St James Cavalier, in Valletta will today launch a series of festivals to be held over the next three months, starting with the Irish Film Festival at 7 p.m.

The festival will feature 20 films from five countries which have never been screened in Malta.

The guest of honour tonight will be Barry Dignam, the director of one of the shorts being presented at the festival.

The week long Green Screen Irish Film Festival brings together a mix of drama, comedy and documentary as well as a number of shorts and animation films.

The festival is currently touring Europe as one of the events marking the Irish presidency of the EU and the upcoming expansion of the Union. It is being presented in collaboration with the Irish Film Institute and the Irish Film Board.

In conjunction with the Australian High Commission and to mark the opening of an exhibition of aboriginal art, St James is presenting a short festival consisting of two films: Rabbit Proof Fence by director Philip Noyce and Yolngu Boy, a rich, inspirational film about two aborigine boys who dream of becoming hunters.

On April 21 comes the French film festival which this year will focus on the theme of women.

Boasting some of the finest French actresses of at least three generations, including Isabelle Huppert, Emmanuelle Beart and Catherine Deneuve, the festival will include 8 Femme and The Girl from Paris among others.

On May 10, St James is launching the Mosfilms Film Festival - Classics of the Russian Cinema.

This season will not only include the classic epic War and Peace split over three evenings but also more recent works such as Mirrors, a classic film by the late, great Andrè Tarkovsky and Poisoning by Karen Shakhnazarov.

Ms Shakhnazarov will be present at the festival and will be looking for work opportunities with the film industry in Malta.

May 28 is the turn of Italian films which will include new feature films and a retrospective of classic Italian cinema.

The programme is still being finalised.

For more information phone 2122 3216.

boxoffice@sjcav.org

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