Free Eliza
TITLE
Free Eliza
DIRECTOR
Alexandra Matheou
COUNTRY
Cyprus, Greece, France
YEAR
2026
DURATION
20′
GENRE
Fiction
Free Eliza
Eliza works at a hotel resort, moving through a cycle of roles designed to keep guests constantly satisfied. Beneath the hotel’s polished surface, she struggles to maintain an unseen private life, all while carrying a rare anatomical condition: she is physically unable to smile. In a world obsessed with toxic positivity, Eliza must decide whether to change herself to fit in, or resist by remaining exactly who she is.
DIRECTOR BIOGRAPHY - Alexandra Matheou
Alexandra Matheou is a screenwriter and director. Her work explores the intersection of the intimate and the social, with a focus on female subjectivity, class, and belonging. Alexandra holds an LLB and LLM from King’s College London and an MA in Film Studies from University College London (UCL). Her short films have screened at festivals and museums worldwide, with her latest, A Summer Place (2021) - a Cyprus–France co-production supported by the CNC - earning selections and awards at international festivals (AFI, Palm Springs, Uppsala, São Paulo, Tampere, among others). The film was also nominated for Best Short Film at the Hellenic Film Academy Awards. Her debut feature is in the financing stage with backing from Onassis Culture, the Cyprus Film Fund, the Greek Film Centre, and Creative Europe MEDIA. With this project she won the top award at the Crossroads Co-Production Forum (Thessaloniki International Film Festival) and the Producer’s Network Award at the Cannes Film Festival (2022). An alumna of Talents Sarajevo (2018), she founded This Is The Girl Films in 2019, an independent production company based in Cyprus. She has participated in the First Films First script development program (Goethe-Institut), the Oxbelly Screenwriters and Directors Lab (2022), and the Mediterranean Film Institute’s Script 2 Film Workshop (2023). Alexandra’s upcoming short film Free Eliza (Notes on an Anatomical Imperfection) will have its world premiere at the Quinzaine des Cinéastes at the Cannes Film Festival.
- DirectorAlexandra Matheou
- ScreenplayAlexandra Matheou
- CinematographyLuciana Riso
- CastGrigoria Metheniti, Polyxeni Savva, Zoi Kyprianou, Giorgos Kyriakou, Iole Pitta, Alexis Neophytou
- EditingNikos Vavouris GFE
- Producer/s Savvas Stavrou
- Production CompanyThis Is The Girl Films
- Distributor/sLights On Film
- Project TitleFree Eliza
- Project Type Fiction
- Completion Date21 May 2026
- Country of originCyprus, Greece, France
- Country of filmingCyprus, Greece, France
- LanguageEnglish, Greek (Modern), Spanish
- First-time Filmmaker No
- Student ProjectNo
Alexandra Matheou
Alexandra Matheou is a screenwriter and director. Her work explores the intersection of the intimate and the social, with a focus on female subjectivity, class, and belonging. Alexandra holds an LLB and LLM from King’s College London and an MA in Film Studies from University College London (UCL). Her short films have screened at festivals and museums worldwide, with her latest, A Summer Place (2021) - a Cyprus–France co-production supported by the CNC - earning selections and awards at international festivals (AFI, Palm Springs, Uppsala, São Paulo, Tampere, among others). The film was also nominated for Best Short Film at the Hellenic Film Academy Awards. Her debut feature is in the financing stage with backing from Onassis Culture, the Cyprus Film Fund, the Greek Film Centre, and Creative Europe MEDIA. With this project she won the top award at the Crossroads Co-Production Forum (Thessaloniki International Film Festival) and the Producer’s Network Award at the Cannes Film Festival (2022). An alumna of Talents Sarajevo (2018), she founded This Is The Girl Films in 2019, an independent production company based in Cyprus. She has participated in the First Films First script development program (Goethe-Institut), the Oxbelly Screenwriters and Directors Lab (2022), and the Mediterranean Film Institute’s Script 2 Film Workshop (2023). Alexandra’s upcoming short film Free Eliza (Notes on an Anatomical Imperfection) will have its world premiere at the Quinzaine des Cinéastes at the Cannes Film Festival.
World Premiere Quinzaine des Cinéastes Cannes 2026
