FRIDAY 15 JUNE 2018

ON AN ISLAND

VFF4 DAILY - DAY EIGHT

ABOUT ISLANDERS

vallettafilmfestival.com

The idea behind the Islanders section

are citizens or residents of an island. There are 49 islands in the world that are sovereign states and just as many that are dependent on other states or regions. There are also thousands of populated and unpopulated islands, scattered like little dots, on the map of this planet that many call home. So Islanders is the cinematic archipelago of our planet, set in one of the smallest capitals of Europe

eligible for the VFF Audience Award.

Interview with Khalik Allah

motivated you to tell this particular story?

WHAT’S ON TODAY

The Belly of an Architect - Masters of Cinema - 1200 Valletta Campus Theatre

Documentary Subgenres - Masterclass - 1700 Music Room

Talent Talks with Christian Kroenes (dir. Welcome to Sodom) and Fabio and Damiano D’Innocenzo (dir. Boys Cry) - 1800 Cinema Bar at Citylights

Eurimages - Info Session - 1700 Music Room

Malta to Motor City - Special Screening - 1830 Valletta Campus Theatre

Black Mother - Islanders - 2045 Valletta Campus Theatre

Anchor and Hope - Competition Feature - 2100 Pjazza Teatru Rjal

Of Fathers And Sons - Competition Documentary - 2115 Spazju Kreattiv

God and family. Those are the things I felt I needed to shine a light on in this

increasingly unpopular in the world,

an offering or a gift for those willing to

Jamaica that wasn’t about reggae. For this reason, I purposely didn’t want any

actually. I didn’t paint Jamaica the same way it’s usually painted - like a Caribbean paradise for tourists. I showed what the tourist would never see, real darkness and light. Those were the inspirations.

Expectations. Pressure. Business. This

had a budget to work with. But also just growing up as a director; learning to remain creative and responsible, learning how to turn down the noise coming from everything external. Time was also a

years. I much prefer working quickly on projects but this one required me to stay with it for years. I loved the journey but when you’re working on something for so long that becomes the place where all your energy is focused. Aside from that, working in Jamaica isn’t easy, traveling and shooting with my little brother, me yelling at him for not setting the camera up right etc. In the end I surrendered

what it was, and I just listened.

‘Malta to Motor City’ is an observational documentary-short capturing the Maltese migrant experience in Michigan, USA with the help of the Maltese community.

based director and producer Charlie Cauchi. Talking with Charlie, she tells me all about growing up in London after her parents migrated there in the 70s... “my father always had Maltese friends that we would visit and they would speak Maltese, and my father – once in a while – would maybe take me to a place where we could buy trays of pastizzi.” Although her family moved back to Malta when she was 12, she decided to move back to the UK in her 20s - “I’ve grown up in both places but whenever someone asks me where I’m from I honestly don’t know how to answer – when I’m here I don’t feel Maltese and when I’m in London I don’t feel English so it’s always this really strange negotiation of identity – so this was one of my starting points – how do other people like me navigate this?” Withthe migration debate being so prevalent right now and with catch-phrases like ‘they’re here taking our work’, Charlie thought to herself - “actually, you have all migrated! And if you look at stories and report from the 70s in London, there was a lot of vice and crime and they refer to us in the exact same way that we refer to migrants here. So I just wanted to hold up a mirror.” She went on to tell me about the many stories of the people that left and how she also wanted to document them - went to Michigan for ten days and was

to fourth generations. There are 2 clubs there -The Maltese-American Benevolent

and The Maltese-American Community Club, and it’s super Maltese! I’d walk into one of these clubs and I’d forget where I was. I’d have to step outside and say – oh, hold on, I’m not in Malta anymore. It was fascinating. We actually

went to New York and Toronto and other parts of Canada and of course there are differences in the Maltese communities of these various places.” ‘Malta to Motor City’ forms part of a larger V18 funded project called ‘Latitude 36’ aiming to bring these real-life stories to the forefront and create a more honest and open debate about migration. Join us today at 1830 for the premier at the Valletta Campus Theatre!

A conversation with Charlie Cauchi

In Jamaica there is a popular drink called Malta. That is the only Malta I ever heard of before being contacted by Valletta. All I could say is I’m honoured to have been selected for this festival! I like intimate festivals like CIFFR in Curacao and Frames of Representation at ICA in London. I’m really looking forward to a similar experience at the VFF. The place seems so classy, and it’s so prestigious

audience will love it. Malta has so many churches, right? So I want to take them to church Rasta style!

Never has the name of a pub seemed so

always have peculiar names. As a child, I

‘The Queen’s Head’ or ‘The King’s Arms’ and wondering why that particular body part was chosen as opposed to all the others – or rather why the King or Queen hadn’t been left in his or her entirety. It all seemed rather strange, if not somewhat medieval. Anchor and Hope is cheerier name altogether, conveying stability and mobility all at once. This is a key

of it takes place on water, although that naturally helps. Mobility features on a thematic as well as a diegetic level as clear effort is made to move away from the stereotypical heterosexual romances that tend to populate our big screens, yet the familiar ‘anchor’ of the rom-com and all the clichés that go with it is retained. There were moments, for instance, when I was somewhat absurdly reminded of ‘Finding Your Feet,’ which came out in 2017 and used the world-famous Islington canals as a backdrop. I fear that such a comparison may not be well received, but the closing sequences of

to the canals for reunion with loved ones. In ‘Finding Your Feet’, the protagonist

and the arms of her lover, while a thin veil of nonchalance attempts to disguise a strong desire for union in ‘Anchor and Hope’: one woman leaps into the boat, the other walks alongside it, but the idea behind this plot structure and this

– those who love each other are united. Predictability isn’t necessarily a criticism when it comes to rom-com though, in fact it’s part and parcel of what we sign up for. Of course, many would argue that the depiction of a lesbian relationship,

and the introduction of a hairy bloke from Barcelona, there to donate ‘his little

stereotypes; men shed tears and elderly mothers share stories about their sex lives at the dinner table. And they would be right, this is most certainly a refreshing theme that not everyone will be used to confronting, but the familiar mechanisms in place provide a comfortable viewing point, rather like a newly upholstered chair, which looks different, but performs the same function. This cleverly scripted, superbly

and at points, crying discreetly into your Kleenex, but above all you will be drawing comparisons between all the other rom-coms you have ever seen before.

BLACK MOTHER ANCHOR AND HOPE

MALTA TO MOTOR CITY

What were the challenges behind

Had you heard of the VFF before? What are you expecting from an intimate festival in the Mediterranean? What kind of audience do you expect

A film by Carlos Marques-MarcetReview by Melita Cameron-Wood

Editor & Writer: Sarah ChircopContributors: Melita Cameron-WoodDesign: Maarten van Drempt Produced by: Film Grain FoundationPrinted by: Copyserv