http://www.independent.com.mt/news.asp?newsitemid=71791
The festival kicked off at St James Cavalier with a screening of 13 short films selected by the European Film Academy in Berlin, Germany.
These films make up part of The Prix UIP – an initiative by United International Pictures and the European Film Academy in co-operation with 14 festivals throughout Europe.
“We are very proud to associate ourselves with this exciting short film festival that is expected to grab the attention of film enthusiasts in Malta for its rich cultural diversity and original conceptual content,” said Claudio Camilleri, Head Sales and Marketing at Camilleri Wines during a meeting with festival organiser Slavko Vukanovic.
Mr Vukanovic explained how this short film programme will include productions from Belgium, France, UK, Germany, Norway and Spain. “Besides the fact that these films happen to be travelling from festival to festival across Europe, the significance of this festival gains further weight when one takes into account that the films being shown have won awards at a number of prestigious international film festivals. These include the international film festivals in Venice, Berlin, Tampere, Krakow, Edinburgh, Sarajevo, Flanders, Valladolid and Rotterdam,” announced Mr Vukanovic.
The festival’s programme also includes an exhibition by artist Marija Djordjevic at the Museum of Fine Arts in Valletta, running from 7-13 July. The exhibition opens at 7pm and the public is welcome to attend.
For all budding filmmakers, a three-day workshop by film director Milos Tomic, is being held from Tuesday until Thursday. Milos Tomic’s film, Clay Pigeon, won the Audience Award at the Kinemastik short film festival in 2007, so he was invited him to give a workshop at this year’s edition. Mr Tomic will show various films that were an inspiration to him, and in turn the candidates must bring along their favourites. He will set some simple tasks and guide budding filmmakers through the techniques and possibilities of stop trick animation. The participants will then attempt to make their own piece, with a little help from Milos, of course.
Candidates need have no previous film experience; keen pigeons should, however, do all they can to obtain a digital camera and a tripod for the workshop. Kinemastik will select 10 participants for the workshop. Those interested are to send a short paragraph about themselves and a brief CV to: kinemastik2008@gmail.com.
A short film screening entitled Baghdad Stories will be held at the Alliance Française de Malte in Floriana on Tuesday at 7.30pm. The screenings will feature Ali Bader, one of the most significant contemporary novelists to emerge in Iraq. He and renowned filmmakers Ziad Turkey and Hadi Mahood, who all returned to Iraq post 2003 to document encounters with the changes in their society, will be present on the night to offer their insights into the dichotomy of living between home and exile.
Dina Fakoussa from the Heinrich Böll Foundation will participate in the discussion panel that will follow the screening of their short films.
As part of the Fourth International Short Film Festival, Kinemastik will also present its Weekend Selekt at Gnien il-Gardjola in Valletta on Friday and Saturday at 8pm – two nights of blinding short films from the US, Italy, Sweden, Romania, Denmark, France, Portugal and the UK. Tickets are available at St James Cavalier Centre for Creativity and at the door.
