MedFilm in Malta 2022
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MedFilm in Malta 2022
The first edition of “MedFilm in Malta – We love the sea”, organised by Costantino Films Ltd in collaboration with the MedFilm Festival of Rome, chaired by Ginella Vocca and Giovanni Costantino, is part of an international partnership with the film festivals of Formentera, Palma de Mallorca, Menorca, Ortigia, Alghero and Montenegro and supported by National Geographic.
MedFilm in Malta aims to combine the love of cinema with that of the environment and, in particular, the protection of the sea. In addition to this, it intends to make “all the cultural shores of the Mediterranean Sea get to know each other and establish a dialogue”.
The theme of the Mediterranean and its many cultures is a stimulus to reconsider who we are and what our potential is. This is why we will present 8 works (4 feature films and 4 short films) directly from the MedFilm Festival in Rome, now in its 27th edition.
With the four National Geographic documentaries and with the help of the Eco Marine Malta Team (who will speak at the end of the screenings), we will investigate the beauty and fragility of our sea, part of the vastness of the oceans but also the fulcrum of our cultures.
Supported by Arts Council Malta 
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Friday 21st January 2022, 4pm
MedFilm Short Film Program
All films in original language with english subtitles
Duration: 1hr
Cert: n/a
The short films in the programme are: “La Petite”, “Li Paradisi” ,”Le Bain” and “Sukar”
La Petite
Petite is a little girl, the only child in her village. She wanders in the middle of the Sahara, inventing games in a dying oasis. One day, she discovers a place populated by blind people: they are the last remaining survivors from the test of “Gerboise Bleue.”
Amira-Géhanne Khalfallah was born in 1975 and raised in Algeria. Graduate in cellular and molecular biology, it is nevertheless towards writing that she’s turning. Installed in Morocco since 2007, she is also a journalist specializing in culture. After two short films, she writes and develops her first feature narrative film The Return of the Jerboas themed around the question of nuclear tests in Sahara during the 60’s and their damages. La Petite won the Methexis Award as Best Short at MedFilm 2020.
Li Paradisi
Lucia owns a family olive grove, The Heavens, together with her brother Donato, but her trees have stopped producing as they once did because of a parasite that caused most of the trees to dry out. In a difficult process of acceptance, Lucia embarks on a journey between present and past where her identity as a human being is at stake.
Born in Salento (Italy) in 1988, Manuel Marini grew up in Rome. During his studies in Netherlands he worked with several film productions and started directing music videos. In 2015 Manuel graduated from a Communication Bachelor degree in Amsterdam and he moved back to Rome to study screenwriting. In 2016 he took part in a Directing course at the EICTV in Cuba. In 2017 his short film Olvidate de eso entirely shot in Old Havana, was selected by many film festivals around the world. In 2018 he was selected by the Los Angeles advertising agency 72andSunny to be one of their international team of creative.
Sukar
Casablanca’s beach, Morocco. Teenager’s burning desire for each other is growing discreetly in background. Adults and children oversee. A sudden fight creates an opportunity to a diversion.
Ilias El Faris was born in Agadir in 1990, and now lives in Paris. He returned with a Super 8 camera to Taghazout, village of his childhood, to shoot Azayz, his first short film, selected at MedFilm and in several festivals (EMAF, Coté Court, Journées Cinématographiques de Carthage, Tous-courts, Maghreb des Films) and awarded by the International Jury Prize at DocLisboa 2016. Ilias is also co-screenwriter of the short film Le Petit, directed by Lorenzo Bianchi, and awarded during the 2016 Clermont-Ferrand Film Festival. In 2018 he directed the short Roujoula, screened in Competition at MedFilm. Sukar won the Cervantes Award for Best Creative Short (ex-aequo with Mariana Galvão’s Ruby) at MedFilm 2020.
Le Bain
Imed finds himself alone for a day with his five-year-old son Hedi due to his wife’s business trip. It’s the first time he must take care of his boy on his own. This common and simple event in a family’s life unearths painful and dark memories from the past: Imed will have to confront his deepest fear.
With a Tunisian father and a French-Italian mother, Anissa Daoud is an actress, producer and director. She starred in a number of films for which she received several awards. She produced the short films Law of the Lamb by Lotfi Achour and All the Rest Is the Work of Man by Doria Achour. She directed two documentaries, Women’s Chronicles of Political Engagement and Our Women in Politics and Society. In 2018 she co-directed with Aboozar Amini the short film Best Day Ever as part of Directors’ Fortnight’s Tunisia Factory. She is currently developing her first feature Les Imortel(le)s.
Friday, 21st January, 2022, 6pm
Regina
Language: Italian with English subtitles
Duration: 1 hr 25 min
Cert: 15
Regina, a 15-year-old girl who lost her mother years earlier, dreams of becoming a singer.
Her father, Luigi, her only family at that point, firmly believes in his daughter’s talent and
supports her unceasingly. After all, Luigi had given up his own musical career to be near his
daughter. Their relationship seems rock-solid, indissoluble, until one day an unexpected
event changes their lives.
