Cyprus has the last divided capital in the world, meaning it features in many forms of expression, be it literature, music or film. Migration, nostalgia and the Buffer Zone are recurring elements you’ll spot in some way or another in Cypriot films. Below are some of the most famous featured Cypriot movies.

Fish n’ Chips (2011)

On the topic of migration and nostalgia towards a long-lost home, Fish n’ Chips portrays Andy, a Greek-Cypriot immigrant in London who works in a fish shop owned by Turkish-Cypriot Jimmy. Caught between work troubles, his mother who suffers with dementia and his dreams of returning home, Andy realises life in London is not like in Cyprus. He decides to start a life back in Cyprus only to find that nothing is as he thought. Andy discovers that Cypriots aren’t huge fans of fish and chips, and as he struggles to deal with reality, his mother looks for her place back in her homeland. The film presents the desire of an imagined home, of moving away and the restless need to identify with something: a feeling a lot of travelling souls can relate to.

Diakopes sti Kipro (1971)

This is an old film that all Greek-speakers should watch to see how Cyprus looked before the 1974 war. Filmed all over the island, the film shows iconic landmarks which today have a totally different meaning and look. Among these are the busy popular beaches of Famagusta that are now mostly empty, and the Ledra Palace Hotel, now home to the UN, which was originally one of Nicosia’s best-known hotels in 1971. The story revolves around two fathers who try to marry their kids, who have other plans and get up to adventures around the island. Try to track it down to also witness how Greek films were made back in the day, which included many songs.

Exodus (1960)

This Oscar-winning film which includes actors like Paul Newman and Eva Marie Saint received global acclaim and is based on the book Exodus by Leon Uris. The story is about the founding of the state of Israel as thousands of Jews – Holocaust survivors – are being held in Cyprus by the British, who will not let them go to Palestine. The film follows those Holocaust survivors and an intelligence officer who tries to get them to Israel, but faces many oppositions as Israel’s independence is declared. Exodus similarly displays the crucial geographic location of Cyprus and many of its landscapes, as the film was half shot on the island.