Fireworks, opera arias, dancers, a show-stopping turn from UK singer Emeli Sandé, smutty jokes from emcee David Walliams, and a rabble-rousing speech from Gladiator star Russell Crowe were among the highlights of a lavish and somewhat protracted closing ceremony of the third edition of the Mediterrane Film Festival (June 21-29).
At the event, which took place on the island of Fort Manoel, the filmmakers themselves were inevitably eclipsed by the performers and presenters.
Nonetheless, the festival itself, which had opened last weekend with an open-air screening of Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II, boasted strong attendances and a diverse range of films.
The programme included several older films shot in Malta, among them Robert Altman’s Popeye, Kenneth Branagh’s Murder On The Orient Express and 1953 UK war film Malta Story, as well as features from local directors, for instance Keith Albert Tedesco’s comedy drama Ciao Ciao.
The 10-film main competition included Uberto Pasolini’s The Return, Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s directorial debut Hot Milk and Athina Rachel Tsangari’s Harvest.
The jury, which included Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke and Maltese director Mario Philip Azzopardi, gave the festival’s main award, the Golden Bee for best feature, to Amel Guellaty’s Where The Wind Comes From. The Tunisian filmmaker’s road movie also picked up the best performance award for Eya Bellagha.
Veteran Basque director Julio Medem won two prizes for 8, his film set in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War – best screenwriting and the jury’s choice award – while the Mare Nostrum award for films promoting the relationship between humans and nature was won by Miyazaki: Spirit Of Nature, director Léo Favier’s documentary portrait of legendary Studio Ghibli animator Hayao Miyazaki.
Barbie Ferreira from TV’s Euphoria won the festival’s inaugural rising star award while UK producer Jeremy Thomas accepted the lifetime achievement award, paying tribute to his own mentor Serge Silberman, the maverick French producer who worked with directors ranging from Luis Bunuel to Jean-Jacques Beineix.
Crowe in the house
At the end of the awards ceremony, Crowe was introduced to a whooping, enthusiastic audience by Malta Film Commissioner Johann Grech to accept the Malta Film Legend award.
The Australian star stayed firmly on message, extolling both Malta and its currently buoyant film industry, and thanking Grech for “your understanding of the opportunity that Malta has as the centre of the Mediterranean industry”.
Crowe also called on the Maltese government to continue its support of the local film industry, whose 40% tax credit currently acts as a magnet for international productions.
“You are ideally placed to create career opportunities for the next generation,” he said, addressing the numerous Maltese politicians in the audience.
“You could say in a funny way I became a man in Malta, because nothing I had done before then had the majesty, ambition, budget and ultimately reach of Gladiator… It wasn’t an easy production, I had to fight every day for the integrity of the character I was playing. But sometimes you get lucky enough to make something that resonates with people.
“If you want to know what I love about Malta, it is everything,” Crowe added.
Although the Maltese film industry remains light on private investment, public funding is paying dividends. Even local filmmakers, who’ve protested in the past about being ignored as the Malta Film Commission chased international business, appear to have been won over. They’re now receiving funding from Arts Council Malta’s new Screen Support Scheme.
Thanks to the huge volume of production, sustainable careers are opening up in the Maltese film business. As one local producer put it, “Everybody is working, nobody is complaining.”
Throughout the week-long festival, Grech made a series of tub-thumping speeches hailing 100 years of filmmaking in Malta, which started in 1925 with the silent picture Sons Of The Sea. Grech asserted that the Maltese film industry is now “bigger than it has ever been,” and talked up the plans for Malta’s long-planned sound stages.
On Saturday night, at another lavish event overlooking the Grand Harbour in Valletta, the commissioner likened the rise of Maltese filmmaking to the story of Gladiator, where Russell Crowe’s character Maximus “fights his way through the ranks of the gladiators on the back of this hard work and sheer talent. So too has Malta risen through the ranks of the equally competitive global film industry.
“We have come so far,” Grech said. “We know what you need to have a successful shoot and we move heaven and earth to provide it.”
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