What does a filmmaker do after topping the global Netflix charts? Definitely not one to rest on her laurels, Cypriot filmmaker Stelana Kliris is already planning her next, big thing.
Variety revealed the details for her next film, “Apart from Her,” including an international cast and cross-border production with support from the United Kingdom, Greece and Cyprus.
Kliris rose to international acclaim this year after her film “Find Me Falling,” starring Harry Connick Jr., was one of the most streamed films on Netflix, with millions of streams from around the world.
Her new project is based on her own screenplay and is described as a “drama with the pace and tension of a thriller.” Set in 1974, the story follows a young woman who flees war-torn Cyprus for apartheid South Africa through an arranged marriage. After befriending a local woman who harbors her own dark secret, hidden truths surface, forcing love and prejudice to collide.
Kliris has attracted an acclaimed international cast. Palestinian actress Leem Lubany, best known for 2013’s Oscar-nominated “Omar” and the Emmy nominated “The Old Man” will star. She will be joined by Luke Pasqualino, whose credits include “The Musketeers” and recent Jilly Cooper adaptation “Rivals,” and Girley Jazama, whose performance in “Under The Hanging Tree,” Namibia’s first submission for the Oscars, earned her an African Movie Academy Award nomination.
“Apart from Her” is an international co-production with producers including Susan Simnett and Jamie Harvey from Over The Fence Films (U.K.), Ioanna Bolomyti from Atalante Productions (Greece) and Stelana Kliris herself producing for Meraki Films (Cyprus).
“I am thrilled to be working with this fantastic cast and amazing team on my third feature,” Kliris told Variety in the exclusive report. “In ‘Apart From Her’ we see an entire country’s internal conflict embodied in one woman and as an exploration of cultural and personal identity set against significant historical events, the film feels both timely and timeless.”
Made with the support from Cyprus Deputy Ministry of Culture, the Cyprus Film Commission’s incentives scheme, the Hellenic Film & Audiovisual Center — Creative Greece, European Union – NextGenerationEU through the National Recovery and Resilience Plan «GREECE 2.0», Creative Europe and the SEE Cinema Network, the film will be shot in Cyprus.
