BIO

Sylvia Nicolaides is a filmmaker and a visual artist. She is a Berlinale Talents and Talents Sarajevo alumna (Berlin 2019, Sarajevo 2020/2021), a member of the Directors Guild of Cyprus and one of the directors of the Paphos International Film Festival in Cyprus. She is a member of the Director’s Guild of Cyprus since 2014, and a member of the board of directors from 2019-2021. She received her Bachelor’s Fine Arts Degree from Chelsea College of Art and Design (University of the Arts) in London and her Master’s Degree in Audio-Visual Studies in the Film and Television Academy (FAMU) in Prague, Czech Republic. She has been working with Nicolas Iordanou as a filmmaking duo since 2012.

 

In 2022, together with Nicolas Iordanou, they received  research fellowships from the Japan Foundation and the Institute of Contemporary Arts Kyoto, and traveled to Japan for their documentary 'Requiem in Salt' about the artist Motoi Yamamoto, which was awarded with the Best Director award at the Int. Short Film Festival of Cyprus (ISFFC) in 2024 and with the Best Documentary Award at the 48th Drama Int. Short Film Festival in Greece in 2025 and was screened at the 55th Tampere Film Festival and the 66th Thessaloniki Int. Film Festival among others. 

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Their films has been screened in several international film festivals like Raindance, PÖFF, In The Palace among others,  and awarded with several awards. ​

 

They have collaborated with the European Capital of Culture Pafos 2017 in Cyprus, through which they have curated a photography exhibition titled ‘The Alien Trail’ with photographers from the Magnum Photo Agency and directed a short documentary with the same title. They documentary ‘Soma & Lil’ which was in collaboration with the European Capital of Culture Aarhus 2017 in Denmark in the same year, has been presented and competed in more than 20 international film festivals and has been awarded with two Best Film Awards and one Audience Award. 

 

As a video artist, Sylvia participated in several group art exhibitions and art residencies both in Cyprus and abroad. In 2013 she participated in the exhibition ‘Catharsis/Rebirth’ in Paphos, Cyprus and co-directed a short film presentation from it, which was selected and presented in the Louvre Museum in Paris as part of the Michelangelo Pistoletto’s exhibition ‘Annee Un – Le Paradis Sur Terre’.

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Her 3D video art ‘Airground’ had been presented in more than 10 3D film festivals and 3D conferences and has been presented as a 3D art installation at the CURRECTS Santa Fe International New Media Festival in New Mexico. It is part of the permanent collection of the State Gallery of Contemporary Art in Cyprus.