CYRIL ARIS / DANCING ON THE EDGE OF A VOLCANO
Cyril Aris is a Lebanese Director & Screenwriter and, since 2019, a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences®. He received his MFA from Columbia University, then later returned there to teach.
His feature documentary, The Swing (2018), premiered in Karlovy Vary and won awards in El-Gouna, Rome, London, Budapest and Tunisia, with the Hollywood reporter calling it an ‘intimate and moving […] meditation on truth, love and lies in the face of illness and death’.
His latest feature documentary Dancing on the Edge of Volcano (2023), received a post-production grant from the Sundance Institute and the Robert Bösch FilmPrize. It premiered in the Main Competition of the 57th Karlovy Vary IFF where it won a Jury Special mention. It had its UK premiere in competition at the 67th BFI London Film Festival and its North American premiere in competition at DOC NYC, and played at CPH DOX in Denmark. It won the Audience Award at the 38th Mostra de Valencia in Spain, the Audience Award at the 64th Festival de Popoli in Italy, the Best Film award at the 29th Medfilm Festival in Rome, the Viewfinder Main Prize at the 20th Verzio Human Rights Festival in Budapest, and a jury special mention at the 45th Cinémed in France.
Cyril Aris is a Lebanese Director & Screenwriter and, since 2019, a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences®. He received his MFA from Columbia University, then later returned there to teach.
His feature documentary, The Swing (2018), premiered in Karlovy Vary and won awards in El-Gouna, Rome, London, Budapest and Tunisia, with the Hollywood reporter calling it an ‘intimate and moving […] meditation on truth, love and lies in the face of illness and death’.
His latest feature documentary Dancing on the Edge of Volcano (2023), received a post-production grant from the Sundance Institute and the Robert Bösch FilmPrize. It premiered in the Main Competition of the 57th Karlovy Vary IFF where it won a Jury Special mention. It had its UK premiere in competition at the 67th BFI London Film Festival and its North American premiere in competition at DOC NYC, and played at CPH DOX in Denmark. It won the Audience Award at the 38th Mostra de Valencia in Spain, the Audience Award at the 64th Festival de Popoli in Italy, the Best Film award at the 29th Medfilm Festival in Rome, the Viewfinder Main Prize at the 20th Verzio Human Rights Festival in Budapest, and a jury special mention at the 45th Cinémed in France.
Cyril Aris is a Lebanese Director & Screenwriter and, since 2019, a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences®. He received his MFA from Columbia University, then later returned there to teach.
His feature documentary, The Swing (2018), premiered in Karlovy Vary and won awards in El-Gouna, Rome, London, Budapest and Tunisia, with the Hollywood reporter calling it an ‘intimate and moving […] meditation on truth, love and lies in the face of illness and death’.
His latest feature documentary Dancing on the Edge of Volcano (2023), received a post-production grant from the Sundance Institute and the Robert Bösch FilmPrize. It premiered in the Main Competition of the 57th Karlovy Vary IFF where it won a Jury Special mention. It had its UK premiere in competition at the 67th BFI London Film Festival and its North American premiere in competition at DOC NYC, and played at CPH DOX in Denmark. It won the Audience Award at the 38th Mostra de Valencia in Spain, the Audience Award at the 64th Festival de Popoli in Italy, the Best Film award at the 29th Medfilm Festival in Rome, the Viewfinder Main Prize at the 20th Verzio Human Rights Festival in Budapest, and a jury special mention at the 45th Cinémed in France.
“…this fly-on-the-wall study is a painful watch, with some heartbreaking moments; but it’s tender too, and funny.”