For just three evenings, the rooftop of the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Nicosia will transform into a film club, hosting screenings of artist films and videos from the Middle East, North Africa, Greece and Cyprus. Curated by Róisín Tapponi, founder of Shasha Movies, the film nights will run from Thursday to Saturday.

Titled Only Terrestrial, the three-day screening programme brings together works that move between the essay film, political documentary and personal portrait, exploring questions of memory, displacement, collective identity and relationships to land.

Their themes are related to the ongoing exhibition at the museum, Agropoetics: soils/bodies, curated by Elena Parpa, as the film club is part of its parallel events programme. The exhibition forms part of the Cultural Programme of Cyprus’ Presidency of the EU Council.

Four short films will be screened on Thursday: Same Water by Stelios Kallinikou, *states break away* by Rahme Veziroglu, Recording Angel by Danae Io and Sunlight Vandalism by Marina Xenofontos. The screenings will be followed by a discussion with the invited artists moderated by Tapponi.

Friday night’s films will include Land Listening by Philip Rizk, Morning Circle by Basma al Sharif and No title by Ghassan al Shalhab while the series will close on Sunday with Kassem Hawal’s Palestinian Identity and The Marshes.

All of the screenings will begin at 8pm and will beaccompanied by short introductions by Tapponi (in English), who is a film programmer and novelist. In 2020, she founded Shasha Movies, an independent streaming platform dedicated to artist film and video from the Middle East and North Africa. The platform aims to formalise the space for artist film in and around the region, and present a carefully-curated selection of exclusive films to a global audience.

Film Club with Sasha Movies

Three film screenings, curated by Róisín Tapponi. A parallel activity of the exhibition Agropoetics: soils/bodies. May 28-30. Rooftop terrace of Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Nicosia. 8pm. With English subtitles. Free admission. www.agropoeticssoilsbodies.wordpress.com/only-terrestrial