Life on the big screen

By Maria Gregoriou

Many of us might download movies from the internet or even rent a DVD (yes, there are still places that rent them) but we all know that the experience of watching a movie on the big screen in a venue filled with other people is a whole different experience (even the popcorn tastes better).

First up on the big screen tonight at the NGO Support Centre in Nicosia is the biography/drama Boys Don’t Cry at 8pm. The film will be shown as part of a workshop that the support centre ran on Saturday entitled Inside the Sexual World. It was held in a laid back atmosphere where volunteers from the Youth for Exhange & Understanding organisation provided information about alternative sexual practices, sexual diversity, human rights in the sexual context, and how to prevent sexually transmitted diseases.

Continuing on from the workshop, the 1999 film starring Hilary Swank and Chloe Sevigny presents a dramatised reflection of the real-life story of female-born Brandon Teena. Teena is beaten, raped and murdered by his male acquantnces once they discover he is anatomically female.

Remaining in the capital, Cine Studio in Nicosia will screen the documentary A Haircut Story, which documents the reaction in Cyprus to the bailout in March 2013.

The documentary, produced and directed by Danae Stylianou, touches on seven different stories of people who were immediately affected by the haircut on deposits from the two largest banks on the island. These stories show how these people reacted to their life savings being grabbed from them, while also focusing on the economic facts, the history of the Cyprus market, and crowds of local people protesting the economic downfall, while also standing up for their children’s financial future.

Lastly we turn to a story which portrays the highs and lows of a romantic relationship.

Apothiki 79 in Larnaca will host a screening of the 2012 Flemish drama The Broken Circle Breakdown.
The movie, which also dabbles in music, focuses on Elise and Didier, who fall in love at first sight. Elise has her own tattoo shop and Didier plays the banjo in a bluegrass band.

The pair find that they share an enthusiasm for American music and culture and thus they go weak at the knees and fall head over heels for each other. But an unexpected tragedy is in the cards and everything they know and love is tested.

No matter what you go for, whether you are a hopeless romantic or a realist who wants to know all the facts, each film will inspire and let you into a story you thought you knew.

Boys Don’t Cry
Screening of the 1999 biography drama. January 21. NGO Support Centre, 27 Ezekia Papaioannou, Nicosia. 8pm. Free. Tel: 99-573646

A Haircut Story
Screening of the Cypriot documentary directed by Danae Stylianou. January 21. Cine Studio, University of Nicosia. 9pm. €8/5. Tel: 99-788173

The Broken Circle Breakdown
Screening of the 2012 Flemish drama. January 21. Apothiki 79, 79 Saint Lazarus Street, Larnaca. 8.30pm. Free. Tel: 99-083974

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.