Cinema of Cyprus
Movie XD 6D cinema in Nicosia
No. of screens	30 (2011)[1]
• Per capita	2.9 per 100,000 (2011)[1]
Main distributors	Four Stars Films 40.7% Odeon Cyprus 23.3% Feelgood 18.9%[2]
Produced feature films (2011)[3]
Fictional	2
Animated	-
Documentary	1
Number of admissions (2011)[4]
Total	870,000
• Per capita	1 (2012)[5]
Gross box office (2011)[4]
Total	€7.11 million

Cypriot cinema refers to the cinema of Cyprus, which was born much later than the cinema of most other countries.

Overview

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, George Filis produced and directed the films Gregoris Afxentiou, Etsi Prodothike I Kypros, and The Mega Document. In 1994, Cypriot film production received a boost with the establishment of the Cinema Advisory Committee. In 2000, the annual amount set aside for filmmaking in the national budget was CYP£500,000 (approximately €850,000). The most renowned Cypriot director to date is Michael Cacoyannis, best known for his film Zorba the Greek (1964). Marios Piperides directed Smuggling Hendrix (2018), which received acclaim at the Tribeca Film Festival.^[6][7][8] Tonia Mishiali's directorial debut Pause (2018) also received positive reviews.^[9]

The Hollywood action film Jiu Jitsu (2020) starring Nicolas Cage was shot in Cyprus, but was a critical and commercial failure; it also became embroiled in a controversy when the filmmakers claimed that they would take legal action against the Cypriot government due to the non-payment of almost €8 million they were owed per their contract, resulting in the production of at least three more of the filmmakers' future Hollywood films that had been planned to shoot in Cyprus being moved elsewhere, losing millions in expected revenue for the country's economy and taking away many potential jobs for local film crew.^[10] Despite this, the Hollywood romantic comedy film The Islander starring Harry Connick Jr. has since been filmed in Cyprus and is scheduled for release in 2024.^[11]

Funding

Cypriot co-productions are eligible for funding from the Council of Europe's Eurimages Fund, which has financed European film co-productions since 1989. To date, four feature films on which a Cypriot was an executive producer have received funding from Eurimages: I Sphagi tou Kokora (1996), Hellados (unreleased), To Tama (1999), and O Dromos gia tin Ithaki (2000).^[12] In addition, the film production company Green Olive Films operates in Greece and Cyprus,^[13] and there are government-backed initiatives for filmmakers to apply for funding from both the Invest in Cyprus scheme^[14] and Filming in Cyprus scheme.^[15]

Notable people

• Michael Cacoyannis (1922–2011), Greek-Cypriot filmmaker
• Elias Demetriou, Greek-Cypriot filmmaker
• Yannis Economides (born 1967), Greek-Cypriot filmmaker
• Nicolas Economou (1953–1993), Greek-Cypriot composer
• Peter Polycarpou (born 1957), English-Cypriot actor
• Derviş Zaim (born 1964), Turkish-Cypriot filmmaker

See also

• Cinema of Greece
• Cinema of Turkey
• Culture of Cyprus
• Culture of Greece
• Culture of Turkey
• Cyprus International Film Festival
• List of cinema of the world
• List of Cypriot films
• List of Greek actors
• List of Turkish actors
• World cinema

References