Friday 21st January 2022, 9pm
Miss Marx
Cert: 15
Language: English
Duration: 1hr 48min
Bright, intelligent, passionate and free, Eleanor is Karl Marx’s youngest daughter. Among the first women to link the themes of feminism and socialism, she takes part in the workers’ battles and fights for women’s rights and the abolition of child labor. In 1883 she meets Edward Aveling and her life is crushed by a passionate but tragic love story.
Susanna Nicchiarelli was born in Rome in 1975. She has a PhD in Philosophy from the Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa, and in 2004 she graduated in Film Direction at the Centro Sperimentale
di Cinematografia. After a few shorts and documentaries, she directed in 2009 her first film, Cosmonauta, winner of Controcampo at the Venice Film Festival and nominated at the David di Donatello for Best First Feature. She later directed Discovery of Dawn (2012) and Nico, 1988 (2017), Best Film in Orizzonti at the Venice Film Festival, winner of many international awards, including four David di Donatello. Miss Marx premiered in Competition at Venice Film Festival 2020 and won three David di Donatello Awards.
Saturday, 22nd January 2022, 11.30am
Heroes of the Mediterranean – plus Q&A with Eco Marine Malta
Language: English
Cert: n/a
Duration: 47 min
Marine Biologist and National Geographic Explorer Manu San Felix investigates the devastating effect humans have had on the Spanish Mediterranean, and meets those going above and beyond to reverse the damage
Saturday, 22nd January 2022, 2.30pm
Ocean’s Breath – plus Q&A with Eco Marine Malta
Language: English
Cert: n/a
Duration: 46 min
Deep within our ocean waters, countless megacities of life-sustaining coral are being suffocated at an astonishing rate. Spurred by the dire situation, two National Geographic explorers embark on an eye-opening journey through the past, present, and future of coral reefs, searching for solutions that will help save these ancient creatures from extinction.
Saturday, 22nd January 2022, 5.30pm
“Sea Of Hope: America’s Underwater” – plus Q&A with Eco Marine Malta
Language: English
Cert: n/a
Duration: 47 min
Sea of Hope is a stunningly filmed action adventure documentary that follows ocean legend Sylvia Earle, renowned underwater National Geographic photographer Brian Skerry, writer Max Kennedy and their crew of teenage aquanauts on a year-long quest to use science and photography to inspire President Obama to establish Blue Parks across an unseen American Wilderness.
Saturday, 22nd January 2022, 9pm
Gaza Mon Amour
Language: Arabic with English subtitles
Cert: 15
Duration: 1hr 30min
Gaza, today. Sixty-year-old fisherman Issa is secretly in love with Siham, a divorced woman who works as a dressmaker at the market. Finally determined to propose, he discovers an ancient bronze statue of Apollo in his fishing net, which he decides to hide at home. When Hamas discovers the existence of this mysterious treasure, troubles start for Issa… Will he succeed in declaring his love to Siham?
Arab and Tarzan Nasser are twin brothers born in Gaza in 1988, one year after the last cinemas in the city were closed. They each graduated with a BFA in painting from Gaza’s al-Aqsa University before turning to filmmaking with the short films Colourful Journey (2010) and Condom Lead (2013), the first Palestinian short film selected in official competition at Cannes. After Apartment 10/14 (2014) and With Premeditation (2014), Arab and Tarzan directed their first feature film Dégradé (2015), selected in competition at Cannes’ International Critics’ Week. Gaza mon amour won the Amore & Psiche Award as Best Film at MedFilm 2020.
Sunday, 23rd January 2022, 11am
“Pristine Seas: The Power of Protection” – plus Q&A with Eco Marine Malta
Duration: 44 min
Language: English
Cert: n/a
National Geographic Explorer in Residence Enric Sala launched the Pristine Seas project in 2008 to explore and help inspire the protection of the last wild places in the ocean.
From the coral reefs of Palau to the icebergs of the Russian Arctic, the one-hour special, Pristine Seas: The Power Of Protection, follows one team as they travel the globe in a crucial race to help save our ocean—before it’s too late.
Sunday, 23rd January 2022, 8.30pm
À l’abordage!
Cert: 12
Language: French with English subtitles
Duration: 1hr 35min
On a hot summer night in Paris, Félix meets a young woman, Alma, and falls in love. The next morning, Alma hops on a train to join her family in southern France. Félix, determined to follow his soulmate, embarks on a carpool ride with his best friend Chérif and their reluctant driver Edouard. When the car breaks down upon arrival, things turn sour: Alma doesn’t seem too pleased by this unexpected visit.
Guillaume Brac graduated from La Fémis in production and directed and produced his first short film Stranded in 2009, then the medium-length film A World Without Women in 2011, which won awards at numerous festivals in France and abroad. In 2012, these two films, combined in a single programme, were released in France where they met with great critical and public success. In 2013, Brac directed his first feature, Tonnerre, presented in Competition at Locarno. He then directed Rest for the Braves, presented in 2016 at FID Marseille and broadcast on Ciné+, and July Tales, presented in Locarno in 2017. Treasure Island (2018) won the Amore & Psiche Award as Best Film at MedFilm 2018. À l’abordage! won the for Prize for Best Artistic Expression at MedFilm 2020.
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