Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s Hot Milk, Ira Sachs’ Peter Hujar’s Day and James Griffiths’ The Ballad Of Wallis Island are among the 28 features programmed for the third edition of Malta’s Mediterrane Film Festival (June 21-29).
The festival has programmed 10 films in its main competition strand; with 12 out of competition titles; and six films in the environmentally-focused Mare Nostrum section.
Scroll down for the full list of titles
The festival will also present an honorary Golden Bee lifetime achievement award to UK producer Jeremy Thomas.
Thomas will participate in a masterclass conversation with Film London chief executive Adrian Wootton.
Other participants in the masterclass programme are directors Joe Carnahan and Catherine Hardwicke; Jurassic Park, Star Wars and Avatar production designer Rick Carter; Amazon Original Movies head of physical production Glenn Gainor; and The Crown and Napoleon composer Martin Phipps.
The festival will run in Maltese capital Valletta, with the masterclasses and events programme will take place at the 400-year-old Fort Ricasoli venue; and the awards ceremony on Manoel Island.
With the theme for 2025 of ‘We Are Film’, Mediterrane is also celebrating 100 years of filmmaking on Malta this year, since the Mediterranean island hosted its first feature film, H. Bruce Woolfe’s Sons of the Sea.
Lenkiewicz’s Hot Milk, starring Emma Mackey, Vicky Krieps and Fiona Shaw, will play in the competition section, having had its world premiere in competition in Berlin. Other Berlin titles playing in Malta include Helene Cattet and Bruno Forzani’s Reflection in a Dead Diamond, in the Mediterrane competition; and Panorama title Peter Hujar’s Day, out of competition at Mediterrane.
The Mare Nostrum (translation: our sea) selection includes Sandra Winther’s Lowland Kids, which debuted at CPH:DOX; and Robin Petre’s Berlinale Generation title Only On Earth.
The out of competition titles include a sidebar celebrating emerging female Italian filmmakers, with titles including Giulia Louise Steigerwalt’s Venice 2024 entry Diva Futura.
The festival is headed up by a new creative team this year, of festival director Ray Calleja and festival curator Mark Adams.
“We’re committed to shaping a programme that not only honours Malta’s cinematic past but also champions bold new voices from across the Mediterranean and beyond,” said Calleja.
Competition jurors for the 2025 edition include Carter, Hardwicke, costume designer Charlese Antoinette, set decorator Elli Griff, production designer James Price and Maltese director Mario Philip Azzopardi.
The Mare Nostrum jury will include Dublin Film Festival artistic director Grainne Humphreys, and Sundance Film Festival senior programmer Ania Trzebiatowska.
Mediterrane Film Festival 2025 titles
Main competition
The Return (It-Gr-UK-Fr) dir. Uberto Pasolini
Hot Milk (UK-Gr) dir. Rebecca Lenkiewicz
For The Love Of A Woman (It) dir. Guido Chiesa
Harvest (UK-US-Ger-Gr-Fr) dir. Athina Rachel Tsangari
The Theft of the Caravaggio (Mal) dir. Joshua Cassar Gaspar
Where The Wind Comes From (Tun-Fr) dir. Amel Guellaty
Fiume o Morte! (Cro) dir. Igor Bezinovic
The Wound (Mor) dir. Seloua El Gouni
Reflection in a Dead Diamond (Bel-Lux-It-Fr) dirs. Helene Cattet, Bruno Forzani
8 (Sp-Pan) dir. Julio Medem
Out of competition
Peter Hujar’s Day (US-Ger) dir. Ira Sachs
Compulsion (UK-SA) dir. Neil Marshall
Four Letters of Love (UK-Ire) dir. Polly Steele
Time Travel Is Dangerous (UK) dir. Chris Reading
The Extraordinary Miss Flower (UK) dirs. Iain Forsyth, Jane Pollard
The Wedding Banquet (US) dir. Andrew Ahn
Diva Futura (It) dir. Giulia Louise Steigerwalt
Gloria! (It-Switz) dir. Margherita Vicario
Love and Glory – The Young Deledda (It) dir. Maria Grazia Perria
The Ballad of Wallis Island (UK-US) dir. James Griffiths
This City is a Battlefield (Indonesia-Phi-Sing-Cam-Nor-Neth) dir. Mouly Surya
About a Hero (Den-US) dir. Piotr Winiewicz
Mare Nostrum
How Deep is Your Love (UK-US) dir. Eleanor Mortimer
Transamazonia (Fr-Mal) dir. Pia Marais
Black Butterflies (Sp) dir. David Baute
Miyazaki: Spirit of Nature (Fr) dir. Leo Favier
Only on Earth (Den-Sp) dir. Robin Petre
Lowland Kids (US-UK) dir. Sandra Winther