The 2025 version of the Mediterrane Movie Pageant is falling into focus.
The third installment of the pageant — scheduled to happen in Valletta, Malta from June 21-29 — has reeled in a jury that features filmmaker Catherine Hardwicke (Twilight), Oscar profitable manufacturing designer Rick Carter (Avatar), costume designer Charlese Antoinette (Air), set decorator Elli Griff (Napoleon), manufacturing designer James Value (Poor Issues), Maltese director Mario Philip Azzopardi (ZOS: Zone of Separation). The jury will decide the recipients of the Golden Bee Awards, a listing that shall be unveiled at a gala, on June 29.
The Mediterrane Movie Pageant, which is underneath the route of a brand new inventive crew in pageant director Ray Calleja and curator Mark Adams, options three pillars of programming: major competitors (movies from throughout the Mediterranean), out of competitors (international alternatives) and Mare Nostrum or Our Sea (movies devoted to sustainability and environmental themes). The latter’s jury consists of Grainne Humphreys, a longtime inventive director of the Dublin Movie Pageant, and Ania Trzebiatowska, a senior programmer on the Sundance Movie Pageant.
Past the fest’s public screenings, programming may also embrace panels, roundtables and masterclasses from notable trade expertise. Jury member Hardwicke shall be pulling double responsibility this yr as she’s already been booked for a filmmaker dialogue in help of her movie, Lords of Dogtown, which can have a twentieth anniversary screening. Previous audio system embrace Mike Leigh, editor Yorgos Mavropsaridis (Poor Issues), Oscar-winning manufacturing designer Nathan Crowley (Depraved), casting director Margery Simkin (High Gun) and composer Simon Franglen (Avatar: The Means of Water).
This yr’s pageant is being curated with the theme “We Are Movie,” which is supposed to be a mirrored image of the pageant’s mission to unite creators and audiences in honoring the common language of movie. It additionally very a lot aligns with a serious Malta milestone: 2025 marks 100 years of filmmaking within the space, courting again to its first function movie, 1925’s Sons of the Sea. Within the century since, it has develop into a scorching manufacturing hub due to its structure, landscapes and water-based amenities at Malta Movie Studios. Films which have shot within the space embrace Gladiator, Troy, Sport of Thrones, Napoleon and plenty of extra.
“As we rejoice 100 years of filmmaking in Malta, we’re honored to welcome an distinctive panel of judges who mirror the depth, range, and international attain of latest cinema. Along with our pageant curator, Mark Adams, we’re dedicated to shaping a program that not solely honors Malta’s cinematic previous but additionally champions daring new voices from throughout the Mediterranean and past,” stated Calleja in a press release.
Added Malta movie commissioner Johann Grech: “The Mediterrane Movie Pageant was born from a easy but highly effective concept – to attach inventive minds from the Mediterranean and throughout Europe and remodel their concepts into actuality. We stand for alternative, collaboration and creativity.”