Independent Festivals

The International Animation Film Festival ‘Views of the World’ was launched in 2002, in the backyard of Cypriot engraver Hambis in the village of Plataniskia, and was the first documentary festival in Cyprus. It later evolved into an International Countryside Animation Film Festival, stylised as Animafest, dedicated exclusively to the art of animation. Animafest has evolved into one of Europe's favourite animation film festivals with exciting international and national competition sections.

AEI is an annual film festival, supported by the Department of Contemporary Culture - Deputy Ministry of Culture, dedicated in films which focus thematically on archaeology, ethnography and history.

The "Lemesos International Documentary Festival" is organized every August by the non-profit organization Brave New Culture and supported by the Department of Contemporary Culture - Deputy Ministry of Culture. The Festival is dedicated in presenting contemporary creative documentaries in Cyprus. In addition, through the organization of workshops and lectures, it offers the possibility to local professional directors and producers to get acquainted with the latest trends and tendencies in the documentary genre and to get informed about the prospects of fund raising and promoting their own projects in the broader European spectrum.

Queer Wave is the Cyprus LGBTQIA+ Film Festival, supported by the Department of Contemporary Culture - Deputy Ministry of Culture. The festival's goal is to celebrate, empower, challenge and stimulate – within and beyond queer circles, creating ripples through cinema and the arts.