Synopsis
It’s summer, and 11-year-old Iris is running wild through the streets with her older friend Danae when she discovers that her estranged father, Aris, is back in town for his own father’s funeral. Determined to get to know him, Iris tracks him down to a dilapidated shipyard, where he’s been keeping to himself. What begins as a stubborn attempt to reconnect gradually unfolds into a fragile, imperfect, yet deeply moving bond.
Awards
2026 Sundance Film Festival (United States) Audience Award
Datasheet
Direction Myrsini Aristidou
Screenplay Myrsini Aristidou
Photography Lasse Ulvedal Tolbøll
Edition Jenna Mangula
Music Alex Weston
Production Design Dimitra Sourlantzi
Costume Design Sasia Paludan
Starring Hristos Passalis, Maria Petrova, Jenny Sallo
Production 1.61 Films, Film Blades
Distribution Cercamon
Trailer
Myrsini Aristidou
Cyprus, 1990
Myrsini Aristidou is a Cypriot filmmaker whose work has received international acclaim. She studied film and art history at the Pratt Institute in New York before earning her MFA at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Her short films Semele and Aria premiered at major festivals including Venice, Sundance, Berlinale and TIFF, with Semele winning the Jury Prize in the Generation section at the Berlinale.
A former Cannes Cinéfondation resident and alumna of the Sam Spiegel International Film Lab, TIFF Talent Lab, and Berlinale Talents, her debut feature Hold onto Me marks her transition into feature filmmaking. Myrsini is the founder of the Sagapo Children’s Foundation, an international NGO dedicated to empowering underprivileged children through education and creative learning initiatives.
Selected filmography
2026 Hold onto me
