Countryside Animafest Cyprus

Countryside Animafest Cyprus – Views of the World is an animation festival held each summer in a village in the Cypriot countryside rather than in a city. It began in 2002 in the courtyard of the Hambis Printmaking School in Platanisteia, Limassol district, founded by Yiorgos Tsangaris, Yiangos Hadjiyiannis and Dimitris Eipides, first as the Small Documentary Festival – the first documentary festival in Cyprus – before turning exclusively to independent animation. Tsangaris remains its artistic director.

The programme centres on independent, non-commercial short films, mostly shown as Cyprus premieres: international narrative and non-narrative competitions, a competition for young audiences judged by juries of children and teenagers, and a national competition for Cypriot directors, alongside exhibitions, workshops and live music. Each year an invited animator designs the festival poster, and during the school year a Junior Edition takes animation workshops to Cypriot schools. The 25th edition runs on 6–9 August 2026 in the village of Koilani, Limassol district.