EUNIC is the European network of cultural institutes and embassies engaging in cultural relations, bringing to life cultural collaborations in more than 100 countries worldwide with a network of 136 clusters.
The EUNIC Malta Cluster was launched in July 2021 and the first EUNIC Malta Film Festival was held in November 2021 at Spazju Kreattiv. Now in its third edition, this year’s film festival is being held in collaboration with EUROPRIDE. EUNIC Malta’s mission is to contribute towards the Sustainable Development Goals and to reflect and give value to the diversity of European cultures and common values through joint European events and projects.
Eleven members and partners are taking part in the event: the embassies of Austria, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain, as well as the Alliance française, Arts Council Malta, the British Council, the European Commission Representation and the Istituto Italiano di Cultura. Ten screenings over seven days will be held on the theme of EuroPride Valletta 2023, “Equality from the Heart”.
Kokon
Country: Germany
Saturday, September 9, 2023 at 6.00pm
95 min
Cert: 12
German with English subtitles
One of those sweltering summers when you grow up so fast: first loves and first setbacks, Nora searches for her way in the working-class Berlin of Kreuzberg, between an absent mother and a protective older sister. But at the age of 14, Nora doesn’t care about social or gender injunctions, or Instagram models: she wants to live, break out of her cocoon and take flight.
Realization & Script: Leonie Krippendorff / Producer Jost Hering (2020)
The Law of love
Country: Czech Republic
Sunday, September 10, 2023 at 6.00pm
80 min
Cert: 12
Czech with English subtitles
It looks like the Czech society is LGBT + friendly. But when it comes to legalizing marriage, ignorance and hatred suddenly appear. Czeslaw, and his companions run a campaign to show that the fight for LGBT + rights in Europe is not over.
Director: Barbora Chalupova (2022)
Breaking the ice
Country: Austria
Tuesday, September 12, 2023 at 6.00pm
102 min
Cert: 12
German with English subtitles
The movie tells the story of Mira, a young Austrian woman, who escapes from the pressure of running her family’s vineyard by playing ice hockey. Then a new player arrives to challenge herrigid worldview, leading to a life-changing night on the streets of Vienna. When Mira’s missing brother Paul also turns up and all three get lost in late-night Vienna, Mira discovers the freedom it means to break rules, to reinvent herself – and that you can only love if you let go.
Director: Clara Stern / Producers: Nikolaus Geyrhalter, Markus Glaser, Michael Kitzberger, Wolfgang
Zen sul ghiaccio sottile – plus Q&A with director Margherita Ferri
Country: Italy
Tuesday, September 12, 2023 at 8.30pm
87 min
Cert 12
Italian with English subtitles
Maia, called ZEN, a rowdy yet solitary 16-year-old tomboy, lives in a small village on top of the rough and beautiful Italian Apennines. She’s the only girl of the local ice hockey- team and she is constantly bullied by her teammates for her masculine attitude. When Vanessa – the beautiful and bewildered girlfriend of the team captain – runs away from home and hides in Maia’s family lodge, Maia feels free to trust someone for the first time. Led by the need to break away from the roles that the small community has forced them to play, Maia and Vanessa embark on a journey of self-discovery: an exploration of their gender identity and sexuality, liquid and restless like the troubled time of youth.
Director: Margherita Ferri (2018)
El Houb
Country: The Netherlands
Wednesday, September 13, 2023 at 6.00pm
102 min
Cert: 15
Dutch with English subtitles
When Moroccan-Dutch Karim is caught by his father with another man, he rushes to his parental home to engage in the conversation that follows. But how do you address the elephant in the room within a family that avoids sensitive subjects by definition? Especially with an intrusive neighbor who always buzzes around the house at the wrong moment. The difficult days that follow bring forth beautiful and poignant memories. Karim realizes that he must confront his family to finally break the deafening silence. But can he expect acceptance from his family if he has never come to terms with his own feelings? El Houb (The Love) is both a moving and humorous directorial debut by Shariff Nasr, starring Fahd Larhzaoui and award-winning actors Lubna Azabal (Incendies, Adam) and Slimane Dazi (Un prophète). El Houb is the first feature film that addresses the sensitivity of coming out in the Dutch- Moroccan community, and it had its world premiere at the prestigious Frameline Film Festival in San Francisco.
And then we danced
EU Representation in Malta
Wednesday, September 13, 2023 at 8.30pm
Georgian with English subtitles
Cert: 15
113 minutes
Merab has been training since a young age at the National Georgian Ensemble with his dance partner Mary. His world is suddenly turned upside down when the charismatic and carefree Irakli arrives and becomes both his strongest rival and desire. In this conservative setting Merab finds himself having to break free and risk it all.
