MALTA, Valletta, 22 April 2024 – The second edition of the Mediterrane Film Festival will be held from June 22nd to June 30th, 2024, in Malta’s capital city, Valletta. Building upon the successes of its inaugural year, the festival promises an unparalleled celebration of international filmmaking, uniting cultures, and fostering creativity.
Under the stewardship of the festival’s new Artistic Director, Teresa Cavina, whose distinguished career spans over two decades, including roles at prestigious festivals such as Rome, Locarno, Venice, and Abu Dhabi, the Mediterrane Film Festival continues its mission to showcase the best of Mediterranean cinema and beyond. The 2024 edition of the Mediterrane Film Festival includes four programming strands:
In Competition: featuring films from across the Mediterranean. Out of Competition: featuring films from the rest of the world. Mare Nostrum – ‘Our Sea’: showcasing narrative and documentary films dedicated to sustainability and the environment. Future Visions: a selection of immersive VR projects.
Alongside screenings open to the public, the festival will include an industry strand with a series of panels, roundtables, and masterclasses from notable industry figures – which last year included hair & make-up designer Ivana Primorac, production designer Grant Montgomery and composer Daniel Pemberton.
The centrepiece of the festival remains its esteemed competition titles, to be meticulously evaluated by a jury of international and award-winning creative talent. The jury, composed of nine accomplished figures from various facets of the industry, embodies the festival’s commitment to excellence and diversity. These are the first announced members of jury:
- Jon S. Baird, who has collaborated with Martin Scorsese, Danny Boyle, Mick Jagger and numerous Academy Award-winning actors. Baird directed ‘Tetris’ starring Taron Egerton for Apple in 2020, and in 2018 he directed ‘Stan & Ollie’; a feature centred on comedy legends Laurel and Hardy, starring Steve Coogan and John C Reilly, for which he won a BAFTA Scotland award for ‘Best Director’.
- LA-based Casting Director Margery Simkin, who has cast such films as ‘Avatar’, ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’, ‘Beverly Hills Cop’, ‘Top Gun’, ‘Brazil’, ‘Field Of Dreams’, ‘Twelve Monkeys’, ‘Erin Brockovich’, ‘Marley & Me’ and ‘Pacific Rim’. During the course of her career, she has given early opportunities to actors including Tom Cruise, Laura Dern, Kevin Bacon, Robert Downey Jr., Johnny Depp, Christina Ricci, Queen Latifah, Natalie Portman and Sam Worthington.
- Pedro Luque, the Uruguayan Cinematographer behind 2023’s Oscar and BAFTA-nominated Spanish-language film ‘Society of the Snow’. Known for crafting nerve-wracking scenes in thriller films including the ‘Don’t Breathe’ franchise, Luque is well-regarded as one of the genre’s most talented fresh faces.
- Maltese director, producer and writer Mario Philip Azzopardi, known for the films ‘Savage Messiah’ and the HBO Canada series ‘ZOS: Zone of Separation’. While studying at the University of Malta, Azzopardi directed ‘Il-Gaġġa’, which is considered to be the first full-length feature film made entirely in Maltese.
- Academy Award and BAFTA-nominated English Production Designer Nathan Crowley, who is best known for his collaborations with Christopher Nolan across titles including ‘The Prestige’, ‘The Dark Knight’, ‘Interstellar’, ‘Batman Begins’ and ‘Dunkirk’. Crowley has also previously been the Designer on four Costume Institutes exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which accompany the annual costume ball. Nathan’s talent was recently showcased in Paul King’s ‘Wonka’ and he recently also completed design on the highly-anticipated ‘Wicked’.
- Canadian film director and writer Richie Mehta‘s first feature film ‘Amal’ won over 30 international awards. In October 2015, Mehta teamed up with Ridley Scott and Google as the director of the crowd-sourced documentary ‘India in a Day’, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. After that, Richie wrote and directed the Netflix series ‘Delhi Crime’, a true-crime drama which won Best Drama Series at the International Emmy Awards. Most recently, Mehta created, wrote, and directed the 8-part Amazon Prime dramatic series ‘Poacher’, a thriller that illustrates the largest wildlife crime investigation in Indian history. The series released in February 2024 to great acclaim.
The jury’s discerning eye will determine the recipients of coveted awards, to be unveiled at the Golden Bee Awards on June 30th, 2024.
Reflecting on the festival’s evolution, Artistic Director Teresa Cavina remarked, “We are honoured to welcome a lineup of world-class talent to this year’s jury, each bringing their unique perspective and expertise to the table. Our goal is to curate an unmissable destination for cultural exchange, where films find a voice, and careers are launched.”
Malta Film Commissioner, Johann Grech stated “This year, we are broadening the scope of the festival to the whole Mediterranean. We want to increase the opportunities among the global film community. We want to place the connection between the Mediterranean and the rest of the world at the centre of our gathering – and Malta has always been that place to connect different nations of the Mediterranean. A bridge between the continents between Europe and Africa. A bridge between Europe and the world”.
Minister for Tourism Clayton Bartolo said “The Mediterranean Film Festival is a unique festival, celebrating the art, diversity, and creativity of films from across the Mediterranean region. Central to the festival is its role in fostering greater commitment to creating more employment opportunities within our nation’s film industry through networking. The Mediterranean Film Festival serves as an instrumental platform for attracting more projects to our shores. We are further investing in our country’s film industry to ensure its continued growth and sustainable future, with a focus on career development.”
This year’s theme, “Unity through Film” underscores the festival’s commitment to fostering connections and collaboration. Various unique events will be featured in this year’s event, with more details to be announced in the coming weeks, promising an enriching experience for attendees.
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About Mediterrane Film Festival
The Mediterrane Film Festival is a celebration of film and creativity that brings together the best of the Mediterranean region and beyond. Established in 2023, the annual event takes place in the beautiful islands of Malta and aims to unite countries to foster collaboration, opportunity, and a shared love for film.
The festival showcases exceptional films from the region and serves as a platform for filmmakers, industry professionals, and enthusiasts to connect, exchange ideas, and create partnerships for future projects.
