Limassol’s only documentary festival unveils 21st edition line-up

Films filmsLimassolTop News Limassol’s only documentary festival unveils 21st edition line-up 26 Lemdocfest Poster Relevant News Limassol’s only documentary festival unveils 21st edition line-up 20 July 2026 Overnight pharmacies on Monday, July 20 20 July 2026 Thailand targets 2030 completion of first phase of high-speed rail link to China 20 July 2026 newsroom 20 July 2026 FacebookXWhatsAppEmailPrintViber The Lemesos International Documentary Festival, the only festival in Cyprus with a longstanding commitment to documentary cinema, returns from August 1 to 8 at Ceronia Hall in the Lanitis Carob Mill, Limassol. This year’s selection travels the world in search of stories that captivate, provoke thought and, at times, entertain, bringing together award-winning documentaries, acclaimed directors and emerging voices, including from Cyprus. The refugee experience and war The festival opens with One in a Million (Itab Azzam and Jack MacInnes), winner of the Audience Award and Directing Award at Sundance 2026, which follows a young Syrian woman’s journey from Izmir to Germany and the cultural barriers, displacement and family conflict she encounters along the way. Fear, uncertainty and violence shadow the 16-year-old Afghan refugee at the centre of A Fox Under a Pink Moon (Mehrdad Oskouei), who turns to art, painting and sculpture as both refuge and a path to freedom. The film won Best Documentary at IDFA 2025. Set against the Syrian civil war, Birds of War (Janay Boulos and Abd Alkader Habak) follows a long-distance relationship between London-based journalist Janay Boulos, who is of Lebanese descent, and Syrian activist and cinematographer Abd Alkader Habak, which gradually deepens into a profound emotional bond. The film won the Special Jury Award at Sundance 2026. Experiences of otherness After eleven years of confinement in conservative Georgia, the young trans woman at the heart of A Song Without Home (Rati Tsiteladze) sets out to build a new life in Vienna, where she finds work, discovers dance and gradually attains a newfound sense of balance. The film received a Special Mention for the Mermaid Award at Thessaloniki 2026. William Friedkin’s controversial 1980s thriller Cruising, starring Al Pacino, is revisited in Mineshaft: The Cruising Murders (Jeffrey Schwarz), which examines the storm the film sparked over its portrayal of New York’s gay scene and seeks to restore a more truthful picture of both the victims and the gay community. Bulgarian musician, dancer and performance artist Ivo Dimchev left his conservative homeland for New York in search of a place where he could breathe more freely, a journey traced in In Hell With Ivo (Kristina Nikolova). Arts and artists Filmed over two years across Paris, London, Vilnius and San Francisco, Bull’s Heart (Eva Stefani) follows choreographer Dimitris Papaioannou’s creative process during the development of Transverse Orientation, capturing both the process and the performance itself. New York’s 1978 Nova Convention, a gathering in honour of writer William S. Burroughs that drew Frank Zappa, Allen Ginsberg, John Cage, Patti Smith, Philip Glass and Laurie Anderson, is revisited in Nova ’78 (Aaron Brookner, Rodrigo Areias). Composed entirely from her own films and previously unreleased personal archive material, Barbara Forever (Brydie O’Connor) lets experimental and queer filmmaker Barbara Hammer (1939-2019) tell her own story in her own words and images. Today’s world: contradictions and complexities Curated by Androula Kafa in collaboration with The Island Club, The Urban Condition: An Expanded Screening combines archival footage, artists’ films and music videos with live musical interventions, unfolding around the rapid transformation and gentrification of Cyprus’s urban landscape. Swiss art dealer Yves Bouvier and Russian oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev, owner of the Greek island of Skorpios, clash at the centre of The Oligarch and the Art Dealer (Andreas Dalsgaard), a thriller of money, power, deception, ambition and manipulation. A local community mounts a determined resistance against institutional power in A City in the Forest (Lev Omelchenko and Nolan Huber), which confronts environmental racism, corruption, police violence and the criminalisation of dissent as protests are met with violent repression. Shot with a lightweight digital camera and mobile phone, The History of Concrete (John Wilson) turns an unlikely subject into a witty, inquisitive reflection on modern life. Three influencers take on the US government’s attempt to ban TikTok in TikTok Never Dies (Hao Wu), a fast-paced look at both the app’s meteoric rise and its impact on contemporary culture. Human tragedy Actress Bàrbara Mestanza confronts the rape she endured years earlier, and the guilt, recovery and pursuit of justice that followed, in Filthy / Sucia (Bàrbara Mestanza and Marc Pujolar), which won Best Documentary at Sheffield 2026. When his son vanishes without a trace, the father at the centre of Closure (Michał Marczak), from Poland, refuses to accept the loss without a fight, torn between fear his son is gone forever and hope he may still be alive. The film won the Golden Alexander at Thessaloniki. Humour and music The Golden Spurtle (Constantine Costi) turns its gaze on a Scottish village’s annual porridge-making championship and its eccentric residents, with warmth and gentle humour. Former 1980s pop star Dene Michael, once a member of Black Lace and the voice behind the hit Agadoo, attempts to reclaim the spotlight in Still Pushing Pineapples (Kim Hopkins), a film that blends humour, nostalgia and an undercurrent of melancholy. Places in turmoil and forgotten images Curated by Marina Christodoulidou and Eleni Tzialli, Translocal Solidarities opens with a presentation of Tokyo Reels by Subversive Films, foregrounding anti-colonial struggles and cinema as a form of political practice, in collaboration with the Limassol Municipal Arts Centre – Apothikes Papadaki. Scenes from fiction films, documentaries, photographs, TV reports and home movies spanning the 1960s to the present come together in Do You Love Me (Lana Daher) to shape a chaotic, deeply personal portrait of Beirut. The Cypriot presence In 2023, Stephanos Stephanides returned to the Kali Temple in Blairmont, Guyana, where he had filmed Hail Mother Kali in 1988. The result, Remembering Mariamman, traces the Hindu goddess of rain, health and fertility across Guyana, India, Cyprus and the United States. Public health inspector Mehmet Aziz led Cyprus’s campaign to become the first country in the world to eradicate malaria, a campaign recounted through archival photographs, oral testimonies and personal recollections in The Flycatcher (Khalil Betz-Heinemann and Johan Duchateau), described as “a forgotten story of solidarity and success” that transcended national divisions. The full screening schedule is available at www.filmfestival.com.cy. Subtitles will be in Greek and English, and all films are suitable for audiences aged 18 and over. 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