Featuring 30 international and 7 Cypriot films in the competition section, as well as 15 international films in the programme for young audiences, the 25th edition of the Countryside Animafest Cyprus concluded on 9 August in the village of Koilani, Limassol.
According to a statement from the organisers, the jury, consisting of Keti Papadema (Cyprus), Roberto Panganelli (Italy), and Jakob Schuh (Germany), awarded the ‘Dimitris Eipides’ Grand Prix for a narrative film to Hind by Stanley Miller (United Kingdom/Germany), which ‘retells the story of Hind Rajab without ever turning suffering into spectacle. Its restraint makes the story all the more devastating, and by confronting us with our complicity, Hind reminds us of our own agency’.
It is further noted that the jury of Animafest Cyprus 2026 awarded the ‘Dimitris Eipides’ Grand Prix for a non-narrative film to “The Graffiti” by Ryo Orikasa (Japan), for ‘ts ability to combine a poetic text with the stylized, almost abstract images of writing and urban volumes in a powerful metaphor, and for its construction of a visionary film about the importance of writing and the risk of losing the ability to communicate in a world of concrete and digital walls’.
It is added that the jury decided to award a special mention to the international film ‘Dieu est Timide’ (God is Shy) by Jocelyn Charles (France), which ‘insists on a tender grasp on questions usually fraught with dogma. Nietzsche said, ‘God is dead.’ ‘God is shy’ offers a more tender, but no less unsettling, view’
First prize in the national competition was awarded to the film “Missing Frequencies” by Nafsika Hadjichristou (Cyprus). ‘Courageously, the director translates her experience of hearing disability into a personal visual and auditory language. Through an accomplished combination of live-action footage and different forms of animation, she draws us into her own sensory world with great sensitivity’, the jury noted.
The Audience Award for the international competition was presented to the film ‘Virgin Fandango’ by Marcy Page (Canada, Portugal), whilst in the national competition it was awarded to the film ‘Feed the Cat’ by Michalis (Mike) Charalambous (Cyprus) and, in the Young Audience competition, to the film ‘Into the Forest’ by Antonin Niclass (Switzerland).
It is added that this year there were two children’s juries for the Young Audience Awards, with the jury for the 6-12 age group comprising Maya Riri, Demetra Vrioni, Panayiota Vrioni and Angelina Hatziharalambous, whilst the jury for the 13-17 age group comprised Thanasis Menelaou, Orestis Menelaou, Georgia Danielova, Ioannis Vrionis, Katerina Voutouri and Kalliroi Antoniou.
It is further noted that the Children’s Jury (ages 6 to 12) decided to award the Young Audience Award to the film ‘A Very Special Meal’ by Elena Walf (Germany), which ‘showed us the true power of friendship, sharing, and love’, whilst the jury gave a special mention to the film ‘Dancing Friend’ by Elena Walf (Germany) for its ‘charming animation style, the narrative and the music’.
Furthermore, the Children’s Jury (aged 13-17) decided to award the Young Audience Award to Frank Ternier’s film ‘Strange Teen Spirit’ (France), noting that its animation style conveys ‘the complex mood and darkness of today’s world’, whilst it gave a special mention to the film ‘Good Luck to You All’ by Cordel Barker (Canada) ‘because it offers diverse perspectives on how modern society tries to make sense of artificial intelligence’.