Skip to content
You are currently viewing Cyril Aris

Cyril Aris

Cyril Aris is a Lebanese director and screenwriter, and a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
His fiction feature, A Sad and Beautiful World (2025), premiered at the Venice Film Festival in the Giornate degli Autori competition, where it won the Audience Award, and will next screen at the BFI London Film Festival, among others.

His documentary Dancing on the Edge of a Volcano (2023), supported by the Sundance Institute, premiered in competition at Karlovy Vary, receiving a jury special mention before touring more than 80 festivals worldwide, including BFI London, CPH:DOX, and DOC NYC, winning awards in Rotterdam, Valencia, Rome, San Francisco, Marseille, and beyond. His debut, The Swing (2018), also premiered at Karlovy Vary and won multiple awards internationally.

A Columbia University MFA graduate, Aris also works as an editor, with credits including Costa Brava, Lebanon (Venice Orizzonti, 2021).

Credits

FEATURE FILM
Date: 2025
Production (role):
A Sad and Beautiful World
Company:
Abbout Productions (Lebanon) / Diversity Hire (USA)
Project details:
Director & Writer

Lebanese candidate for Best International Feature Film in the 98th Academy Awards

Premiered at the 82nd Venice Film Festival in the Giornate Degli Autori competition, and it won the Audience Award

Official selection of the BFI London Film Festival

Official selection of the Valladolid International Film Festival (Seminci)
Date: 2023
Production (role):
Dancing on the Edge of a Volcano
Company:
Abbout Productions (Lebanon)
Project details:
Documentary

Special Jury Mention at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Czech Republic, 2023

Audience Award at the Mostra de Valencia, Spain, 2023

Audience Award at the Festival Dei Popoli, Italy, 2023

Best Film Award at the MedFilm Festival, Italy 2023

Piuculture Award for Best Film at the MedFilm Festival, Italy 2023

University Jury Award for Best Film at the MedFilm Festival, Italy 2023

Special Jury Mention at the Cinemed Film Festival, France, 2023

Main Prize (Viewfinder competition) at the Verzio International Human Rights Documentary FF, Hungary 2023

Jury Prize at the DokuBaku International Documentary Film Festival, Azerbaijan, 2023
Date: 2018
Production (role):
The Swing
Project details:
Documentary

53rd Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Czech Republic 2018 | World Premiere

El-Gouna Bronze Star Award at the 2nd El Gouna Film Festival, Egypt 2018

Honorable Mention at the 8th Open City Documentary Festival in London for "its impeccable judged framing and profoundly touching meditation on mortality and morality", UK 2018

Jury Prize at the 24th Medfilm Festival in Rome, Italy 2018: "Director Cyril Aris delivers a painful and heartbreaking movie filming the silences, the unsaid and the grandparents' love, while reflecting on aging and death. The human condition is examined in a sweet way within a few rooms, and from a balcony overlooking Beirut."

Jury Prize at the 2nd Manarat Film Festival, Tunisia - "It is a film about the last days of a couple, a story about death and love, about old age and memory. It triggers strong emotions and destabilizes with its ambiguity. It challenges us with questions of divergent answers. Eventually, we congratulate this film for the beautiful love story it depicts"

Special Mention at the 5th Budapest International Documentary Festival, Hungary 2019

Recipient of the AFAC Documentary Grant
SHORT
Date: 2020
Production (role):
Beating Hearts
Company:
BBC
Date: 2017
Production (role):
The President's Visit
Company:
IndieFlip
Project details:
42nd Toronto International Film Festival, Canada 2017 | World Premiere

Grand Jury Prize, Nashville Film Festival, USA 2018 - Oscar qualifying award for the Oscars of 2019

BAFTA student award - shortlist, UK 2018

Muhr Short Film Jury Prize, Dubai International Film Festival, UAE 2017

National Board of Review (NBR) Award, USA 2017

Best Directing Award, Elia Short Film Festival, Palestine 2018

Recipient of the Doha Film Institute Production Grant, Qatar 2017

Recipient of the Katharina Otto-Bernstein Production Grant, USA 2017

Recipient of a grant from the Ministry of Culture in Lebanon, Lebanon 2017
BELOW THE LINE
Date: 2021
Production (role):
Costa Brava Lebanon
Company:
Abbout Productions
Project details:
Editor
Date: 2016
Production (role):
SUBMARINE (Short)
Project details:
Producer

