Director Rebecca Cremona tackles her first project after the shooting of Simshar to curate Pjazza Kino: Sea Stories, as part of the 2014 Malta Arts Festival. This is a collection of three films screened in the open air, that are all very different in their approach but which share the sea as a central theme and also have a tangential link to Malta. Paula Fleri-Soler finds out more.

It is admittedly odd to be talking to Cremona about anything other than Simshar; but here we are. Although work is still under way to get her critically-acclaimed film seen by overseas audiences, in the meantime her time is also being taken up with the curation of Pjazza Kino: Sea Stories.

The films being screened are Kon-Tiki (Norway, 2012), Io Sono Li (Italy, 2011) and The Deep (Iceland, 2012). Cremona explains that the rationale behind her choices is threefold.

Firstly, she explains, “there is a communal, social aspect of cinema, which I believe we have lost to a great extent”. She recalls when, aged 12, she attended an open-air screening in Taormina of the film Speed, musing wistfully that: “The idea of watching a film under the stars was so magical. Hopefully Pjazza Kino will recreate that magic.”

Secondly, Cremona wanted to bring films that Maltese audiences wouldn’t get to see otherwise. And finally, she explains how the films are related to one another and brought together under the banner of ‘Sea Stories’.

Kon-Tiki (rated 12A) is the account of real-life anthropologist and adventurer Thor Heyerdahl who in April 1947 set out on an expedition to cross the Pacific Ocean on a balsa wood raft called Kon-Tiki. The film is directed by Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg, who have Hollywood international fame firmly in their sights, having signed on to direct Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales which is due for release in 2016.

Io Sono Li (15) tells the tale of the friendship between Chinese bartender Shun Li and Bepi, a Slavic fisherman, that develops in a little Venice town.

It is a relationship that upsets both the Chinese and local communities. It is the first fictional feature film from that acclaimed Italian documentary maker Andrea Segre.

Also based on actual events, The Deep (12A) narrates the account of a fisherman who tries to survive in the freezing ocean after his boat capsizes off the south coast of Iceland. It is directed by Baltasar Kormákur, who Cremona describes as a director equally adept at very deep stuff and Hollywood action films, the Denzel Washington-Mark Wahlberg starrer 2 Guns among his works.

The sea-based themes explainthe intrinsic connectionsto Malta

The sea-based themes explain the intrinsic connection to Malta, yet the tangential links go deeper than that.

“Quite a lot of Kon-Tiki was shot in Malta,” says Cremona. Indeed, the islands double up as Peru, and many scenes were filmed in the Mediterranean Film Studios water tanks, playing their part as the Pacific Ocean.

“Io Sono Li is interesting because it is about migrants in Venice. They’re not African migrants,” she stresses, “and it is very interesting from that point of view because it depicts a Mediterranean culture mingling with foreign cultures coming in – in this case Chinese – and how that sits with the locals.

“The Deep is from Iceland, which has a population smaller than ours but has a thriving film industry. As a film-maker this is something that interests me, given the current impetus to kick-start our film industry,” explains Cremona of her third choice. “However, The Deep is based on a fishing tragedy that really shook Iceland … so the parallels to Simshar are pretty obvious.”

What’s more, Cremona points out that despite the films’ similarities in respect of their themes, she purposely chose films that are very different in their approach, making the choice that much more eclectic.

“Kon-Tiki is a bit of a blockbuster; Io Sono Li is more lyrical while The Deep is very raw. I love the idea of exposing viewers to different approaches to film-making.”

Furthermore, to add to the overall experience, after the films Cremona will host a Q&A with a couple of the film-makers.

Kon-Tiki will be represented by Pierre Ellul, who served as the film’s production manager; and Lorenza Poletto, associate producer, will answer questions about Io Sono Li.

Pjazza Kino: Sea Stories will take place at Pjazza Teatru Rjal in Valletta on July 23 (Kon-Tiki), July 25 (Io Sono Li) and August 2 (The Deep). The films will all be screened in their native languages with subtitles. There will be no intermission. Entrance is free and patrons will be seated on a first-come, first-served basis. Doors open at 8.15pm and the films start at 9pm. Latecomers will not be admitted.

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