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Turkish director Zeki Demirkubuz drama Life scooped the top Golden Bee award for Best Feature Film at the Malta’s second Mediterrane Film Festival over the weekend.
This year’s selection was overseen by Italian film festival veteran Teresa Cavina, who pulled together a line-up 45 works from Mediterranean basin connections, 15 of which were in the main Competition.
All the competition titles had previously world premiered in other festivals. Life debuted at the Istanbul-set Filmekimi festival last October, and also played in Rotterdam earlier this year. The drama revolves around a young woman who flees her home to get out a forced engagement, with the jilted fiancé then seeking her in bid to understand this promised future wife that he hardly knew.
In the backdrop, leading English-language newspaper The Times of Malta continued to probe whether the event’s budget of $4.1M budget (€3.9) was good use of taxpayers’ money on the island nation, with a population of roughly 500,000 people.
Last year, the newspaper heavily criticized the event for allegedly splashing cash on business class fights and luxury hotels for actors, directors and journalists as well as a costly lavish black-tie event, fronted by UK star David Walliams.
Replying to fresh questions from the newspaper, Malta Film Commission head Johann Grech said the event was part of his org’s overall strategy for attracting international film and TV productions to the country, which has carved itself a place as a key Mediterranean shooting destination through its 40% rebate.
The festival, he said, was “an essential means of attracting investment to the country and film decision-makers to the island”.
Unfolding mainly in the Maltese capital of Valletta, this year’s edition did seem more substantial than its predecessor.
Competition screenings in the Eden Cinema complex in the neighboring town of St Julian’s were sparsely attended, but the directors, cast and crew who touched down in Malta still appeared to appreciate the extra exposure and experience, with most screenings generating lively, intimate Q&As at the end.
The screening of refugee drama The Strangers’ Case was followed by an emotional conversation between U.S. director Brandt Andersen, lead actress Yasmine Al-Massri and a handful of Maltese spectators, who said the drama had touched them to the core.
The film had extra resonance in Malta, which is one of the attempted first ports of call for migrant boats trying to get to Europe from North Africa but has also been accused of declining calls for assistance from vessels in distress.
Anderson went on to win the Mediterrane’s Golden Bee for Best Director, while Al-Massri feted with Best Actress.
In other prizes, Palestinian director Mahdi Fleifel was feted with the Jury’s Choice prize for To A Land Unknown, which world premiered in Cannes Directors’ Fortnight in May.
France’s Stéphane Brizé and Marie Drucker won Best Screenplay for Out of Season, the Netherlands’ Myrte Beltman scooped Best Production Design on Bosnian director Ena Sendijarević’s Sweet Dreams, while Best Cinematography went to Carlos Alfonso Corral for The Damned by Italian director Roberto Minervini.
The jury was composed of UK director Jon S. Baird, U.S. casting director Margery Simkin, Canadian-Maltese director Mario Philip Azzopardi, UK art director Nathan Crowley, Uruguayan cinematographer Pedro Luque, Canadian director Richie Mehta and U.S. director Tim Miller.
Outside of the main Competition, the festival also launched a new open-air venue in Valletta’s central Saint George square, where screenings of The Man Who Fell To Earth (which was part of a David Bowie tribute), Kind of Kindness, Jurassic World: Dominion (scenes of of which were shot in the same spot) enjoyed packed screenings with a young local crowd.
There was also industry program featuring panels on topics such as screenwriting, distribution, co-production as well as masterclasses by Greek film editor Yorgos Mavropsaridis, the long-time collaborator of Yorgos Lanthimos, and UK director Mike Leigh.
The festival culminated with an awards ceremony on at the historic Fort Manoel, once again fronted by Walliams, at which Leigh and veteran production coordinator Rita Galea, co-founder of Maltese production services company Latina Pictures were feted with Career Achievement and Lifetime Achievement awards respectively.