Premiering at the 2019 Quinzaine des réalisateurs in Cannes to a 15-minute standing ovation, Levan Akin’s queer coming of age drama has gone on to receive multiple accolades and awards from film festivals around the world, including the Grand Prix, Best Film and Best Actor at the Odesa Film Festival. In Georgia, however, where the film is set, audiences were subject to protests outside screenings, which at times turned violent, highlighting the courage required for the film to have been made in the first place.
Director: Levan Akin (2019)
Short film compilation UK
Country United Kingdom
Thursday, September 14, 2023 at 6.00pm
1 hour 26
Cert N/a
- Short Film – The Men who speak Gayle – 10 min.
Young drag performer Nathan is one of the last people to speak gayle – a secret language
the gay community were forced to invent during Apartheid. He finds out about Louis, an original
Gayle speaker living in a conservative desert town in South Africa and wants to put on a performance
with him, but don’t know how the town will react. - Short Film – Let my body speak – 10 min.
This film follows a personal and intimate journey exploring the repression experienced by
the filmmaker during his childhood when she faces sexual control in Damascus. Through the creative
use of family archive mixed with current footage of her body she reconstructs the pain of the past
absorbed by her body. - Short Film – Nowhere – 20 min.
A young Palestinian woman crosses the Israeli border illegally to find her long-lost brother,
who she hopes will be her ticket to a new life far from the West Bank. When she discovers the truth
behind his exiled existence, her dreams of a happy reunion are shattered, and she must face her next
steps alone. - Short Film – Baba – 17 min
Rejected by his family for his queerness and oppressed by his country for the same, Libyan
teenager, Britannia, gets an interview at the British Embassy, gateway to the pulsing queer world of
Manchester’s Canal Street. Being British and gay is everything he's ever dreamed of. But he
needs his passport. Plagued by memories of his oppressive Baba but supported by his found
family of queers, he sneaks back to the family house to retrieve it. There, an unexpected
discovery strikes deep and forces him to question where his dreams truly lie. - Short film – Egúngún – 14 min
In this captivating and stylish drama by Olive Nwosu, a woman returns to her hometown of
Lagos in search of healing. What she discovers instead is a path that takes her into her past and
toward a new understanding of the people and experiences that shaped her. - Short film – Prayers for sweat waters – 16 min
A submergence into the vivid realities of three Transgender sex workers living in Cape
Town, South Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Short film compilation Malta
Country: Malta
54 mins
Thursday, September 14, 2023 at 8.30pm
Cert N/a
- Short Film – In his image – 10 min
Synopsis: One summer afternoon, a young man breaks into a middle-aged man’s house. It is not the first time he has done so. There, they have a conversation which leads to something more, and to nothing at all. This queer, arthouse two-hander is an exploration of identity, masculinity and the gaze. - Short Film – Searching for the wave – 14 min
Faye, heartbroken and confused, recalls her recent relationship with Ava in hopes of understanding why she left without a trace. This eventually leads Faye to a dark realization about her
former partner’s childhood. In this short drama, Chelsea Muscat explores queer love and heartbreak, and the cycle of childhood trauma. - Short Film – Venus Melite – 30 min
Synopsis: A queer photographer visiting the island of Malta finds inspiration and solace in a young beekeeper, but grapples with her role as an artist in the face of complex political forces.
Te Estoy Amando Locamente
Country: Spain
Friday, September 15, 2023 at 6.00pm
107 min
Spanish, with English subtitles
Cert: 12
It follows a mother involved in the homosexual movement of the 1970s.
Directed by Alejandro Marin / Scenario: Carmen Garrido Vacas (2023)
La revanche des Crevettes Pailletées – plus Q&A with director Cedric Le Gallo
Country: France
Friday, September 15, 2023 at 8.30pm
113 min
Cert: 12
On their way to the Gay Games in Tokyo, the Glitter Shrimps miss their connecting flight and find themselves stranded deep in Russia, in a particularly homophobic region. It follows the first film directed by Cédric Le Gallo entitled Les Crevettes Pailletées. The film premiered in official competition at the 2021 Alpe d’Huez International Comedy Film Festival.
Directors: Cédric Le Gallo and Maxime Govare (2022)
Starring: Nicolas Gob, Michaël Abiteboul, Bilal El Atreby, David Baiot
Speaker during Q&A: Alain Gavand, Director of the Observatory of the French LGBT+ NGO L’Autre Cercle.