Nine days of documentary film screenings are coming up as the 7th AEI Film Festival (Cyprus International Festival of Archaeological, Ethnographic and Historical Documentaries) takes place in Nicosia. Held at the CVAR – Severis Foundation on Ermou Street from Saturday to November 3, a selection of documentaries from Cyprus and abroad will be showcased alongside a parallel programme of workshops for children and families.

The first edition was held in 2018 to encourage contemporary creativity, build bridges of communication and establish partnerships with those who have an interest in history, archaeology, ethnography and culture. Seven years later, the festival continues to showcase collaborative works and acclaimed documentaries, highlighting them in four competition sections.

Documentary films of medium length, feature-length and short films will each have an award for the Best Documentary Film, Best Director and Best Photography. This year, the festival also introduces a new competition section called Neon Cinema where short documentary films of five to ten minutes created by high school students compete for prizes. The jurors for this section will be a group of Cyprus high school students.

Also part of the 2024 edition is an award ceremony to honour director Adonis Christoforou for his contribution to photography and cinema. The event will take place on October 29 at CVAR at 7pm and will be followed by the screening of the two documentaries Enas Karpasitis, produced by CyBC, and directed by the honoree. An exhibition with photos from the filming of the documentaries from 1977 to 1982 will also be hosted at the space. After the screenings, there will be an entertainment programme with traditional music from the ZYGIA Music Scheme.

And that’s not all! As part of its parallel programme, the festival will present an astronomy experiential workshop for children this Saturday at the museum. In a morning session, children will be introduced to basic uranography with the use of a star map that represents the Northern Hemisphere sky during November. The workshop will build on interactive learning of specific constellations with an artistic approach while discussing mythology. The Saturday workshop, from 10.45am to 12.15pm, is free to attend but requires booking.

On Sunday, the whole family can participate in an art therapy workshop that focuses on reflection on the memories of their homeland, offering family members a valuable opportunity to co-create with art materials and learn about their cultural heritage interactively.

Finally, a geology workshop for children next Sunday will be held at Troodos Geopark in collaboration with the festival. Twenty children aged six to 16 will be able to explore the natural treasures hidden in the Geopark and the whole island. To register for the events, visit   https://www.facebook.com/cyprus.aei.film.festival.

7th AEI Film Festival (Cyprus International Festival of Archaeological, Ethnographic and Historical Documentaries

Nine days of documentary film screenings and workshop for children and adults. October 26-November 3. CVAR Severis Foundation, Nicosia. https://www.aei-filmfestival.org/