Discoveries from Malta World Cinema

A documentary celebrating the island’s stray cats and the volunteers who show the large population unconditional love and support.

International agents attempt to foil a plot to assassinate the Pope.

What Remains of Him is a tense, morally charged short film about obsession, vengeance, and the haunting cost of grief. Ten years after witnessing his mother’s death in a hit-and-run, David has spent every waking moment preparing to destroy the man responsible

Through all the confusion and obsession that he is passing through, He gets lost between what it's real and what it's not.

The story of Ahmed Albarjo, a man living in Malta struggling to secure Refugee Status. Made in collaboration with Spark 15 and RAAH.

The film tells the story of a 15-year-old country girl Katarin (Anna Straface) who starts to become a woman. Here the director (Cecil Satariano) brings before us a village girl with all the contrasts between the innocent life of the typical Maltese village and the modern world of that Malta was shifting into at that point in time.

The Maltese Islands have long been marked by conquest. The fragile landscape that remains is being rapidly erased by greed and corruption. The film drifts through what is left, as a narrator searches for an absent figure in the textures of rock, clay and seaweed. An elegy for land and sea, an elegy for land and Ż.

A video-documentation of Għana (Maltese Folk Singing) made for UNESCO in collaboration with the Cultural Directorate within the Ministry for The National Heritage, The Arts and Local Government & Department of Anthropology (UOM), with aims to preserve and record the cultural intangible heritage of Għana.

Palesa, a graduate migrant working as a hospital cleaner, wants to follow her true calling, risk everything, and help Maria, a quadriplegic patient.

Our story starts over a decade ago in a tiny village on the coast of El Salvador. When faced with the tough decision of leaving their poverty stricken violent country in search of a brighter future, two youngsters decided to buck the trend. They would stay, standing up to the challenges of their land with the dream of building a better future for their own community.

A former boxing coach lives through tragedy that unfolds after an injury involving his son during a championship fight.

A queer photographer visiting the island of Malta finds inspiration and solace in a young beekeeper, but struggles with her role as an artist in the face of complex political forces.

Nella lives an extremely work-oriented life. It may have started as a dream career, but now it is taking the best of her. Her career stress, along with anti-anxiety pills and isolation, is eating into her mind and numbing her to life itself. One day, while on her way from one workplace to another, her tightly-scheduled life is shattered by a special encounter. Such an encounter triggers an explosion of emotions and sets all the dormant demons to ricochet inside her head. On the same sleepless night, she takes drastic measures.

A woman gives birth to a baby girl in an asylum that appears to operate a brutal and abusive regime. The baby is "sold" by the doctor in charge of the asylum to the mother's extreme distress.

Small human stories, entirely improvised, capturing the moments that make up relationships. Loneliness, a first date, betrayal, change, and more.

Mr. Bailey has come to a stage in his life where everyone around him has long left him, including his wife. To help shelter him from the pain of reality, he has his dog whom he has a strong bond with. After yet another traumatic event, Mr. Bailey reaches a turning point where he realises that embracing death might be more realistic than fearing it.

Dun Benit is constantly dogged by misfortune. Though this description may seem to be pessimistic, it is in fact very optimistic, given the situations Dun Benit has to face! It was not enough that during the short period he was on holiday abroad, the sacristan decided to abandon his duties to another job.

Detective Thomas Borg is a troubled cop obsessed with solving a series of disappearances. His investigation is complicated by the sudden reappearance of Kristina, his former lover and informant, who claims to have information about the case.

Set during the eve of doomsday. We focus on the emotional turmoil that Ian finds himself in when he has to make a decision regarding whom to spend his last evening with: his wife, Sharon, or his lover, Amy.

"Sneakers" (2021) is a short film written, directed, and starring Pavel Kizhuk. The plot follows a "confused young man" attempting to gain control of a situation that defies his destiny. Shot in Moscow and Malta, the film has competed at international festivals and was recognized at the Abbey Film Festival in London.

An emotional story of a man who rediscovers love after his wife suddenly and mysteriously leaves him. The plot further develops an intriguing insight into their separate lives leaving viewers at the edge of their seat until the very end.

Take a moment to relax and connect with the universe through stargazing. Let the vastness of the cosmos inspire a sense of connection and perspective, reminding you of the beauty and magic that surrounds us all.

The libretto of this opera tells the story of D., a young boy called to military service. Desperate to escape his fate, he seeks advice from the Mysterious Lake. It sends him off to seek salvation deep in the bowels of the city, where the march of autocracy will eventually engulf him.

on the legacy of poet, artist and folk singer Frans Baldacchino ‘Il-Budaj’

Based in the Maltese countryside this film seeks to evoke the tranquility of the simple lifestyle of a hunter/farmer. It tells the story of a hunter and his dog. One day, when they are hunting a rabbit, a tragic accident occurs.

Interweaving family lore, mythology, science fiction, and digital abstraction, Thuy-Han Nguyen-Chi’s film follows the collaboration between the artist and her mother, Thuyen Hoa, who fled Vietnam after the end of the American War via a near-calamitous sea journey. Oscillating between voices, visual registers, and timescales—was it seven months or seven thousand years?— Into The Violet Belly offers up an image of its multiplicitous structure: a massive digital swarm, tiny avatars of migrating bodies, swimming in an infinite blue.

A screen adaptation of the short story of the same name by Clare Azzopardi from her collection of short stories titled, "Kulħadd Ħalla Isem Warajh".

