Faneromeni25 Art Festival continues to bring entertainment in its downtown Nicosia courtyard setting and in August, it organises two more summer cinema evenings. Approaching soon is a screening of the award-winning musical West Side Story that revived the classic American 1961 story under the artistry of Steven Spielberg.

On August 7, the ten-times academy-award-winning musical returns to the big screen 60 years after its initial release. Eager to bring this 2021 remake, the organisers are excited to present it to Cypriot audiences:

“Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins’ award-winning and popular 1961 film may have hinted at the context and circumstances, brought the musical out of the studios for the first time, and for good, but the DNA of the story Arthur Lawrence wrote for Broadway in 1957, set to Stephen Sondheim’s unflinchingly timeless lyrics and Leonard Bernstein’s divine music and songs, cries out about the problem of racism and injustice, however much the sigh of the masses may focus on the romantic drama between Tony and Maria.”

The film is a double feature from Steven Spielberg. First, it honours his own love for this musical, but more importantly, it honours his view of the galloping divide between the idealised America and the country itself that, by all accounts, has not only not changed, but maintains a bipolarity that has deepened in recent years.

The following film is a family-friendly movie dubbed in Greek. Toto 2, will be screened on August 28 at 8pm and for free, just like all of the festival’s cinema nights. In this film, Toto and his friends are ready for new adventures on a school trip to the countryside.

The second live action film featuring Toto is perfectly in line with the childlike logic of the first 2020 film, signed again by Pascal Bourdieu. Innocent banter merges with the sly repartee of a conventional comic adventure that attempts to elicit laughs through the misunderstandings and twists and turns of the two alien worlds: young and old are constantly at odds as the former seek to discover the secrets of everyday life on a farm, away from the overprotective gaze of parents and teachers. The film does not shy away from sharing about ecology and the harmonious relationship between man and nature.

More films and performances will continue in September, before the festival wraps up its 2025 edition.

Summer Cinema – Faneromeni25 Art Festival

West Side Story. August 7. Toto 2. August 28. Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation, Nicosia. 8pm. Free