European film festival brought by EUNIC Malta

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European film festival brought by EUNIC Malta

9 November 2021 - 13 November 2021

EU COMMISSION MALTA: Film “Acasa, My Home” by Radu Ciorniciuc
Tuesday 9th November, 2021, 7.30pm


Duration: 1 hr 26 min
Cert: 12A

Romanian director Radu Ciorniciuc’s debut documentary, Acasă – My Home shown in the World Cinema Documentary Competition at the Sundance Film Festival provides access to Europe’s biggest urban delta, the Văcăreşti Nature Park in Bucharest, as seen through the eyes of a Gypsy family living in a shack in the middle of the wetlands. Heart-breaking and relevant, the documentary challenges our preconceptions regarding the ideas of home, family and happiness.

We meet the Enaches, Gică and Niculina, who live together with their nine children (all minors) in a shack with no electricity or running water. Ciorniciuc has extraordinary access to the heart of the family, as we see them surrounded by pigeons, dogs, cats and the occasional pig. The kids, led by the eldest son, Vali, have a whale of a time scavenging for food, fishing in the delta or catching birds, in shots that bring to mind those adventure movies about families of explorers settling in the wilderness centuries ago. But soon, reality starts to invade this paradise: the young Enaches are condemned to a future of poverty and illiteracy, and that future comes knocking.

Acasă is hard to watch because it forces us to accept the incredible advantage we had when we started our own journey in life: supportive families, cosy homes, a stable income, access to education, and an ingrained genetic memory of what is expected from us in order to gain

acceptance. And the saddest thing is that even if they do comply, giving up their way of life and even themselves in order to be accepted, chances are they will always be seen as intruders, lesser citizens whom society only tolerates.

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Malta: Arts Council Malta “Luzzu” by Alex Camilleri. Plus Q&A
Wednesday 10th November, 2021, 7.30pm


Duration: 1hr 25min
Cert: 12

A “luzzu” is a traditional Maltese fishing boat, and a veritable 20th-century relic compared to the more advanced trawlers of today. Jesmark’s luzzu, an old wooden thing with more charm than functionality he calls Ta Palma, has a leak. That puts him at a great disadvantage in a competitive fishing market plagued by diminishing harvests. Already barely scraping by, Jesmark also has a baby and a girlfriend, Denise (Michela Farrugia), to care for. When he comes home empty-handed after an especially unlucky day at sea, her disappointment is less nonplussed than a shrug, and she decides to move out of their bare-bones apartment and into her mother’s place. Making matters worse is the baby’s stunted growth, and the ensuing pile-up of medical bills.Jesmark, whose skillset is limited to the family tradition of fishing he’s been carrying out all his life, is running out of options, and people who believe in him. Neither his mother-in-law, with whom he already has a visibly strained relationship made apparent when he tries to visit his child when Denise is out of town, nor Denise are especially supportive of his trade. “Fishing is a nice way to spend the summer,” his spiteful mother-in-law tells him. Meanwhile, most of his fellow fisherman have sold out to an EU-backed program transitioning them into other industries — a course that, as the film progresses, looks inevitable for Jesmark.

Everyone’s chagrin over Jesmark tightens like a noose. Unable to sell the fish he’s labored over catching at the local market — a chaotic scene of scrabbling buyers and sellers — Jesmark finds himself roped into a black-market operation the equivalent of Maltese gangsters peddling fish in the shadows, along with other surreptitious acts of smuggling and sabotage.

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Patrice Leconte masterclass
Thursday, 11th November, 2021, 11am

From short films to comedies and dramas, from the direction of plays to the adaptation of animated films, Patrice Leconte is interested in the art of the screen and stage, and handles it with precision. His films have featured such stars as Alain Delon and Jean-Paul Belmondo in Une chance sur deux, Johnny Hallyday in L’Homme du train, and Vanessa Paradis in La Fille sur le pont. With his flagship comedic trilogy of Les Bronzés on the one hand, and his dramatic works on the other, Patrice Leconte has long been recognised as a key figure in French, European and international cinema — a fame marked by nominations and awards from various festivals and institutions, not least the Césars and the Oscars.

The masterclass of 11 November will focus on the analysis of a sequence from one of the films directed by Patrice Leconte. Through this exercise, the director will explain the choices made when writing the film, creating the mise-en-scène, framing the action, collaborating with the production designer and the cinematographer, and then when working in the editing room and on the soundtrack. Open to students of film, professional filmmakers, and anyone who would like to know more about the art and craft of directing a film, this masterclass promises to be an exciting and insightful experience, offering the rare opportunity of being taken through the paces of making a film by one of the foremost directors of our time.

