TURKISH film “Love in another Language” amassed the most awards at this year’s fifth Cyprus International Film Festival Awards, which took place on Monday night.
The drama is directed by Ilksen Basharir and tells the story of a modern day romance, between a deaf man, Onur, played by Mert Firat, and a call-centre worker, Zeynep, played by Saadet Aksoy.
The film, which brings to the foreground issues of communication, won four awards, including the much coveted Golden Aphrodite award, at this year’s film festival. It won “Best Leading Actor in a Feature Film,” “Best Script in a Feature Film” and “Best Director in a Feature Film.”
The nomination of the film sparked media attention from Turkey’s daily, Hurriyet, which noted that the participation of the film in a festival held on the “Greek Cypriot side” – which is not recognised by Turkey – could only be seen as “a small way to illustrate hopeful potential.”
Organiser of the festival, Petra Terzi commented that the film’s victory shows that in Cyprus “there is a place for small, independent, self-funded film festivals promoting art and culture ethics.”
Cypriot film “Trachoni,” directed by Nick Kapros who lives in Austria, won the award for the best Greek/Cypriot film.
The festival, which took place between the October 13 and 18, involved 85 countries and was a bid to combine “traditional” values of cinematography with future trends of movie practises and theory. The judging procedure involved a secret vote from a jury of internationally acclaimed directors, and actors.
“One of our targets as a festival is to help the Cypriot film industry’s future development,” said Terzi.
The festival, as well as trying to promote the Cypriot film industry in general, has also created a special section called “Nostimon Imar” in an effort to offer a platform for young, talented Cypriots who live abroad, as a means to screen their work. This year’s Nostimon Imar went to director Costas Calogiros for his short film “Apology.”
The winners not only have the prestige that comes from winning an award but other benefits such as crew services, shooting equipment prizes, on the condition that these prizes are used on their next project and spent in Cyprus or Greece.
