The first edition of the Palestinian Independent Film Festival (PIFF) took place in Limassol from 15 to 22 February 2024, marking the moment where the idea of PIFF was first imagined and collectively brought into being. The festival emerged through a joint effort between Jafra Abu Zoulouf and Adonis Florides, alongside members of United for Palestine - Limassol and cultural spaces in the city that shared a commitment to creating room for Palestinian cinema at a moment of intensified violence, censorship, and erasure.

Conceived as a grassroots, non-commercial initiative, PIFF Lemesos was shaped from the outset as a collective cultural response rather than a formal festival structure. The edition was organized entirely through volunteer labor, mutual support, and shared responsibility, with the aim of creating spaces where Palestinian cinema could be encountered with care, political clarity, and openness to dialogue.

Rather than being confined to a single venue, the festival unfolded across Limassol, with screenings and events hosted by Synergeio Theatre, NeMe Arts Centre, Tapper Bar, and Sto Dromo Bar. These venues offered their spaces free of charge, treating the festival not as a rental opportunity but as a shared cultural responsibility. Each space brought its own audience and atmosphere, allowing the festival to move through different social and cultural contexts within the city.

The programme presented feature films, documentaries, and short works by Palestinian filmmakers from Gaza, the West Bank, the occupied 1948 territories, and the diaspora. Screenings were accompanied by Q&A sessions and discussions that connected the films to broader political, social, and environmental questions. The discussions featured Klitos Papastylianou and Charalambos Charalambous, and were facilitated by Melanie Steliou and Sevina Floridou, creating space for exchange that extended beyond the cinematic frame and grounded the films within lived realities.

The first edition was also made possible through the solidarity of Palestinian filmmakers, all of whom chose to offer their films free of charge for this edition. At a moment of deep precarity for Palestinian cultural production, this gesture reflected a shared commitment to collective cultural work and to keeping Palestinian stories visible, accessible, and held with care.

Alongside this, the festival was sustained by public support through individual donations, which played a crucial role in allowing PIFF not only to take place, but to continue being imagined beyond its first iteration. This support, together with volunteer labor and the generosity of venues, created the conditions from which the 2nd edition of PIFF could later be envisioned and expanded across Cyprus and Crete.

The edition also extended beyond screenings into moments of collective gathering and cultural expression. A Palestinian music night at Sto Dromo Bar, featuring a live DJ set by Stelios Keryniotis, created space for presence, community, and shared experience - affirming culture as something lived and practiced collectively, not confined to the cinema screen.

PIFF 1st Edition in Lemesos stands as the point where the festival’s collective and decentralized model was first articulated in practice. What began as a local initiative rooted in trust, solidarity, and care laid the foundation for PIFF’s continued growth, carrying forward the same principles into future editions across different geographies.