A special screening of the critically acclaimed documentary Varosha, the Hostage City will be held at Pantheon Theatre in Nicosia on April 28. Directed by award-winning filmmaker Sylvie Deleule, the film recently earned the Best Documentary Award at the Ciné Paris Film Festival. Next week, Cyprus audiences will have an opportunity to catch it on the big screen.

The film offers a profound geographical and historical dive into the recent history of Cyprus through the lens of its most symbolic paradox: Varosha. One of the Mediterranean’s most glittering seaside resorts in the late 1960s, Varosha has spent the last 50 years as a ghost town frozen in time under the control of the Turkish army.

Through intimate meetings with individuals from both the northern and the southern communities, Deleule explores the raw emotional landscape of a divided island. The documentary follows characters fighting to preserve a disappearing memory and those striving for reconciliation. At its heart, the film asks a universal, piercing question: How do you build a life for yourself and your children while being deprived of part of your history?

Varosha, the Hostage City

Film screening of award-winning documentary by Sylvie Deleule. April 28. Pantheon Theatre, Nicosia. 8pm. Free admission