The usually quiet village of Salamiou will burst with life this August as Countryside Animafest Views of the World returns for its 22nd festival edition. From August 9 to 12, the Paphos village will welcome cinephiles, artists, musicians, villagers and visitors to enjoy a plethora of activities.

Screenings of Academy-award-nominated films, Cypriot films and independent productions will be showcased alongside several parallel events, exhibitions, concerts and workshops for old and young. Moreover, the festival’s competition programme will present Cypriot premieres of the best of the world’s animated films. Discover what more is to come at the upcoming edition below.

International competition programmes

32 films from 19 countries are taking part in the international competition programme selected by Yiorgos Tsangaris and Gerben Schermer. The competition received 650 submissions from around the world and the selected films come from 19 countries.

“The selection,” say the organisers, “aims to present to the Cypriot public the most cutting-edge international films and at the same time to foster and expand the audience through works characterised by universality and humanist values. The children’s competition programme, targetting our ever-increasing younger audience, includes 8 from 7 countries. The winner of the children’s competition will be decided by a three-member children’s jury comprised of young school students.”

National competition programme and Cypriot artists

For the first time this year, a selection committee has been appointed for this competition programme. The festival in collaboration with the Cyprus Association of Graphic Designers and Illustrators has appointed visual artist Eleni Chadriotou, brand and motion designer Denis Constantinou and graphic designer Popi Pissouriou as the committee which will also curate a panorama of Cypriot films.

Within the framework of the Cyprus programme, an exhibition of animated posters will be set up in the streets of Salamiou with the participation of twelve graphic designers and animators. Andri Andreou will present an installation titled ‘Mnithi’ while Michalis Haralambous and Marios Lizides will present the VR installation Anima, with text by Marios Psaras and VR development by Panayiotis Kyriakou.

In addition, the Cypriot artist Pantelis Diamantides will present an audio-visual performance on the festival’s big screen while the work of young local artists and musicians will be presented at the zero-zero experimental stage after midnight.

Two more events will take place involving visitors in the craft of creative writing. The Walking/Writing Salamiou site-specific writing workshop, led by Nicoletta Demetriou, founder and director of Topos Retreat, and The Writing Room will take participants through the streets of Salamiou.

Panorama of student films

Screenings created by film school students will also be shown during the festival. Their productions were created in workshops that the festival team has led in more than 50 secondary education schools all over Cyprus since 2017.

Exhibition

“Our yearly exhibition by an acclaimed international artist has become a highly anticipated part of the festival,” say the organisers. “This year we will host a video and illustration exhibition by Russian artist Varia Yokavleva whose film ‘Oneluv’ won the Grand Prix at Zagreb Animafest this year.”

Animation Film Camp

Another first is the Animation Film Camp, the first of its kind in Cyprus, which is the festival’s newest development scheme to connect young artists and students with international centres and festivals. The camp is a collaboration between Animafest Cyprus and World Festival of First Animations PRIMANIMA in Budapest.

“For this year’s inaugural film camp,” they explain, “ten artists, five from Cyprus and five from Hungary, chosen via an open call, will participate in two four-day Animation Film Camps: the first one will take place in Salamiou in the run-up to Animafest Cyprus, from August 6 to 9. The second Film Camp will take place in Budaörs, near Budapest, during the 11th World Festival of First Animations PRIMANIMA in October 2023.”

Music programme with Cypriot bands

Lastly, a musical programme could not be omitted from the festival. Six concerts by local musicians will take place this year featuring the new band Buzz’ Ayaz, Evagoras Karagiorgis and his group Mirothkies tou Yiasemiou, Michalis Kouloumis and his band, the six-person acapella group Kalesma, and music bands NAZ and Spherical Cows who will complete the evenings of the festival with their tunes.

Countryside Animafest Cyprus

Film animation festival with a large programme of parallel activities. August 9-12. Salamiou village, Paphos. www.animafest.com.cy