IT
Some bonds seem to fade with time, while others, despite everything, continue searching for a way to be reborn. It is around this seemingly impossible idea that Hold Onto Me, the latest film by Cypriot director Myrsini Aristidou, revolves. Screening in competition in the Generator +13 section at #Giffoni56, the film unfolds over a suspended summer marked by longing and wounds that have never fully healed.
The story follows Iris, a curious and determined eleven-year-old girl who, after learning that her father Aris has returned to town for her grandfather’s funeral, decides to find him. She discovers him hiding in an abandoned shipyard, a symbolic setting that reflects a relationship left unfinished. From that moment on, a slow and tender journey begins, as father and daughter cautiously try to rebuild their fragile bond through hesitation, silence, and small gestures that gradually rekindle hope.
The screening was followed by a moving discussion between the director and the #jurors in Sala Truffaut. Chiara particularly appreciated “the mentor-student dynamic” that develops between the characters, highlighting how the film portrays mutual growth: it is not only the daughter searching for her father, but also the adult learning, step by step, how to truly become a parent.
Among the questions raised during the discussion, Lara touched on one of the film’s deepest themes: “Why do men find it harder to accept abandonment?” Her question opened a broader reflection on male vulnerability, emotions that are often suppressed, and the difficulty of confronting grief and loss.
Filippo, meanwhile, focused on the relationship between Iris and Danae, the older friend who accompanies the young protagonist on her journey, asking whether such a mature figure risked forcing Iris to grow up too quickly. Aristidou explained that this choice was deeply rooted in her own life experience: “It’s part of my personal story. I think that, especially in previous generations, when you grew up with an absent parent, it was very easy to mature too quickly and rely on older people adult friends who became important role models.”
Without resorting to easy emotional shortcuts, Hold Onto Me delicately explores how difficult it can be to piece a family back together. It is a film that reminds us that love cannot erase old wounds, but it can offer the courage to face them together.
For the #Giffoners, it was an emotional journey into the universal need to belong to someone, proving that even what seems impossible finding each other again after years apart can become reality when someone chooses to reach out a hand.