An exciting and highly-anticipated event for film lovers and producers is coming up next month as the International Short Film Festival of Cyprus presents its 14th edition.

From October 12 to 18, Rialto Theatre will host a whole week of screenings and parallel events that celebrate the art of cinema and short films. With still a month to go, the festival organisers are busy preparing a new packed festival agenda with fiction films, experimental works, animation, and documentary screenings. As preparations are underway, the festival has now announced the National Competition Programme with 15 short films by Cypriot film directors.

Selected by the Pre-selection Committee were the following local films: 20 Euros, directed by Alexander Machlouzarides-Shalit, 2. 74, directed by Charalambos Margaritis, DILEMMA, directed by Paris Christophi, Pakistani, directed by Christos Zeniou, Tsikitigklon, The Fairy And The Man, directed by Marios Mettis, In Our Millions, directed by Meli Vasiloudes Bayada, Ally Lloyd, Esme Haddrill Selman, Pink Moon, directed by Meray Diner, Please, Remember, directed by Panagiotis Christou, Rebranded, directed by Yiannis Georgiades, Requiem in Salt, directed by Sylvia Nicolaides, Nicolas Iordanou, Sofra, directed by Uygar Erdim, TAXI, directed by Constantinos Nikiforou, The Saddest Lines, directed by Bugra Ozverel, ugly people, directed by Antonis Christ and Underground, directed by Yiannis Christoforou.

The members of the Pre-Selection Committee who selected the Cypriot films participating in the National Competition section are Adonis Florides – director-screenwriter, Nicolas Khabbaz – producer and director of Audiovisual Arts at Notre Dame University in Lebanon (NDU), and Doros Demetriou – film historian. The National Films compete both for the International and National Awards, as well as for the European Film Awards’ Short Film Candidate nomination.

Also part of the festival are of course films from the world cinema scene, which will participate in the international competition programme, curated this year by the festival’s Artistic Directors, Alexia Roider and Ioakim Mylonas. Beyond the film awards for Best Short Film, Best Performance, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Documentary and Best Cypriot Director, the festival will also grant the Best Music Video Award, decided by the Student Jury of the Department of Multimedia and Graphic Design of Cyprus University of Technology. Details for each film, the festival screenings and the jury members will be announced in the following weeks as the festival dates draw closer.

14th International Short Film Festival of Cyprus

Annual short film festival with national and international competition programme. October 12-18. Rialto Theatre, Limassol. www.isffc.com.cy. www.rialto.com.cy