Adrian Abela was chosen as the Maltese member of a group of 27 young cinema aficionados to attend the Venice Film Festival. He tells Martina Portelli he wishes Maltese films were being screened too.
For someone who enjoys something other than mainstream cinema in Malta, times are hard.
It made the exams less painful knowing I might experience a festival which I wouldn’t otherwise have done in the near future
Architecture student and aspiring artist Adrian Abela, however, was lucky enough to win a competition that saw him whisked off to Venice as the Maltese member of a group of 27 young cinéphiles at this year’s Venice Film Festival, thanks to the project 27 Times Cinema.
Currently in its second year, 27 Times Cinema is an initiative of the Committee on Culture and Education of the European Parliament in partnership with Venice Days and cinema network Europa Cinemas, which brought a cinema-goer from each EU member state, aged between 18 and 26, to one of the largest international festivals in Europe.
For Abela, the road to Venice began in May, when he first heard of the competition publicised by St James Cavalier – Malta’s Europa Cinemas outpost – calling for young Maltese cinema-lovers to try their hand at becoming Malta’s representative at the film festival, through a process which involved describing three scenes from three films.
Abela says local cinema is relatively limited. “Most cinemas tend to be more commercial and screen blockbuster films – which I don’t mind attending – but I can only watch films I am really interested in at St James Cavalier or during NGO Kinemastik’s film nights and their short film festival.”
His film choices are varied – 2006’s Hungarian black comedy Taxidermia, Peter Greenway’s Drowning By Numbers and contemporary Japanese flick Funky Forest (the latter of which Abela deems a “must watch”) – but all seem to include a somewhat surreal element.
Along with his offbeat film choices, Abela knew a chance like this was not to be overlooked, completing his application the day before an architecture exam: “It made the exams less painfulknowing I might go to Venice and experience a festival which, due to financial restrictions, I wouldn’t otherwise have done in the near future”.
After being shortlisted by St James Cavalier, the final selection was made by Europa Cinemas and on August 31 Abela found himself where all the action happens: Lido di Venezia.
Eager to find out what the experience was like, I ask Abela to describe a typical day at the festival and expect to be regaled with tales of celebrity spotting and rushing from one screening to another.
I’m partially right, but Abela says 27 Times Cinema was more than merely watching films at a festival.
As part of the group of 27 Abela could also participate in interesting panel sessions and workshops taking place under the auspices of the Venice Days section of the Festival.
“You wake up, go for a panel session, then go watch films until 2 a.m. every day – have a Spritz or a slice of pizza in between.”
Due to an administrative mishap, Abela was sent home a day and a half before the festival ended, leaving him in Malta while the rest of the participants were enjoying the final panel sessions and watching the prize-giving ceremony from the press room.
However, the experience of watching an average of four films a day with 26 other people – which would inevitably lead to discussion – was a positive one.
He believes this would be quite difficult to recapture in Malta, adding that “it’s hard to find people with similar tastes who are willing to go to the cinema and most of the time, many of these films aren’t even screened here”.
Abela notes that after some initial scepticism he was quite impressed with Faust, the winner of the Venice Film Festival’s main prize, the Golden Lion and enjoyed most of the films he had the opportunity to watch.
He seems quite fond of Sion Sono’s Himizu, originally a manga – a Japanese comic– which deals with the disaster in Fukushima.
He also notes that this year’s festival was surprisingly political; with three films discussing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and cites the documentary Would You Have Sex With an Arab? as one of the best ways to understand the conflict in the region.
Abela imparts some wise observations gleaned from the 27 Times Cinema experience:
“In Venice, there were films from all over the world, but no trace of Malta anywhere. You don’t need good cameras or professional actors to make a great film; all you need is an interesting story to tell. There is a need to create a geographical product, like wine – but a ‘Maltese’ film because it was born here and shot here.”