Cyprus Picks 'Hold Onto Me' as First Oscar Submission
Cyprus has chosen its first-ever film for the Academy Awards international feature race, and the pick is a debut. Variety reports that Hold Onto Me, the first feature from Cypriot director Myrsini Aristidou, was selected in September to represent the island at the Oscars. The international feature category was formerly called the foreign-language category, and it honours films made outside the United States.
The film has already travelled a long way for a first feature. It won the audience prize in the World Cinema Dramatic competition at the Sundance Film Festival, the independent showcase in Utah where buyers and audiences often meet new directors. It then played in the Meet the Neighbors+ competition at the Thessaloniki Film Festival in Greece, where two screenings sold out.
The story follows Iris, an 11-year-old played by newcomer Maria Petrova, and her estranged father Aris, played by Christos Passalis. The film is in Greek and was shot in Cyprus, where Aristidou grew up. She studied film at Pratt Institute in New York City, then spent seven years in the United States before earning a master's degree at NYU.
Behind the camera, the film is produced by Filmblades and One Six One Films, in co-production with Fredo Pictures and Graal Films. Cercamon is handling world sales, which means it is the company selling the film to cinemas and streaming services outside its home market.
Aristidou was preparing to fly to the United States after Thessaloniki to start the Oscar campaign. A campaign is the run of screenings, panels and meetings a film makes to win the attention of the Academy's voting members, who choose the final shortlist and winners. Campaigns are usually expensive, and a small country's first entry often runs on a tight budget.
For Cyprus, the selection puts a local story in front of a global audience at the Academy's biggest stage. For Aristidou, it turns a festival run into a months-long push across the American awards season. The shortlist for the international feature category is not announced until later in the cycle, so the next concrete step is the campaign itself.
