16/12/2020 – It has truly been a unique and troublesome year. As someone who is passionately involved in filmmaking, I can’t imagine writing and preparing to make a film, for it to be postponed indefinitely due to the pandemic. The time it takes to fully realise a no/low budget short film, especially in North Cyprus, is enough to take a few years off your life. So I’m very grateful that we were able to shoot our film Konsomatris long before the whole world went into hiding.

Earlier this year, I organised a small invite-only ‘Corona’ screening through Facebook to my friends in Cyprus, and I was truly touched by the response. During the live Q&A, people were vocal and supportive of the themes we were tackling, encouraging me to arrange further screenings. It would have been ideal to have an official screening in a Cypriot cinema where I feel the film is most relevant. There are many reasons for why this hasn’t happened, a lack of political will being one of them. However, I do take into account the sensitive nature of the film’s subject that even today, most Cypriots have not come to terms with. By having the film publicly online, there is always the possibility of creating a spark for a healthy and positive debate. There is also the chance of me getting a phone call to take the film down. We shall see.

Criticism is a desire to want better, for positive change, to create awareness, to not settle for the status quo. Yet a machismo mainstream exists through a significant part of the population that rejects any kind of scrutiny. It’s within this absurd reality that I will attempt to write and produce future work. Until then, I leave you with the story of Ahmet and the journey of many others he represents, with the link to Konsomatris (Hostess). My writing and directing partner Alasdair Bayne and I are forever grateful for those that supported us.