Uberto Pasolini’s ‘The Return,’ Ira Sachs’ ‘Peter Hujar’s Day’ Set for 2025 Mediterrane Film Festival in Malta

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The third installment of Malta’s Mediterrane Film Festival now officially has a lineup.

The festival, happening in Valletta (the island’s capital) from June 21st to the 29th, has confirmed over 40 films from 20 different countries. It also includes a series of masterclass presentations led by filmmakers such as Joe Carnahan and Catherine Hardwicke. Furthermore, Jeremy Thomas, founder of Recorded Picture Company, will be receiving the Golden Bee Lifetime Achievement Award during this event.

Here are the ten films competing: “Uberto Pasolini’s ‘The Return,’ starring Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche; Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s directorial debut, ‘Hot Milk,’ based on Deborah Levy’s novel and featuring Vicky Krieps and Emma Mackey; Guido Chiesa’s ‘For the Love of a Woman’; Athina Rachel Tsangari’s ‘Harvest,’ adapted from Jim Crace’s novel; Joshua Cassar Gaspar’s ‘The Theft of the Caravaggio’; Amel Guellaty’s ‘Where the Wind Comes From,’ about a young couple’s road trip through Tunisia; Igor Bezinović’s meta documentary ‘Fiume o Morte!’; Seloua El Gouni’s ‘The Wound’; Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani’s genre mystery ‘Reflection in a Dead Diamond’; and Julio Medem’s ‘8’.

Titles withdrawn from the Mediterranean Film Festival are: Ira Sachs’ first entry at Sundance, “Peter Hujar’s Day”, featuring Ben Whishaw and Rebecca Hall; Neil Marshall’s Malta-based erotic thriller, “Compulsion”, starring Charlotte Kirk who also co-wrote it; Polly Steele’s “Four Letters of Love” with Pierce Brosnan, Helena Bonham Carter, and Gabriel Byrne; Chris Reading’s “Time Travel is Dangerous”, starring Johnny Vegas, Jane Horrocks, Sophie Thompson, and Mark Heap, and narrated by Stephen Fry; the film “The Extraordinary Miss Flower” directed by Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard, starring Icelandic singer-songwriter Emilíana Torrini; James Griffith’s “The Ballad of Wallis Island”, featuring Tom Basden, Carey Mulligan, and Tim Key; Andrew Ahn’s “The Wedding Banquet” with Lily Gladstone, Bowen Yang, Kelly Marie Tran, and Joan Chen; the thriller set in post-war Jakarta, “Love is a Battlefield”; lastly, Piotr Winiewicz’s experimental film, “About a Hero”, which combines artificial intelligence and the work of German auteur Werner Herzog with his approval.

2025’s Mediterranean Film Festival includes a special section in partnership with FilmItalia that highlights emerging female Italian filmmakers. This segment showcases three films: “Diva Futura” by Giulia Louise Steigerwalt, which blends politics and pornography; “Gloria!” by Margherita Vicario, a stirring musical about young women imprisoned in 18th-century Venice; and “Love and Glory — The Long Deledda” by Maria Grazia Perria, focusing on the life of Sardinian novelist Grazia Deledda.

On the sidelines, we’d like to highlight some intriguing titles from the festival’s Mare Nostrum section. This part of the festival focuses on themes related to climate and environmentalism. Here are a few movies you won’t want to miss:

1. Sandra Winther’s Lowland Kids, which tells the story of the last two teenagers living on Louisiana’s Isle de Jean Charles.
2. Eleanor Mortimer’s How Deep is Your Love, a film about mysterious sea creatures that inhabit our oceans, and the potential threats posed by deep-sea mining.
3. Pia Marais’ Amazon jungle-set film, Transamazonia.
4. Léo Favier’s Miyazaki: Spirit of Nature, a documentary about the life and works of renowned Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki.
5. David Baute’s animated movie, Black Butterflies.
6. Robin Petré’s Only on Earth, which explores Galicia, one of Europe‘s regions most susceptible to wildfires, and its profound effect on horses.

This year’s jury consists of Hardwicke, known for “Twilight”, Oscar-winning production designer Rick Carter from “Avatar”, costume designer Charlese Antoinette who worked on “Air”, set decorator Elli Griff associated with “Napoleon”, production designer James Price from “Poor Things”, and Maltese director Mario Philip Azzopardi, famed for “ZOS: Zone of Separation”. This group will decide the winners of the Golden Bee Awards. The names of these award recipients will be revealed at a ceremony on June 29th.

Besides meetings with Carnahan and Hardwicke, the festival’s expert workshops will also include jury members Carter and Griff, recipient of a lifetime achievement award, Thomas, as well as Glenn Gainor, who leads physical production at Amazon Original Movies.

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Apart from talks with Carnahan and Hardwicke, the festival’s masterclasses will also involve jury members Carter and Griff, honoree Thomas for a lifetime achievement award, and Glenn Gainor, head of physical production at Amazon Originals.

2021’s festival is being designed around the theme “We Are Cinema,” symbolizing the event’s goal to bring together filmmakers and viewers in celebrating cinema as a universal language. This theme also coincides with an important milestone for Malta – 2025 will mark 100 years of filmmaking in the region, starting with its first feature film, “Sons of the Sea” in 1925. Over the past century, Malta has grown into a popular production location due to its architectural wonders, stunning landscapes, and facilities at Malta Film Studios. Numerous films have been filmed in this area, including “Gladiator,” “Troy,” “Game of Thrones,” and “Napoleon,” among others.

In marking the centennial of filmmaking in Malta, we’re delighted to have an extraordinary group of judges join us. This panel mirrors the richness, variety, and international scope of modern cinema. Working alongside our festival curator, Mark Adams, our aim is to create a program that both acknowledges Malta’s cinematic history and encourages emerging talent from the Mediterranean region and beyond, stated festival director Ray Calleja.

Johan Grech, Malta’s Film Commissioner, stated: “The Mediterranean Film Festival emerged from a straightforward yet potent concept – to bridge creative thinkers from the Mediterranean and Europe, enabling them to turn their concepts into actuality. Our mission is about providing opportunities, fostering collaboration, and nurturing creativity.

More information about this year’s Mediterrane Film Festival and its lineup can be found here.

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2025-05-31 04:25