Έλα ρε κουμπάρε!

Introduction to Greek and Cypriot movies: a starter pack of films and series

With the help of my Greek language teacher, Google, and AI, I have compiled a list of Cypriot and Greek films to build my knowledge and form an opinion about the topic.

Many of these films were made for festivals and might be deeply buried on the internet, but they can be found with some effort.

I began my journey into Cypriot cinema with the film “Committed” (Ο Χαρισματικός) and I highly recommend it.

If you have any more recommendations, feel free to drop them in the comments.

Movies

🇨🇾 Sunrise in Kimmeria, 2018

An isolated Cypriot village goes into tragicomic overload when a flying object crash-lands in a potato field inside the adjacent UN-controlled buffer zone. A young farmer unwisely digs it out setting off a chain of incredible events.

IMDB: 7.2/10 Sunrise in Kimmeria

🇨🇾 Boy on the Bridge, 2016

In a seemingly idyllic Cypriot village, twelve-year-old Socrates’ careless summer days of riding his bike and tantalizing the local residents come to an abrupt end when he finds himself at the center of a murder investigation, which exposes a dark family secret and changes his life forever.

IMDB: 6.8/10 Boy on the Bridge

🇬🇷 Athos, 2016

A filmmaker gains rare access to the monastery in Mount Athos, offering an intimate glimpse into the monks’ daily lives in this documentary.

🇨🇾 The Story of the Green Line, 2016

A story in the “Green Line” of Nicosia, where a wall made-up of barrels and barbed wire divides a town; and a country. Kypros, a Greek-Cypriot soldier discovers that Murat, a soldier from the opposing side, is actually living in his own family home. Just like Kypros, he too is a refugee. War has forced both of them to dislocate; Kypros from the north to the south and Murat from the south to the north. When Murat goes back to his village on leave, he returns bringing him a present from his home, a family photograph, and he proposes that the two lads take a secret trip, each on the “other side”. Kypros, who wants to see his sweetheart, a Turkish-Cypriot girl he left behind, accepts without considering the consequences.

IMDb: 6.3/10 The Story of the Green Line

🇨🇾 Sharing an Island (Το Νησί που Μοιραζόμαστε), 2012

Six young Cypriots who have never met each other before, three Greek Cypriots, who live south of the buffer zone in Cyprus and three Turkish Cypriots, who live north of it, are invited to share a house for five days. Together they travel across divided Cyprus. They argue from different perspectives of history, share stories of the past and together they envision the future.

IMDb: 7.0/10 Sharing an Island

Youtube: watch the full movie

🇨🇾 🇬🇷 Fish n’ Chips, 2011

A hard working Cypriot immigrant in London finally opens his very own chip shop. But his dream turns into a nightmare, as he seems to have overlooked one small detail: Cyprus just isn’t London.

IMDb: 6.4/10 Fish n’ Chips

🇬🇷 The Other Me (Έτερος Εγώ), 2016

A professor of criminology tries to solve five completely unrelated murders whose only link is quotes from Pythagoras.

There is also a TV series:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10478048/

🇬🇷 Dogtooth (Κυνόδοντας), 2009

A psychological drama by Yorgos Lanthimos about a controlling father who keeps his children isolated from the outside world.

🇬🇷 Zorba the Greek (Αλέξης Ζορμπάς), 1964

A British-Greek comedy-drama about the friendship between a writer and a lively Greek man.

🇬🇷 Attenberg (Άττενμπεργκ), 2010

A young woman, fascinated by the animal kingdom, struggles to understand human behavior.

🇬🇷 Never on Sunday (Ποτέ την Κυριακή), 1960

A comedy about a free-spirited Greek woman and an American scholar who try to reform her.

🇬🇷 Strella (Στρέλλα), 2009

A poignant drama about a transgender woman and her relationship with an ex-convict.

🇬🇷 Little England (Μικρά Αγγλία), 2013

A romantic drama set on the Greek island of Andros, following the lives and loves of two sisters.

🇬🇷 The Island (Νήσος), 2009

A comedy about the secrets revealed when a mysterious letter is read aloud in a Greek village.

🇬🇷 Brides (Νύφες), 2004

A historical drama about mail-order brides traveling from Greece to America in 1922.

🇬🇷 The Suspended Step of the Stork (Το μετέωρο βήμα του πελαργού), 1991

A war drama exploring the plight of refugees and the search for a missing politician.

🇬🇷 Miss Violence (Μις Βία), 2013

A psychological drama about a family dealing with the aftermath of a young girl’s suicide.

🇬🇷 Loser takes all (Ο χαμένος τα παίρνει όλα)

A cynical man, along with a 19 year old musician, a former lover, an alcoholic client of a bar and a black strip club dancer are involved with anarchist mood in a dangerous game with drugs godfathers of the night, cops and media.

🇬🇷 Evridiki BA 2037 (ΕΥΡΙΔΙΚΗ BA 2037), 1975

Awaiting for Orpheus to save her from a modern Hades, Euridice faces her fears, desires, hallucinations and memories.

🇬🇷 Glykia symmoria (Γλυκιά συμμορία) 1983

A band of handsome Athenian pariahs waiting for a miracle have a fateful encounter with the ever-present state instead. And as the law’s suffocating stranglehold tightens around them, the shotguns have the final say.

