Kinemastik was set up as a collective two decades ago – Slavko Vukanoic, Emma Mattei, Bojana Dimitrovska and Aleksander Dimitrovski are still members of the organisation. It was done because they felt there was a place for it here in Malta.
“And also, because we were young and energetic and there were all these empty abandoned spaces around the city,” she smiles. “For the first edition we set up a screen on a ravelin below the Upper Barrakka Gardens in Valletta, we cleaned up and transformed the space. From the outset we’ve been aware of the environment in which we present the festival: the artistic director Sandra Zaffarese changes the theme of festival changes every year, so setting up Kinemastik is like preparing a large-scale installation.”
From the outset, Emma explains, the team had a ‘DIY’ ethos, which hasn’t changed over the two decades, two decades in which Kinemastik has grown considerably and built an enviable international reputation. However, it remains a collective, and a labour of love with a sense of authenticity and honesty. “We keep the prices as low as possible, so we can welcome everyone,” adds Mattei.
Many of the award-winning films included in the programme were selected from festivals that take place in Winterthur (CH), Clermont Ferrand (FR), Rotterdam, Berlin, Leipzig, London, Locarno and Sarajevo in the belief they would resonate with a Maltese audience. Others were carefully chosen from 70 international submissions and although the full programme won’t be released until Thursday (July 24), Mattei shares several titles ahead of time.
Of these, directed by Catriona Gallagher Daphne was a Torso ending in Leaves (Italy/Greece/UK) portrays the mythical metamorphosis of nymph Daphne into a bay-laurel tree with a fresh new approach set in contemporary Rome, once surrounded by native laurel forests and still home to persistent depictions of the woman-tree-symbol.
From hedges in parks and gardens to laureate wreaths for graduating students, this is a film made about Daphne, with daphne, with the black and white negative developed in bay-leaf infusion. The camera lingers on laurel in Etruscan burial grounds, the botanical code of Augustus’s Ara Pacis, Livia’s garden frescoes and the attempted rape of Daphne by Apollo in Bernini’s baroque sculpture.
Also woven with a botanical thread, in Rezbotanik (Brazil/ Portugal/Spain), directed by Pedro Gonçalves Ribeiro, protagonist Rezmorah goes to the Botanical Garden of Lisbon to sober up after heavy nights of partying. More than a park, the place is a living museum: and it is amidst its tropical and exotic flora that Rez talk about their relationship with the night, with that space and with gender, wondering what plants may have to teach us about ways of seeing and thinking queer life.
Concern for the environment is one of the common themes in contemporary short films, particularly those that address political concerns in a creative way. Others include second generational trauma, telling the stories of people who have grown up in the shadow of unspeakable circumstances, and decolonisation through the narratives of people in places all around the world, including migrant and diasporic populations.
“They sound heavy,” Mattei explains, “but these shorts include joy alongside pathos, and there’s plenty of humour. There may be a misconception that by using humour you devalue an issue. However, it’s a powerful tool to engage an audience, and it’s how a topic is treated that makes a film stand out.”
“The Maltese films we are including are generally experimental,” Mattei continues. “Lots of Maltese short are rather dark, with a Zombie/goth/horror flavour, so they can end up being rather similar.”
Therefore, always on the lookout for innovation in local film, she is pleased to be including in the programme a black and white film entitled Telqa (Malaise) directed by Zion Wheelan Gauci Cassar. It’s a film that considers how the men in power toying with the landscape have deteriorated Maltese culture? What is happening to the islands’ identity? How much time will pass before they see change?
“I like the film-maker’s approach,” Mattei smiles. “He references early cinema techniques, and the film has a nostalgic quality to it, whilst dealing with a contemporary issue.”
All viewers can then vote for their favourite film in an innovative, often humorous system, which takes a different form every year, after which the audience’s choice is awarded the Golden Dot Award.
Casting a professional eye on the diverse programme, the festival jury consists of Teresa Busuttil, is a Maltese-Australian artist who works across sculpture and moving image to blend stories, histories and fantasy; Adrian Camilleri, a Maltese film-maker, anthropologist and artist whose work moves fluidly between ethnographic observation and poetic experimentation; and Chelsea Muscat a Gozitan writer, director and photographer person based in New York, whose films delve into the ‘intricate dance of human relationships’ and who makes everyday moments into something extraordinary.
Both evenings finish with live music and DJ sets including at Hunters Palace on Friday, with London-based synthesizer-player Danalogue and Anglo-Maltese musician and producer Capitol K.
Tickets (€18 per night) are limited so pre-booking online is essential.
Doors open at 7pm. The programme includes 7.30pm Sundowner set; 9 to 11pm film screenings; 11pm until late – live and DJ sets.
Kinemastik is supported by Arts Council Malta through the Investment in Cultural Organisations Fund. Kinemastik has long-standing support from NGO Din L-Art Ħelwa, as well as sponsors AP Valletta Architects, ALDO, Marks & Spencer, Valletta Vintage, who support the festival each year.
**For more information www.kinemastik.org