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FRANCE: Film L’Homme du train by Patrice Leconte – preceded by short film Johnny Johnny by Angelique Muller. Plus Q&A
Thursday, November 11, 2021, 7.30pm


Duration: 2 hr
Cert: 15

Milan (Johnny Hallyday), a scarred mysterious stranger, arrives in a small town by train at the start of the week. The hotel is closed, but he finds accommodation via a chance meeting with a retired French teacher, Manesquier (Jean Rochefort). The film tells the story of the developing relationship between these apparent opposites, though looming in the background are two unavoidable events that each is expecting to take place on the Saturday – Manesquier is to undergo a triple heart bypass, and Milan (though he keeps this secret at first) is to take part in a bank robbery. Manesquier soon realises Milan’s intentions, but this does not prevent a growing mutual respect. While everything opposes them, they will sympathize and realize that one would have liked to have the life of the other.

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GERMANY: Film “Zu weit Weg” by Sarah Winkenstette
Friday, 12th November, 2021, 3pm


Duration: 1hr 30min
Cert: 12

Eleven-year-old Ben can score one last goal for his soccer club to decide the game, but then it’s over. Soon, an energy company will bulldoze Ben’s home village in the West Rhineland lignite mining area, along with the soccer field, and the family will be relocated. The family of Tariq, who is the same age, comes from Aleppo and fled to Germany to escape the civil war in Syria. For the boys, it is a new beginning in a foreign city: Both are now the suspiciously eyed “newcomers” in the class; both like to play soccer and in the club they are competitors for the top striker. But their initial rivalry gradually grows into a close friendship – and an adventure trip to Ben’s now deserted home village on the edge of the pit welds them together all the more! The “big” issues of climate change and migration form the backdrop for the story, told sensitively, excitingly and entertainingly by debut director Sarah Winkenstette, about what it’s like to find your way in a place that is initially foreign. A universal tale about uprooting, friendship and the difficulties and opportunities of new beginnings.

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U.K. : Film The Uncertain Kingdom Volume II
Friday, 12th November, 2021, 5.30pm

Duration: 2hr
Cert:15

The Uncertain Kingdom short films encompass a huge variety of genre, form, theme, style and tone and are as diverse as the group of filmmakers behind them. Whether political or personal, macro or micro, all the films give a bright flash of insight into how the filmmakers see the UK now.

Sucka Punch by Iggy Ldn
Pavement by Jason Wingard
Sauna by Stroma Cairns
Isaac And The Ram by Jason Bradbury
Left Coast by Carol Salter
Death Meets Lisolette by Guy Jenkin
Verisimilitude by David Proud
Borrowed From Our Children by Leon Oldstrong
What’s In A Name by Runyararo Mapfumo
The Life Tree by Paul Frankl

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POLAND : Film I Never Cry by Piotr Domalewski
Friday, 12th November, 2021, 8.30pm


Duration: 1hr 38min
Cert: 15

Small-town girl Ola (17) is an outspoken teenager with an ironclad character. She helps her mother take care of her disabled brother, while her father works on a construction site in Dublin. Ola resents him for not being home with them, he has almost become a stranger to her. However, he promised Ola a car for her 18th birthday. For the girl, the car is a big deal: it proves that her father remembers her, and what’s more, Ola wants to become a taxi driver to support her family. She’s a bit of a car nerd, yet keeps on failing her driving test. When her father dies in a tragic work accident, Ola has to go to Ireland alone to bring his body back to Poland. On arriving there, she realises the task isn’t that easy…

‘I NEVER CRY’ is a symbolic story, but it is by no means intrusive. Piotr Domalewski (one of the most awarded young Polish directors) is a superb observer of reality. He draws his characters with surgical precision, achieving what only the greatest masters can – he makes people laugh and moves them at the same time.  The story of 17-year-old Ola is, at its core, a story about us all. It is a universal image – the experience of solitude in the fast-paced world, the awareness of wasted opportunities and damaged family bonds are all close to everyone’s heart these days, regardless of nationality, age or gender.

