On a windswept island, an old man, wracked with dementia, dreams he was once a king. With their surroundings mysteriously devoid of all animal life, his daughter obsessively builds walls around her father’s hermitage.

These fantastical figures form the basis of a new Maltese feature film currently being shot in the untamed surroundings of the Majjistral Nature Park.

Nestled below the cliff face, the producers have found a rare setting, devoid of any marks of civilisation, on which to craft their fantasy.

The as-yet untitled project is a collaboration between Alex Vella Gera, the award-winning novelist of Is-Sriep Reġgħu Saru Velenużi and Trojan, and London based film director Peter Sant, with a largely Maltese technical crew.

The cast includes veteran actors Narcy Calamatta and Michael Tabone, as well as Mandy Mifsud and Chinese artist John Zhang, who learned the lines of the Maltese- language script phonetically. Matching him for dedication, Ruth Borg, who plays one of the old man’s daughters, took lessons from a rubble-wall builder to prepare herself for the role.

Speaking to the Times of Malta in a brief break from filming, Mr Sant, the film’s director, said contending with the weather and the rough terrain had proved particularly challenging but did not derail the project’s tight, three-week shooting window.

“The whole film is really about the environment itself: that’s the main character,” he said.

“So the main thing for us is to capture it in its natural state.”

The technical crew discussing a shot.

The producers have added little to the pristine setting, even getting permission from the Planning Authority to dismantle an illegal structure on site, which Mr Vella Gera joked was the film’s way of giving something back to the environment.

For the established novelist, this is the first foray into writing a feature film, which he said had its own challenges.

“Co-writing can be tough,” he said.

“You have all these ideas which work beautifully in your mind and then it all gets shuffled up. It teaches you not to get too attached.”

Once shooting wraps up this week, the film still faces a long editing process before it hits the screens, when it will take its place amid a fast-growing list of ambitious, home-grown features.

“I think we have a lot more opportunities here than people in other countries,” Mr Sant said. “We have a lot of professional crew members who are able to get things done to a very high standard, working with what’s available.

“It’s a very fortunate position to be in.”

Cast and crew during a break from filming. Chinese actor John Zhang (left) learned the lines of the Maltese script phonetically.

Filming is taking place over rough terrain, which is particularly challenging for the cast.