Legendary Russian film-maker Andrei Tarkovsky’s Sculpting Time: Andrei Tarkovsky Retrospective remastered in new digital prints kicks off today with Ivan’s Childhood.

This was the film-maker’s debut feature and is a poetic journey through the destroyed childhood of one boy as it moves back and forth between the traumatic realities of World War II and serene moments of family life before the conflict began. The film remains one of the most jarring and unforgettable depictions of the impact of war on children.

The Guardian wrote that “its pure audacity and visual beauty are electrifying… It is one of the great coups de cinéma”.

In referring to Tarkovsky’s direction, TimeOut held that “no other director is simultaneously so precise and so otherworldly, so uncompromisingly bleak and so awake to the possibilities of joy… it’s tough to argue he ever made a better one”.

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 UK.

Ivan’s Childhood is being screened in its original language with English subtitles at Spazju Kreattiv, Valletta, at 8pm. It carries a 12A classification.

For more information, visit www.kreattivita.org.