Last week saw Imagine 18, a public workshop as part of the drive to see Valletta move from candidate to actual title holder of European Capital of Culture 2018. Introducing the event was this short teaser film by one of Malta’s young, talented film makers, Rebecca Cremona (whose ground-breaking film project Simshar and career we’ve featured). The film, in Maltese, places us in suprising scenes – such as a rock group playing the National Archive? Tut, tut, whatever next! But jolting us and making us think beyond our expectations is what V.18 is all about.
Rebecca and co-director Martin Bonnici are themselves a good example of the kind of creativity and creative economic force that V.18 seeks to release. There are a handful of independent film makers in Malta trying to carve a name for themselves and the genre here. We have a film servicing industry but few homegrown professionals working full-time in film. Why not? Smallness, geography, legacy of a ‘can’t do’ attitude? In fact, V.18 is all about getting us to think differently, opening our minds to possibilities. V.18, more than a static date, is the start of a process of change. Watch this and be part of that process. Watch this too simply for a version of Valletta you’ve not come across before. Either way, it will get you thinking. Malta Insideout is a keen supporter of the V.18 bid and keen to encourage more of us to get involved.
For more information on what’s going on now to realise V.18 and how to get involved, see the V.18 website.
I will be arriving in Malta on July 11, 2012 and looking for things to do.