Cannes, France. Cypriot writer-director Alexandra Matheou will premiere her latest short film, “Free Eliza (Notes on an Anatomical Imperfection),” at the Quinzaine des Cinéastes at the Cannes Film Festival later this month.
Milestone premiere at Quinzaine des Cinéastes
Matheou said the selection is significant as it comes ahead of her move to her first feature film. “It means a lot to me,” she said, adding that “this is my last short before moving into my first feature,” and that she had hoped the film would screen at Quinzaine ahead of that next step.
She also described the moment as personally meaningful. “It means a great deal to be part of a festival I’ve spent years cherishing,” she said, calling it a long-time point of reference and adding that arriving there with her own film “feels very special.”
Filmmaking focus on women’s private lives and wider systems
Matheou has built a presence on the international short film circuit with films that return to the private lives of women, framed as a way to examine the systems that shape them.
Her work is described as precise and sometimes unsettling, and often focused on identity, class, grief, and the female body.
“Free Eliza” explores pressure to perform happiness
While details of “Free Eliza” are being kept under wraps, Matheou said the film began with “the idea of someone who cannot smile in a world where smiling is expected all the time,” and developed into a broader look at the pressure to perform happiness.
Set in a resort, she described the setting as “a controlled environment where emotions are part of the job,” adding that the gap between what is felt and what is shown became central to the film.
Matheou said the 20-minute film questions assumptions about visible happiness. “We’re so used to seeing happiness as something visible and immediate,” she said, adding that she wanted to create more room “for people who don’t perform in expected ways.”
She said she is not aiming for neat conclusions, and expressed hope that audiences “can root for a heroine who is unapologetically herself, even if that makes things uncomfortable for others.”
What do you think the film’s resort setting adds to its focus on the pressure to perform happiness?