The
International Children and Youth Film Festival of Cyprus (ICFFCY)
Welcomes You
Through the looking glass to the magic of cinema
The International Children’s Film Festival of Cyprus (ICFFCY) is a non-profit association in operation since May 2005. ICFFCY is aimed at giving children the opportunity to explore and use media in various forms, as well as view and discuss films from an early age to help build critical thinking skills, along with Media Education and Media Literacy (MIL) practices with a focus on quality cinema and its role in the lives of children and young people.
Activities
Endeavoring towards community-building, we are inclusive of all people across Cyprus. We use film to expose the communities of this island to the art and lives of others, promoting strategies for conflict resolution, intercultural dialogue, respect of human rights and peacebuilding by implementing film education through various educational projects and activities.
Workshops
ICFFCY team has developed and implemented film making workshops such as Where is home (UNHCR), Superheroes (The Family House), Female Stereotypes, Empowerment.
Screenings
We have recently begun to organise screenings for families at Home for Cooperation to allow all communities to attend. The events are sponsored by various embassies (Australian High Commission, Embassy of Switzerland). Each film screening features a discussion led by invited guests (BirdLife Cyprus).
About
The festival began its journey in 2005 as the International Children's Film Festival of Cyprus (a registered non-profit organization also known as ICFFCY) with the aim to educate, focusing on quality cinema and its role in the lives of children and young people. Since then, the festival has provided a platform for Greek and Turkish Cypriot children and youth, as well as for the international community of Cyprus, to share emotions and work together in activities and projects around the world of cinema.
As the festival grew so did the needs of the Association. But the festival keeps its original promise, combining films and education in a program for young children, youth, teachers and parents, aiming to provide our audience with the opportunity to view and discuss a wide variety of films from all around the world. Since 2009, the festival aspires to strengthen its bi-communal Youth Team’s contribution to building a film festival "from scratch", under the guidance of coordinators and experts.
The association has since been renamed The International Children and Youth Film Festival (ICFFCY) and expanded into the field of running projects focusing on MIL, cinema workshops for children and youth and family screenings.
From 2004 to 2012 ICFFCY coordinated an International Film Festival aimed at school children aged 5 to 15 years old, collaborating with schools (both south and north) as well as the Ministry of Education the festival became a key annual event in the schooling calendar. Additionally, during the festival time were screenings for families and youth as well as a weekend movie marathon showcasing all films shown to children during the school visits. Each year from 2007 a school was selected to host a team of filmmakers who would work with a particular class of children in creating either their own film or stop motion animation.
Later on...
Since 2012 ICFFCY has led and participated in various projects relating to Media Literacy and Media and Information Literacy, including; Cyprus Artefacts and Treasures Project (CAT); ECFOLI, an Erasmus+ 2 year Youth exchange and strategic partnership with youth from Palestine, Morocco, Portugal and France; Film making project with local and immigrated youth in collaboration with UNHCR; and in association with Cyprus Film Days in 2015, 2016 & 2017 for the children’s film screenings and workshops section of the festival.
Film Media Literacy Resources
Working Towards a Better Future
Since the beginning ICFFCY has valued the use of film as a tool in the classroom. During our film festivals each film screened was accompanied with quality teaching resources. In order to continue in this framework, we will be offering new material aimed for use by educators at all levels.
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Contact the International Children and Youth Film Festival of Cyprus
(ICFFCY)
Nicosia Cyprus
