After the loss of his sister, the Japanese visual artist Motoi Yamamoto began exploring the ephemerality of life by creating intricate salt installations in memory of his lost loved ones. Nicolas Iordanou & Sylvia Nicolaides’s short doc ‘Requiem in Salt’ explores the symbolism and the significance of salt in Japanese culture as it documents Yamamoto’s process for creating a salt installation in Takehara City, Hiroshima. The film had its European Premiere at the Tampere Film Festival in 2025. It has also been screened at the Sapporo International Short Film Festival in Japan; the Thessaloniki Film Festival; the Drama International Short Film Festival, where it received the award for Best Documentary; and the International Short Film Festival of Cyprus in Limassol, where it received the award for Best Director.

Nicolas Iordanou & Sylvia Nicolaides
Born in Paphos, Cyprus, photographer and filmmaker Nicolas Iordanou studied Photography at Columbia College Chicago. After working as a conflict photographer for several years, Iordanou began focusing on documentary photography, documenting issues that reveal elements of the human condition, from displacement and homelessness to art. Filmmaker and video artist Sylvia Nicolaides received her Bachelor’s Fine Arts Degree from Chelsea College of Art and Design (University of the Arts) in London and her Master’s Degree from the Film and Television Academy (FAMU) in Prague, Czech Republic. She is a Berlinale Talents and Talents Sarajevo alumna and a member of the Directors Guild of Cyprus. Iordanou and Nicolaides have been working as a filmmaking duo since 2012. Their films have been screened at international film festivals, winning awards at the Alexandria Mediterranean Film Festival in Egypt and the 3D Korea Film Festival in Seoul. Their documentary Soma & Lil, produced in collaboration with the European Capital of Culture Aarhus 2017 in Denmark, has screened at more than 20 international film festivals, including the PÖFF Short Film Festival in Tallinn, Estonia, and has been awarded with two Best Film Awards and one Audience Award. Iordanou and Nicolaides are also the founders and directors of the Paphos International Film Festival in Cyprus