International Short Film Festival of Cyprus 2014

The International Short Film Festival of Cyprus, the official International short film competition of the island, returns on the big screen of the RIALTO Theatre. From the 11 to the 17th October 2014, local audiences will have the opportunity to watch 8 national and 64 international short films, three parallel programmes and a masterclass about the short film genre. Moreover, the Festival is organising an unprecedented opening on the 11th, with a unique element running throughout the night which will amaze the Festival lovers.

The Festival is co-organized by the Cultural Services of the Ministry of Education and Culture of the Republic of Cyprus and the RIALTO Theatre.

Its main goal is to promote the short film, and to deliver a platform for both young and established filmmakers to advance their careers and open up to new audiences by screening their works in the framework of an international competition.

The programme includes short fiction films, documentaries, experimental films and animations. For its organizers, the Festival constitutes a source of inspiration for filmmakers and audiences, who warmly support it every year. It also offers the means to promote local cinema alongside international productions, expanding year by year and becoming the core of communication for filmmakers and film enthusiasts. It also supplies the platform for directors and producers to present their work and to engage in a creative dialogue with the audience. All these, in the backdrop of the beautiful Cypriot autumn, in the heart of Limassol town centre.

In its official programme, the Festival has incorporated three thematic parallel programmes: 1) ‘Cult Retrospective’, a selection of shorts devoted to cult films from a variety of genres, 2) ‘Amaze me’, a surprise competition programme with top notch music videos from around the world, judged by Cyprus University of Technology students and 3) "Aspects of the Fantastic: Best of Countryside Animafest Cyprus”, a selection of the best animation shorts which have been screened and awarded at the 13th edition of the International Countryside Animafest Cyprus.

The following awards will be delivered to winning films and filmmakers: 1st Prize for Best Short Film, Best Director Award, 2nd Prize for Best Short Film, 1st Prize for Best National Film, 2nd Prize for Best National Film, Best Documentary Award, Student Jury Award. Moreover, Green Olive films is sponsoring awards of a total budget of 9,500 euros.

The selection of films and programming of screenings and parallel events, is undertaken by the artistic committee, consisting of film directors Alexia Roider and Ioakim Mylonas.

International Jury:
The International Jury of the Festival is made up of local and international cinema professionals:

Jacques Curtil (President of the Jury), co-director of Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival

Dan Muggia, leading force in the renaissance of the Israeli short film scene. Artistic Director of the Pitigliani Film Festival, Italy, actor, film critic, teacher and curator. Until 2004, he served as the head of the Israel Film Service.

Dana Dimitriu Chelba, Director of Bucharest International Film Festival & member of the committee in charge of the selection of films in competition of the International Independent Romanian Film Producers Festival (IPIFF)

Enrico Vannucci, short film advisor at Venice Film Festival, Director at Ozu Film Festival, and a member of the organizing committee of ViaEmili@DocFest

Spyros Charalambous, Cypriot Awarded Film Director

The Festival is under the auspices of the Mayor of Limassol, Mr Andreas Christou and is supported by the Cyprus University of Technology. PrimeTel is the main sponsor.

A detailed and full programme of the festival will soon be available on its official website atwww.isffc.com.cy

All films will be screened in their original dialogues with Greek and English subtitles.

Find out more about the International Short Film Festival of Cyprus 2014 on its official website www.isffc.com.cy and on its regularly updated facebook page.