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SPAIN: Film “Deep” by Julio Soto. Plus Q&A
Saturday, 13th November, 2021, 3pm


Duration: 1hr 32min
Cert: PG

In 2100, when humanity has abandoned the earth, a colony of extravagant creatures still thrives in the deepest abyss of the ocean. Deep, an adventurous “dumbo” octopus and the last one of his kind lives there with his two unconditional friends: Evo, a nerdy and clumsy angler fish, and Alice, a neurotic deep-sea shrimp. When an accident destroys their home, the guardian of the abyss, The Kraken, will send Deep and his friends on a perilous journey to find a new home. In their mission, they will be joined by Maura -a voracious moray eel- and together they will travel to amazing places like the submerged city of New York, the Titanic or the Arctic, facing formidable enemies and hilarious situations. Will they be able to bring the oceans back to their former glory?

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AUSTRIA: Film “Utopia Revisited” by Kurt Langbein and Hendrik S. Schmitt
Saturday, 13th November, 2021, 6pm


Duration: 1 hr 35min
Cert: PG

“Utopia Revisited” is a cinematic expedition that revolves around four pioneers of a new society. Petra Wähning launched an agriculture project based on solidarity. Instead of spending money at supermarkets, 300 consumers invested in a farm which supplies them with fresh products. To find out whether such small-scale activities work in big cities as well, Petra visits the cooperative “Hansalim” in South Korea, where small farmers provide regional, fresh and organic food to 1.5 million people and receive 70 percent of the retail price.  Laura Gerritsen from “fairphone” is heading to the cobalt mines in the DR Congo. Her mission – to establish fair conditions for everybody engaged in the extraction of the metal.  “Facing climate change, governments have agreed upon restricting carbon dioxide emission to 2.5 tons a year per person. In Europe, every person currently emits 11 tons“, states Niko Paech, a prophet of a post-growth society. Residents of the “Kalkbreite”, a Zurich housing project, try to live up to this goal. After occupying their own factory for 1336 days, former Unilever-workers are running a tea company on their own. “Now it is our business to make the cooperative run successfully and reach our goals“, says Rim Hindri, a member of the cooperative. After the collapse of the “real socialism“ and besides capitalism, which inherently produces a polarizing disparity between rich and poor, the question occurs whether there exists a model for a truly fair society? Four people and initiatives say: Yes, there is.

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ITALY : Film  “Figli” by Giuseppe Bonito. Plus Q&A
Saturday, 13th November, 2021, 8.30pm


Duration: 1hr 37min
Cert: 15

Everything revolves around the marriage of Nicola and Sara, interpreted by Valerio Mastandrea and Paola Cortellesi. A couple truly in love, convinced that they want to spend the rest of their life together. They have been married for some time and, in several years of marriage, have given birth to only one daughter. She is now six years old and everything seems to go smoothly. The two have their own balance and nothing seems to affect it. A sweet fairy tale that is suddenly turned upside down by the arrival of a second child.The little one changes everything, showing how fragile the balances of the two were. Coming to terms with everyday life, having a baby in the house, makes everything much more difficult, forcing the two to enormous sacrifices. The tension will rise and, inevitably, there will be imbalances and clashes. In no time at all, there will be room for old grudges and wounds that have never been healed. Dissatisfactions hidden for the good of the family, which now cannot be silenced, considering how the couple’s serenity has now disappeared. Any disagreement will become a reason for quarrel, showing parenting in Italy as a real titanic undertaking.

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Ticket Information

Adult
€7 (€10 masterclass)
Concessions
€6 (€5 masterclass)
Children
€5 (Zu weit Weg & Deep)
Cinema Club Members
n/a
Concession tickets include students, senior citizens and Special ID Holders (SID).

Venue Information

Spazju Kreattiv Cinema

St James Cavalier, Castille Place
Valletta, Malta

Additional Information

Duration
n/a
Cert
n/a
Language
n/a
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All patrons attending events at Spazju Kreattiv must present full vaccine certification at point of entry.


‘EUNIC, the European Union National Institutes for Culture, is the European network of organisations engaging in international cultural relations.

The EUNIC Malta Cluster envisages to facilitate people-to-people exchanges, European cooperation, and the integration between the European Commission Representation and local cultural partners. Its mission is to contribute towards the Sustainable Development Goals and to reflect the diversity of European cultures and common values through joint European events and projects.

Currently, the EUNIC Malta cluster comprises of the following members:• Embassy of Austria for Malta (EUNIC Malta Cluster co-President)
• Italian Cultural Institute (EUNIC Malta Cluster co-President)
• British Council in Malta (EUNIC Malta Cluster Vice President)
• Arts Council Malta (EUNIC Malta Cluster Vice President)
• Embassy of Spain in Malta
• Alliance Francaise de Malte – Mediterranee
• Embassy of Poland in Malta
• Embassy of Hungary
• French Embassy in Malta’