Credits

  • Date
    Production (role)
    Company
    Project details
  • Date: 2025
    Production (role): A Sad and Beautiful World
    Company: Abbout Productions (Lebanon) / Diversity Hire (USA)
    Project details: Director & Writer

    Lebanese candidate for Best International Feature Film in the 98th Academy Awards

    Premiered at the 82nd Venice Film Festival in the Giornate Degli Autori competition, and it won the Audience Award

    Official selection of the BFI London Film Festival

    Official selection of the Valladolid International Film Festival (Seminci)
  • Date: 2023
    Production (role): Dancing on the Edge of a Volcano
    Company: Abbout Productions (Lebanon)
    Project details: Documentary

    Special Jury Mention at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Czech Republic, 2023

    Audience Award at the Mostra de Valencia, Spain, 2023

    Audience Award at the Festival Dei Popoli, Italy, 2023

    Best Film Award at the MedFilm Festival, Italy 2023

    Piuculture Award for Best Film at the MedFilm Festival, Italy 2023

    University Jury Award for Best Film at the MedFilm Festival, Italy 2023

    Special Jury Mention at the Cinemed Film Festival, France, 2023

    Main Prize (Viewfinder competition) at the Verzio International Human Rights Documentary FF, Hungary 2023

    Jury Prize at the DokuBaku International Documentary Film Festival, Azerbaijan, 2023
  • Date: 2018
    Production (role): The Swing
    Company:
    Project details: Documentary

    53rd Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Czech Republic 2018 | World Premiere

    El-Gouna Bronze Star Award at the 2nd El Gouna Film Festival, Egypt 2018

    Honorable Mention at the 8th Open City Documentary Festival in London for "its impeccable judged framing and profoundly touching meditation on mortality and morality", UK 2018

    Jury Prize at the 24th Medfilm Festival in Rome, Italy 2018: "Director Cyril Aris delivers a painful and heartbreaking movie filming the silences, the unsaid and the grandparents' love, while reflecting on aging and death. The human condition is examined in a sweet way within a few rooms, and from a balcony overlooking Beirut."

    Jury Prize at the 2nd Manarat Film Festival, Tunisia - "It is a film about the last days of a couple, a story about death and love, about old age and memory. It triggers strong emotions and destabilizes with its ambiguity. It challenges us with questions of divergent answers. Eventually, we congratulate this film for the beautiful love story it depicts"

    Special Mention at the 5th Budapest International Documentary Festival, Hungary 2019

    Recipient of the AFAC Documentary Grant
  • Date
    Production (role)
    Company
    Project details
  • Date: 2020
    Production (role): Beating Hearts
    Company: BBC
    Project details:
  • Date: 2017
    Production (role): The President's Visit
    Company: IndieFlip
    Project details: 42nd Toronto International Film Festival, Canada 2017 | World Premiere

    Grand Jury Prize, Nashville Film Festival, USA 2018 - Oscar qualifying award for the Oscars of 2019

    BAFTA student award - shortlist, UK 2018

    Muhr Short Film Jury Prize, Dubai International Film Festival, UAE 2017

    National Board of Review (NBR) Award, USA 2017

    Best Directing Award, Elia Short Film Festival, Palestine 2018

    Recipient of the Doha Film Institute Production Grant, Qatar 2017

    Recipient of the Katharina Otto-Bernstein Production Grant, USA 2017

    Recipient of a grant from the Ministry of Culture in Lebanon, Lebanon 2017
  • Date
    Production (role)
    Company
    Project details
  • Date: 2021
    Production (role): Costa Brava Lebanon
    Company: Abbout Productions
    Project details: Editor
  • Date: 2016
    Production (role): SUBMARINE (Short)
    Company:
    Project details: Producer
Menu