Screening today in Valletta, Nostalghia is Russian master Andrei Tarkovsky’s first feature to be produced beyond the borders of Russia.

This unforgettable haunting film explores the melancholy of the expatriate through the film’s protagonist, Gorchakov (Oleg Yankovsky), a Russian poet carrying out research in Italy. Upon arriving in a quaint Tuscan village with Eugenia (Domiziana Giordano), his radiant Italian interpreter, memories of Russia, his wife and children come rushing in.

Here, Gorchakov also encounters the local mystic who sets him a challenging task.

Nostalghia is filled with a series of mysterious and extraordinary images, all of which coalesce into a miraculous whole in the film’s final shot. As in all Tarkovsky’s films, nature – particularly the elements of fire and water – music, painting and poetry all play a major and constructive role.

The film is being screened as part of the Sculpting Time: Andrei Tarkovsky Retrospective remastered in new digital prints. The screening of arthouse, festival and foreign films is a foremost priority in the Spazju Kreattiv cinema programme. Furthermore, the culturally diverse nature of such productions conforms to the organisation’s strategy of promoting different aspects related to the concept of identity, diversity and legacy.

The Tarkovsky screenings are an offshoot of a major retrospective on the celebrated auteur currently touring a number of cinemas across the United Kingdom.

■ Nostalghia is being screened tonight at St James Cavalier in Valletta at 7pm. It is in Italian and Russian with English subtitles and carries a 15+ classification. For more information, visit www.kreattivita.org.