Former Prime Minister Alfred Sant will feature in a short film entitled Sant Sant to be released this summer, it emerged yesterday.
A teaser trailer uploaded online shows only a darkly lit profile view of Dr Sant staring into the distance, with the subdued chirping of birds in the background.
The cryptic teaser, which sparked fiery reactions online, did not give away much information about the film except that it was directed by Dustin Cauchi and would be released in summer.
In a press release, the producers described the short film as “a work of fiction that possesses biographical and documentative qualities”.
“The public persona of Alfred Sant seeps through the plot in relation to his activity as a writer,” the producers said, stressing it was not a political or journalistic documentary and focused on Dr Sant’s intellectual and literary figure rather than his politics.
The film’s synopsis reads: “A film about privacy, without privacy. A film about documentation, without documentation. A film about biography, without biography. A film about poetry, without poetry. A film about politics, without politics. A film about Alfred Sant, with Alfred Sant.”
Sant Sant will be submitted to international short film festivals and screened in European cinematographic and contemporary art contexts, according to the press release.
The film is produced by Fenêtre Project, an international network of professionals dedicated to independent film productions and other performances.
When contacted about the film, Dr Sant said he had no comment to make and advised The Times to speak to the filmmaker.
Dr Sant, who recently made headlines when he announced that he would not contest the general election but the forthcoming European Parliament election, led the Malta Labour Party from 1992 to 2008.
He was Prime Minister for 22 months between 1996 and 1998 and is mostly remembered for his opposition to EU membership.
But Dr Sant is also a prolific writer and – as the film’s producers describe him –“one of the most important Maltese literary voices of the second half of the 20th century”.
His published works include novels, short stories, memoirs, critical essays and plays with titles such as Silġ fuq Kemmuna and L-Għalqa tal-Iskarjota.
Last year, it was another former Prime Minister and Labour leader, Dom Mintoff, who appeared on cinema screens in the documentary Dear Dom.
The film became a box office hit and was the centre of much debate, though it was loathed as much as it was loved.