**CANCELLED** Upcoming Documentary about the journey to and finally culminating in Pulze's 2nd time operating a stand at Playcon, Malta's leading Gaming and Content Convention.

As a result of a rape, Jayne found herself saddled with a son suffering from severe visual impairment. After eight years Jayne feels she cannot take it anymore as it is clear to her that no bond has been established between her and her son. Hence, she decides to give him up.

This short was filmed at the last surviving marionette theater in London and is a metaphor for the "passing away" of this form of entertainment. The story is about two marionettes: an old woman and her granddaughter, both of whom pass away after ingesting poison.

This black comedy takes place in the span of a morning and afternoon where we enter the lives of two awkward young English adults who have been forced into living with their authoritarian Italian grandmother who resides in Malta. Together they like skinning animals for fun and, after skinning their first cat, things get out of hand.

A Maltese priest, harbouring a secret, steals a valuable painting of Jesus from his church, in the hope of selling it and starting a new life abroad.

Mr. Bonello attends an interview for the position of a nanny in order to spend some time with his daughter.

The deaf man discovers a secret about his wife and decides to take action.

Two women are held together by the emotional distance between them. Faced by the question of creating a new life, their relationship hangs in the balance.

Join Jake Benson, a Theme Park Youtuber from Nuneaton, Warwickshire, as he showcases the positive impacts of Spontaneous Travel around the world. First Stop, Malta.

Malta, 1964. A family is thrown into financial and emotional turmoil as British influence starts to recede. To protect her mother from her father’s temper, Mariella, a mischievous little girl, plots to get rid of him.

On December 3, 2022, at just 20 years of age, Jean Paul Sofia died when he was crushed by rubble at a construction site in Kordin, Malta. His mother, Isabelle Bonnici, began a long fight for justice, launching the second public inquiry in the history of the Maltese Republic. She made her testimony even more powerful by deciding to pose for Martyrion, a photographic project that denounces environmental destruction and territorial abuse through the body and religious iconography.

Set a few decades ago. The serene, even joyful atmosphere, created by Mario Lanza's "Funiculì, Funiculà" and the soft lighting characterize the normal morning routine of a father and his son. This turns into tragedy as the son experiments with his first and last shave.

"Lil Din L-Art Irrabjata (O Land of Wrath) is a mix of experimental visual poetry and documentary. The films narrative revolves around Maltese folk music, ‘Għana’, and musicians, ‘Għanejja’ with underlying themes of the Maltese subconscious. The elements of the film are transmitted through a technical and social/cultural voice on Għana and visions of Għanejja and of the Maltese landscape and psyche." Official Selection: Nepal International Film Festival (2020) Valleta Film Festival (2019) Encounters Short Film & Animation Festival (2019) Open City Documentary Festival

Burst is an exploration of outer and inner space, a reflection on the self, a meditation on movement of the body, liberation and absurdity.

Joe and Dora decide to go for a weekend break in idyllic Gozo. They book a hotel and decide to take a rest during their planned weekend. But they find the hotel is not restful at all! Moreover they find that the idea of a weekend break is not only theirs!

A group of laymen from the island of Malta are entrusted to save the planet. (100 mins.)

During the winter of 2022, I was entrusted with Samskara (burn no.4), a sculpture by Gozitan artist John Paul Azzopardi. For years, the piece had remained hidden, undisturbed and largely unseen. Yet over time, it seemed to gather a quiet intensity of its own. What had once been dormant began to feel charged its surface and presence carrying something deeper, something that drew together traces of the tribal, the mystical, and the fetishistic. Gradually, the work revealed itself not just as an object, but as a vessel of an obscure and unsettling energy.

Film for ICH UNESCO. Inscribed in 2023 on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

This short depicts a person's attempt to cancel out the color white from his environment by painting it all black. After a short while everything reverses back to white.

A meeting takes place for the first time between a mother and her son whom she had given up for adoption at birth. Also present is a (not too competent) translator as the mother only speaks French whilst the son only speaks English. During the meeting the son expresses his feelings of anger at being "abandoned" and given up for adoption by his biological mother. The mother is highly distressed and the situation soon takes a turn for the worse.

A homeless man alternates between living on the streets and performing on stage. We get a glimpse of the inner pain and frustration that this dual life is causing.

A brilliantly crafted and concise family drama that challenges a mother’s stereotyping of her daughters – one feminine, the other a short-haired football player who’s been hanging out with a certain friend more and more.

Jason comes up with an idea of organising a camping adventure and everyone agrees to take part, some willingly and some not. And these couple of days in camps turn out to be a true adventure. Salvu says he spotted a bear. But there are no bears in Malta! Could it be that the bear escaped from the circus? Where does Mrs. Axiaq end up? How will Inspector Leonard discover the truth? And how will the Chaplain react when he comes to know of the adventure in which he was not invited!

A young Japanese woman decides to end her life and finds the strength to carry out her intent through the imagining of a ritual Japanese suicide.

This is a psychological thriller involving two young men. Barry and Stan are at Barry's house when Barry insists that Stan should add some ice from the icebox to his drink. Stan returns speechless as he finds, wedged in the icebox, two little boys, bound and gagged.

Il- Kaċċatur (The Hunter) is a glimpse into the practices of contemporary Maltese wild bird hunters. Posing questions about legality, morality, climate change and the need for cultural change in response to it.