EUNIC Malta Film Festival 2022
12 October 2022 – 16 October 2022
FREE EVENT – ONLINE REGISTRATION REQUIRED
The Embassies and Cultural Institutes of Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and UK as well as the Alliance Française de Malte-Méditerranée, the Arts Council Malta, the Czech Cultural Centre/Embassy of the Czech Republic and the EU Commission Representation in Malta have been working together to set up the EUNIC Malta Cluster. EUNIC, the European Union National Institutes for Culture, is the European network of organisations engaging in international cultural relations.
EUNIC ensures that people from diverse communities and all occupations become active participants in culture and the arts. The EUNIC Malta Cluster envisages to facilitate people-to-people exchanges, European cooperation, and representation of local cultural partners. The mission of EUNIC is to contribute towards the Sustainable Development Goals and to reflect and give value to the diversity of European cultures and common values through joint European events and projects.
The EUNIC film festival focuses on local Maltese and international audiences, which allows the participating countries to present themselves in a special way.
In excellent cooperation with our partner and sponsor Spazju Kreattiv at St. James Cavalier Centre for Creativity in Valletta, EUNIC Malta presents ten films whose main theme is sustainability, whether social, economic or environmental; a theme in light of environmental degradation, biodiversity loss, climate change, overconsumption, population growth and societies’ pursuit of unlimited economic growth in a closed system.
Sustainability is a most pressing issue for all of us. In order to allow access to all interested viewers tickets for films of the EUNIC European Film Festival on sustainability are free of charge.
Since EUNIC Malta would like to provide general access to culture for all people, visitors of the film festival will not have to pay a fee in order to watch the movies. However, booking is required through our online ticketing system to visit the film festival.
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| THE MOVIES |
| EU Commission Representation in Malta |
Series of Short Films: A Sunny Day, Olmo, Hungry Seagull, Kokota, Thermostat 6 and Tuã Ingugu
Total Duration: 66 minutes
Wednesday 12th October 2022 at 6pm
Cert. 15
The EU Commission Representation in Malta will introduce the short movies A Sunny Day, Olmo, Hungry Seagull, Kokota, Thermostat 6 and Tuã Ingugu. A Sunny Day by Moroccan director Faouzi Bensaïdi is about how men and women survive under the impact of a changing climate, in a distant and near future, both fantastic and absurd. Hungry Seagull by Chinese director Leon Wang focuses on the lives of a family of seagulls living on an island not far from the mainland, and how they survive amidst the threat of offshore overfishing and the pollution of the marine environment.
Olmo by Italian director Silvio Soldini is about an 80-year-old grandfather, and his grandson Giulio who read an article from a newspaper about melting glaciers, the greenhouse effect, methane and CO2. Instead of going to school, the two go on an adventure looking for an old tree. Tuã Ingugu by Brazilian director Daniela Thomas captures the relationship between the Xingu community and their river, and the emotions of one of them when he is taken to see Sao Paulo rivers. Kokota: The Islet of Hope by Craig Norris tells a story about a man who visits a tiny neighboring islet called Kokota, and tries to help after seeing the island teeter towards a collapse due to climate change and deforestation. Thermostat 6 by Maya Av-Ron is a humorous French language animation movie, which examines attitudes around climate change as well as introducing the topic for younger learners.
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| Embassy of France/Alliance Française de Malte-Méditerranée |
Rouge
Duration: 88 minutes
Wednesday 12th October 2022 at 8.30pm
Cert. 15
The Embassy of France and Alliance Française de Malte-Méditerranée will launch the movie Rouge by Thomas Lilti. The film tells a story about the nurse Nour, who has just been hired in the chemical plant where her father, a union delegate and a long-time company leader, works. While the factory is undergoing a health inspection, a young journalist is investigating waste management. The two young women gradually discover that this factory, a pillar of the local economy, is hiding many secrets.
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| Embassy of Spain |
Azul Y No Tan Rosa
Total Duration: 120 minutes
Thursday 13th October 2022 at 6pm
Cert. 18
The Embassy of Spain’s movie is about Diego, a successful young photographer who lives in the glamorous world of fashion, shallowness, and excess. A tragic accident turns his world around; his partner is now in a coma. Unexpectedly, right at this terrible time, Diego must take care of his son Armando and they must adapt to each other; Armando to his father’s unknown homosexual world, and Diego to his teenage son’s closed attitude.
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| Arts Council Malta |
Series of Short Films
Total Duration: 75 minutes
Thursday 13th October 2022 at 8.30pm
Cert. 15
Lost Kid Wanderer by Chelsea Muscat
Son by Ryan Zammit Pawley
Embrace the Grind by Keith Dimech
Rabbit Stew by Francesca Zammit
The Soapbox by Bruce Micallef Eynaud
Orrajt by Jeremy Vella
The Black Pebble by Chris Zarb
To celebrate the 2022 European Year of Youth, Arts Council Malta, in collaboration with Aġenzija Żgħażagħ, has selected a variety of short films by Maltese young filmmakers. The short films encompass a variety of genre, form, theme, style and tone and are as diverse as the group of filmmakers behind them.
