Malta’s Mediterrane film festival unveils expanded programme for fourth edition

Karim Ainouz’s Rosebush Pruning, Steven Soderbergh’s The Christophers and Alice Winocour’s Couture are among the eight films competing in the inaugural Big Screen Competition at Malta’s Mediterrane film festival (June 21-28).

The fourth edition of the festival presents 35 features, up from last year’s 28, which will screen across five different strands, an increase from the previous three strands.

Also in the Big Screen Competition is Gus Van Sant’s Dead Man’s Wire, Charli XCX mockumentary The Moment, Mark Jenkin’s Rose Of Nevada, Oliver Assayas’s The Wizard Of The Kremlin and Tina Gharavi’s Virginia Woolf’s Night And Day.

Screening out of competition under the new banner of New World Cinema are films including Anders Thomas Jensen’s The Last Viking, Ben Wheatley’s Normal and Larry Yang’s The Shadow’s Edge.

Among the films selected for the Mediterrane Competition for filmmakers from the broad Mediterranean region is Maryam Touzani’s Calle Malaga and Leyla Bouzid’s In A Whisper.

A jury will decide the winners of the Golden Bee Awards for the competitive strands, with the results to be unveiled on June 28.

This year’s theme is ‘Beyond Together’, which aims to position Malta as a bridge between the Mediterranean’s creative heritage and the future of global storytelling. The industry programme will be announced in the coming weeks.