Triq Cinemoon Festival will this week be held in Mdina instead of Valletta, as part of the Under the Moon cultural events of the Malta International Food Festival.

It will also be on Friday instead of Thursday, and will this week focus on the theme ‘Dinner Time’.

This unusual festival, in its fifth year, asks its prospective audience to pick the films that are screened, with the general theme this summer being ‘In Time’.

The films proposed for this week include Festen, a 1998 Danish film directed by Thomas Vinterberg, which was released under the title The Celebration in the US.

The film, which was nominated for several awards, tells the story of a family gathering to celebrate their father’s 60th birthday. At the dinner, the eldest son publicly accuses his father of sexually abusing both him and his twin sister (who has recently killed herself). Vinterberg was inspired to write it with Mogens Rukov, based on a hoax broadcast by a Danish radio station.

The 2016 Italian film Perfetti Sconosciuti (Perfect Strangers) is a bitter ensemble comedy which follows a group of old friends who meet for dinner.  Director Paolo Genovese tackles a subject important to these times, when social media has entered into fragile territories and affects almost everyone’s lives. His film marks the rebirth of the “intelligent comedy” and received successful results at the box office in Italy.

The other film one can vote for is La noche que mi madre mató a mi padre (The Night My Mother Killed My Father), an unpredictable screwball murder-mystery written and directed by Spanish director Inés París.

Actress Isabel has just turned 40 and is despairing over her failure to launch. At her country home she assembles her screenwriter beau, a boozing producer and an Argentine comic, to concoct that elusive star vehicle. Unexpected guests arrive, among them Isabel’s ex – who winds up dropping dead after ingesting dessert.

The film obtaining the most votes will be shown on Friday. Voting closes tomorrow morning with the winning film announced around midday. Film ratings change depending on the title chosen.

Friday’s screening in the Mdina ditch starts at 8.30pm and entrance is free. To find out more about the festival and to access the relevant event page with links to the films’ trailers where one can vote, look up Triq Cinemoon Festival on Facebook.