In Lost Kid Wanderer by Chelsea Muscat a lone wanderer must decide her future faith while life is coming to an end. Son by Ryan Zammit Pawley is a coming-of-age story that revolves around Sonny, a Maltese boy in his late teens. After a night of partying, Sonny is abruptly awoken, as he needs to sober up, to get to his grandmother’s birthday party. Embrace the Grind by Keith Dimech is a short film about an inspirational basketball player Mason Vires and a story of what goes through a professional’s mind to reach the pinnacle of success. Rabbit Stew by Francesca Zammit tells the story of lifelong friends at the ages of 13 and 10. Gianni escorts Sarah home from school, across their colourful village. To Sarah, the village is the whole world, but by the end of this feminist fairy-tale, her childish beliefs are shattered by the realisation that adults are not as perfect as she thought. The Soapbox by Bruce Micallef Eynaud is about the last weekend of a lockdown when a mysterious virus causes a young man to doubt his own sanity. Orrajt by Jeremy Vella shows a bilingual battle that George needs to face as being both, an English and Maltese speaker. In The Black Pebble by Chris Zarb, Vincent learns a lesson of self-forgiveness.
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| Embassy of Poland |
The Balcony Movie
Duration: 100 minutes
Friday 14th October 2022 at 6pm
Cert. 12A
Can anyone be a movie hero? Can the world be locked in one film frame? Director Paweł Łoziński is watching people from his balcony as they are passing by: sad, thoughtful, glued to their phones, young and old. Neighbours, random visitors or simply passers-by. The filmmaker accosts them, asks questions, talks about how they deal with life. Standing there with his camera for over 2 years he has created a space for dialogue, a lay confessional of sorts, where everyone can stop by and tell their story. The protagonists carry secrets and mysteries, and are not easy to label. Every story is unique, and life always surpasses imagination.
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| Italian Cultural Institute |
L’Ombra del Giorno
Duration: 125 minutes
Friday 14th October at 8.30pm
Cert. 15
The Italian Cultural Institute La Valletta – which is also the Cultural Office of the Embassy of Italy in Malta – will introduce L’Ombra del Giorno. This movie is set in a provincial town (Ascoli Piceno) in the late thirties. Luciano, a sympathizer of fascism like the vast majority of Italians, is the owner of a restaurant, who nevertheless believes he can live according to the rules he has given himself, in a sort of isolation from the outside world. But on the window overlooking the ancient square, together with the worrying signs of something that is about to happen in the world, a girl appears carrying a secret with her. Her name is Anna and she manages to get hired in the restaurant. Since then, life will never be the same for Luciano and together with the dangers he faces, there is the greatest of all: love.
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| Czech Cultural Centre Rome/ Embassy of the Czech Republic |
Living Water
Duration: 77 minutes
Saturday 15th October 2022 at 6pm
Cert. U
The Czech Cultural Centre in Rome and the Embassy of the Czech Republic will present Living Water. Ever since Jordanian nomads settled in the spectacular landscape of Wadi Rum, they grew dependent on complex water infrastructure. The source is right below their feet, yet they struggle to meet basic needs. In the meantime, deep water extraction feeds private large-scale farms, animates visionary development, and secures growing urban population. Bedouins, farmers and city dwellers: they all expect to have a fair share but digging for “blue gold” unleashes an environmental timebomb. Living Water tells the story of power, exploitation and changing ecological circumstances in one of the most water-poor countries in the world.
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| German Embassy |
Toubab
Duration: 96 minutes
Saturday 15th October 2022 at 8.30pm
Cert. 15
The Embassy of Germany will show Toubab, which tells the story of the criminal Babtou. The only thing that can save the petty criminal Babtou from being deported to Senegal is to marry a German. Because in Frankfurt’s high-rise settlement there is not a woman who would be willing to marry the macho, Babtou’s best buddy Dennis steps in. The two ghetto boys spend their “wedding night” with half-naked women in a striptease shack, but before the immigration authorities come to the door to check whether a fake marriage could be involved, a queer lifestyle has to be simulated as quickly as possible. Rainbow flags and a lamp in an obvious shape are just the improvised beginning, because soon a world beyond their stereotypes of homosexuality opens up for the two; but they also get to feel the intolerance and narrow-mindedness of their previous environment. For all its pointed satirical sharpness, the “buddy movie”, told with a lot of wit and street credibility, never loses sight of its serious background, its examination of migration policy or racist and sexist prejudices.
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| Embassy of Austria |
Alpenland
Duration: 88 minutes
Sunday 16th October 2022 at 6pm
Cert: U
The Embassy of Austria will present the movie Alpenland by Robert Schabus. The movie, deals with two opposing worlds: the world of prestigious ski tourism with its impressive Alps and the world of the simple farmer, which reflects the daily and arduous work, seem to collide. Especially the fantastic nature shots give a hint that climate change, with its effects on humans and nature, plays a vital role in this film. Alpenland takes several countries into focus. Different generations are shown, and since the alpine business is profitable, the film shows different protagonists and generations, from the real estate agent in the highly profitable alpine business to the daughter of a farmer, who is to take over the alpine farm.
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| British Council Malta |
Series of short films: The Elvermen, Eve, The Promise, Samaritan and Songs of the Earth
Total Duration: 75 minutes
Sunday 16th October 2022 at 8.30pm
Cert. 15
The Embassy of the UK and the British Council will show the short movies The Elvermen, Eve, The Promise, Samaritan and Songs of the Earth. The Elvermen by Isla Badenoch is an atmospheric short film shot over a moonlit night that reveals a hidden community hunting an endangered fish. Eve by Natalie Portman tells a story about the young woman Kate visiting her grandmother to talk about her mother “Eve”, but instead she surprisingly ends up as both, chauffeur and chaperone on her grandmother’s romantic dinner date with a widower named Joe. Samaritan by Dustin Curtis Murphy is about an immigrant doctor, fearing deportation who lives off the grid and stumbles upon the body of recently kidnapped politician. Songs of Earth by Soumik Datta follows Asha, a young climate refugee from Bengal, as she searches for her missing father through the flood banks of the Sundarban delta.
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[Source: Spazju Kreattiv]