  • IMDb: 7.4/10 Glykia symmoria

🇨🇾 The Last Homecoming (Ο Τελευταίος Γυρισμός), 2008

A drama set in Cyprus during the summer of 1974, just before the Turkish invasion.

🇨🇾 Smuggling Hendrix (Η ιστορία της Ληστείας), 2018

A Cypriot comedy-drama about a musician who faces unexpected challenges when his dog crosses the UN buffer zone.

🇨🇾 Committed (Ο Χαρισματικός), 2014

A romantic comedy about a man who meets a woman on the day of her wedding and takes her on a road trip.

🇨🇾 Honey and Wine (Μέλι και Κρασί), 2006

A romantic drama set in a small Cypriot village, exploring themes of love and tradition.

🇨🇾 Akamas (Ακάμας), 2006

Description: A drama based on a true story, following the life of a Cypriot man who experiences the socio-political changes in Cyprus.

🇨🇾 Attilas ’74, 1975

An indictment of the protagonists in the Cypriot civil war.

🇨🇾 O Drakoulas ton Exarheion (Ο δράκουλας των Εξαρχείων), 1983

A mad scientist creates the band Music Brigades from body parts of dead musicians.

🇨🇾 Slaughter of the Cock (Η σφαγή του κόκορα), 1996

It is the only Cypriot film nominated for an Oscar in 1996.

Longing for a better life, Evagoras and Onisilios decide to emigrate to the Persian Gulf to earn enough money to start their own businesses. When they return home, the pair open a nightclub. However, their past catches up with them.

🇨🇾 Our Love Began on Cyprus, 1960

On his way to Cyprus, the young businessman, Alkis Galanis, meets Martha, the wife of Major Gordon. In Nicosia, the situation is tense, as the resistance against the British continues.

Series

🇬🇷 Serres (Σέρρες), 2022

A father is struggling to accept his homosexual son. After his mother’s death and due to an accident his father had, Odysseas moves back in to take care of him.

🇬🇷 The Island (Το Νησί), 2010

A drama series based on Victoria Hislop’s novel, set on the leper colony of Spinalonga.

🇬🇷 Agries Melisses (Άγριες Μέλισσες), 2019

A period drama following the lives of three sisters in rural Greece during the 1950s.

🇬🇷 To 10 (Δέκα), 2007

A drama series based on the novel by M. Karagatsis, exploring the lives of ten characters.

  • IMDb: 8.6/10 Ten

🇬🇷 Eisai to Tairi mou! (Είσαι το Ταίρι μου), 2001

A romantic comedy series about the intertwined lives of two families and a mix-up in a marriage.

🇬🇷 The Other Me (Έτερος Εγώ), 2019

A series of murders alarm the police authorities, as strange symbolisms are traced to every crime scene. The eccentric professor of criminology Dimitris Lainis is asked to shed some light on the mystery.

There is also a movie

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5221894/

🇬🇷 To Kafe tis Charas (Το Καφέ της Χαράς), 2003

A comedy series set in a small village, focusing on the quirky inhabitants and their interactions.

🇨🇾 Karma (Κάρμα), 2018

True crimes that shocked Cyprus. A moment of insanity and an uncontrollable outburst of rage are enough to push man beyond his limits and turn him into a ruthless beast, proceeding to the most horrific act … a crime of passion / hate / vendetta stained with the deep red color of blood.

IMDb: Karma

🇨🇾 Tin tyhi mou mesa (Την τύχη μου μέσα), 2014

A comedy series in the ‘urban’ Cypriot dialect

🇨🇾 Aigia fuxia (Αιγια Φούξια), 2008

The story unfolds in “Paliohori”, a small mountain village in Cyprus, 100 years ago. The viewer witnesses the daily stories of the inhabitants, given in a comic style. At the same time, gradually revealing elements of the great secret of the village that all the inhabitants want to forget, the “Death Penalty”. “The Deathly Hallows” takes place years before the series begins and is the name given to the mysterious death of 15 villagers.

Want more?

Useful words and phrases in Greek

Greek WordEnglish TranslationRussian Translation
δράμαDramaДрама
κωμωδίαComedyКомедия
δράσηActionЭкшн
θρίλερThrillerТриллер
ρομαντική κομεντίRomantic ComedyРомантическая комедия
επιστημονική φαντασίαScience FictionНаучная фантастика
περιπέτειαAdventureПриключение
κινούμενα σχέδιαAnimationАнимация
ταινίαMovieФильм
σειράSeriesСериал
ηθοποιόςActorАктер
σκηνοθέτηςDirectorРежиссер
σενάριοScriptСценарий
παραγωγόςProducerПродюсер
πρωταγωνιστήςProtagonistПротагонист
ανταγωνιστήςAntagonistАнтагонист
σκηνήSceneСцена
γυρίσματαFilmingСъемки
ειδικά εφέSpecial EffectsСпециальные эффекты
μοντάζEditingМонтаж
αίθουσαTheaterТеатр
πρεμιέραPremiereПремьера
ηχητικά εφέSound EffectsЗвуковые эффекты
υποτιτλισμόςSubtitlingСубтитры
μεταγλώττισηDubbingДубляж
ανάλυσηAnalysisАнализ
κριτικήCritiqueКритика
σκηνοθεσίαDirectionРежиссура
ενδυματολογίαCostume DesignДизайн костюмов
κινηματογραφίαCinematographyКинематография

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *