Valletta is no stranger to the cinema screen, as it has featured in a variety of films such as World War Z and Munich.

But how spectacular would it be for this film set to become its own cinema? This is what the upcoming Valletta Film Festival seeks to achieve – transforming Valletta into a city-sized cinema.

The creators behind this initiative are the Film Grain Foundation, a non-profit organisation made up of Bojana Dimitrovska, Oliver Mallia and Slavko Vukanovic, who are working in partnership with Pjazza Teatru Rjal and St James Cavalier Centre for Creativity, with the support of Arts Council Malta.

Right after the inception of the foundation – which was set up to try and foster greater appreciation of film in Malta through film festivals, educational workshops and master classes – the members immediately started working on plans for the Valletta Film Festival.

To develop the festival to its current stage, the members attended different film festivals where they promoted their ideas and received feedback.

While there, they also focused on market research, and thanks to this hard work, Valletta will now be hosting the first Valletta Film Festival in June.

The festival is an inclusive one that truly offers something for everyone.

“We decided to have a mix; it’s not a niche festival and it won’t be just for a particular genre of film,” says Mallia, who hails from a film production background. The foundation has planned screenings of various independent productions belonging to different genres to be shown at different venues around Valletta, some of which will also be open air.

The list of venues includes Pjazza Teatru Rjal, Fort St Elmo, St James Cavalier and the Embassy Cinemas.

The foundation is also planning on showing some free screenings in St George’s Square.

“Essentially, what we would like to do is turn the city into a cinema for about a week, every year. Whoever comes to Valletta for that particular week is going to be breathing films and living culture. While moving from one place to another around the city, they’ll be surrounded by rich visual imagery and great narrative stories from all over the world.”

According to the Mallia, this mixture of cultures present in foreign films complements Malta’s geographical position, which has helped it operate as a crossroads between different continents throughout its rich history.

“We want to make this a huge community affair for people of all different ages and backgrounds.”

In order to keep it diverse and inclusive, the festival has been divided into a variety of interesting sections.

There is an official competition section in which participants may submit films for three genres: feature films, documentaries and short films.

There is also a non-competition section in which a number of films will be premiering at the festival at Pjazza Teatru Rjal; an Islanders section, which deals with productions mainly set on islands; a Without Borders section, which focuses on Scandinavian films; and a Masters of Cinema section, in which works of established cinematic works are celebrated and in which awards are also handed out by the foundation.

“We’re trying to create unique stuff like the Islanders section, something that you won’t find in any festival around the world. We’re promoting films that are made by residents of different islands around the world from Fiji to Iceland, Malta, Hawaii, the Philippines and others.

“These are films that deal with issues set on islands, so this is a unique thing. We think Malta, with this particular section, could create a vibe around the international film industry, particularly with different filmmakers around different islands to come here and discuss the problems and the issues that we, as islanders, face.”

These issues are not restricted to a film context, as issue concerning island size, migration, opportunities, periphery, and ecology, amongst others, will be addressed. The festival, therefore, creates a space for dialogue amongst different islanders from around the world.

Vukanovic, who, along with Dimitrovska, has been on the Kinemastik organising team, also provides some insight on the Without Borders section, which focuses on films from Scandinavia.

“It’s a very interesting region when it comes to films and this region has developed significantly in the past couple of decades. I feel it deserves special attention in our festival, keeping in mind that, in the last five years or so, Malta has become home to a number of Scandinavians.

@I think this festival will try and reach out to different groups, not for the sake of playing safe, but for the sake of offering diversity. So, this is our initial approach to the festival and we hope to broaden it and introduce new things every year.”

One of the other reasons behind the Valletta Film Festival is this diversity which should be celebrated. Mallia explains how most of the films which are shown in cinemas are Hollywood productions, while other films from countries which might have more things in common with us, culturally-speaking, never reach our shores.

“It is quite curious that, in this day and age, with all the access of technology, we still consume Hollywood films more than any other cinema.

“We are going to try to provide local audiences with a different taste. We’re going to offer an experience to the public by bringing these quality productions to Malta. We want anyone who comes to our festival to see a film in a different scenario.”

In this technologically-rich day and age, anyone can watch a film on a mobile device or computer, but these don’t provide the atmosphere the festival will.

“It is amazing to watch a film under the stars in a historical setting like Valletta, to have that experience. We want people to come to Valletta to experience its glorious architectural beauty and match that with the great audio-visual elements that we’re going to be offering,” says Mallia.

But how will Valletta Film Festival perform internationally? “You start setting something up and you have to grow it and nourish it, and after a number of years you’re going to see how it performs internationally. We’re going to try and make a good festival. Only time will tell how it compares to other international festivals,” says Vukanovic.

The foundation wants to establish a community in which people can enjoy and discuss films together either over a drink at a bar or restaurant around Valletta and that is what makes this festival so special.

The Valletta Film Festival takes place between June 15 and 21. The foundation is currently looking for volunteers to be part of the team – more details are on the Facebook page.

www.facebook.com/vallettafilmfestival