant relatives over the summer and discovers a new way of living amongst painful family secrets. In Nicosia, the film will be shown on the following afternoon.

The film Mission Ulja Funk about a girl who loves science will be screened at Rialto on April 22 and 4pm and in Nicosia on April 23. The Swedish film Comedy Queen will hit the big screen on April 23 (Limassol) and April 22 (Nicosia) depicting the lengths a little girl goes to, to make her father laugh again after her mother passes away.

Finally, the Belgian-French film Aya about a girl living with her mother on the island of Lahou will be screened in Nicosia on April 22 and then in Limassol on April 23, at 6pm. All films will be screened in their original language with English and Greek subtitles.

The workshops

Four creative workshops in Nicosia will then invite young visitors to explore creativity. First up is Cinematic Self-Expression, Now! on April 22, which will be a collaborative hands-on filmmaking workshop for teens aged 13 to 18. The workshop, led by Athina Xenidou, will take place at the Directors’ Guild of Cyprus between 10am and 3pm, exploring mobile phones and video cameras.

The second workshop is titled Framing for Future in which Emma Doxiadi addresses climate-conscious young filmmakers. April 29’s workshop at the Directors’ Guild of Cyprus will focus on climate storytelling, sustainability and environmental activism and how it finds its way into films and production.

Then Yiorgos Tsangaris will lead a hand-drawn animation workshop for children aged 8 to 12 in collaboration with Animafest. April 22’s workshop at Hambis Printmaking Museum is titled Back to the Loop! and will introduce children to the art of animation by making animated five-second loops.

The last workshop will be all about virtual reality film productions. Alexandros Andreou will introduce children to immersive reality/technology and 360° cinematography and give them the chance to shoot their own films. The VR Film Studio workshop on April 29 will take place at CYENS and includes a lunch by Pizza Hut, as all of the festival’s children’s workshops do. To participate, children need to register for free via a form on the Cyprus Film Days website.

Cyprus Film Days for Children and Youth

Film screenings and workshops for children and teens. April 22-29. Rialto Theatre, Limassol and Zena Pallas, Nicosia. www.cyprusfilmdays.com. Tel:  7000-8242