Can a young woman forced to leave a divided Cyprus in the 1970s find belonging and even love in an arranged marriage in Apartheid South Africa, especially when a secret from her past threatens to change everything?

With Apart , South African Cypriot writer-director Stelana Kliris ( Find Me Falling , Committed ) has created a deeply personal film about displacement, belonging, borders, both the ones that are physical and those that are in our hearts, and human connections. And it is inspired by the real experiences of her refugee parents.

The movie, world-premiering at the 30th edition of the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF), stars Leem Lubany ( Omar , Rock the Kasbah ), Luca Pasqualino ( Rivals , The Musketeers ) and Girley Jazama ( Under the Hanging Tree , The White Line ).

“In 1974, when Turkey invades Cyprus, young Eleni (Lubany) leaves her homeland through an arranged marriage and finds herself in Apartheid South Africa, swapping one divided country for another,” reads a synopsis for the…