This year’s edition of Poetry on Film sees Clare Azzopardi and Ken Scicluna working on a poetry film which presents Achille Mizzi’s work “Kafè”, while Abigail Mallia and Carlos Debattista are producing a poetry film of Oliver Friggieri’s work “Il-Lejl f’Dan l-Istazzjon”.

The finished works will be screened during the annual Malta Mediterranean Literature Festival, which will take place between the 23rd and 25th of August 2018 at Fort Manoel, Manoel Island, Gżira.

The two authors and the choice of poems once more have been selected by Dr Immanuel Mifsud, the literary consultant for the Poetry on Film project. Each year’s poetry films are selected after workshops organised by Inizjamed, where filmmakers were encouraged to submit a short poetry film proposal.

About Poetry on Film

Poetry on Film is a Valletta 2018 project in collaboration with Inizjamed which aims to develop the poetry film sector in Malta through training, the commissioning of short poetry films to be screened at the annual Malta Mediterranean Literature Festival, and the export of the commissioned films. The project is central to the Valletta 2018 Foundation and Inizjamed strategy to make poetry more accessible and alive through collaboration and co-creation across different artistic disciplines and media. To stimulate wider interest and activity in the sector and with a view to supporting the high-quality production of poetry films in Malta, the Valletta 2018 Foundation and Inizjamed will commission two more poetry films via a selective process.

 

Past Editions

The first poetry film was commissioned for the 2014 edition of the Malta Mediterranean Literature Festival based on two poems by Doreen Micallef as a representative of Maltese poetry of the 1960s, and a second poetry film was commissioned for the 2015 edition of the same Festival, based on a poem by Mario Azzopardi as a representative of Maltese poetry of the 1970s. In 2016 two more films were chosen through a submission and selection process, namely films based on poems by Lillian Sciberras and Ray Mahoney. Last year, two films were also chosen through a submission and selection process, namely films based on the poems of Victor Fenech and Maria Grech Ganado.

 

For more information, visit Inizjamed’s Facebook page and www.inizjamed.org