Stelana Kliris' 'Apart' Challenges the Border Between Us and Them

Stelana Kliris is bringing her family's real struggle to the screen. The writer-director's debut feature, Apart, pulls from her own parents' journey as refugees—stories that don't get told enough in cinema, especially not with this kind of care and specificity.

The film bounces between Cyprus and apartheid South Africa, two places where the line between "us" and "them" was drawn hard and brutal. Leem Lubany and Luca Pasqualino lead the cast through what sounds like a character study that refuses easy answers about displacement, belonging, and what it costs to rebuild when everything's taken from you.

Apart just landed in the Critics' Picks section at PÖFF (that's the Tallinn Film Festival for those not up on their Eastern European cinema calendars). That's a real co-sign—festivals don't put personal, intimate work like this in a spotlight slot unless there's something worth seeing.

Kliris could've made something preachy or safe. Instead, sounds like she made something honest—the kind of film that reminds you why personal stories matter more than hot takes.

Read the full story at The Hollywood Reporter → https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/apart-film-trailer-cyprus-apartheid-south-africa-tallinn-1236738213/