Taking place for nine days between June 21st and 29th, the 2025 Mediterrane Film Festival showcased 55 films from more than 20 countries. This years theme was: “We Are Film”, a celebration of transformative filmmaking bringing together people from different nationalities, ages and classes. The focus is on effective storytelling, and movies that convey both personal stories and and shared experiences.
Parallel to this, there was no shortage of industry activity, including panel discussions, industry masterclasses, and immersive, audience-facing activities. The action took place in the various cinemas in Valetta, the nation’s tiny and yet extremely vibrant capital. Most industry sessions were held at the Fort Ricasoli, 20 minutes from the capital. The closing ceremony once again took place at the historical Fort Manuel. Two thousands industry professionals and film lovers watched the sumptuous ceremony, with Russel Crowe on stage, and an explosion of fireworks in the sky.
This year, the Mediterrane Film Festival celebrated the centenary of Maltese cinema, and we reviewed five Maltese films for you: independent feature film Ciao Ciao (Keith Tedesco), as well as short films The Bride (Jameson Cucciardi), Morning Star (Sara Balfour), Footlights (Chris Zarb), and APEX (Jonathan Backman), all of them boasting a little dirt and a little edge. The Maltese film industry is best recognised as a location and post-production destination (with films such as Ridley Scott’s Gladiator 2 and Colin Trevorrow’s Jurassic Park – Dominion, made one and three year also respectively). Now these young filmmakers are determined to change such perception, and to reveal a nation rich with its own culture, language and history.
You can click in order to accede to out full coverage of the 2025 events. In total, we published 24 pieces during the course of the event. This includes 22 reviews, an interview with the artistic director Mark Adams, and this verdict article.
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The winners
Below is a list of the Festival winners of the main competitive strand. Just click on the film title in order to accede to our exclusive review (all films were covered):
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Our dirty picks
In addition to those who leftt the award ceremony with a golden bee statuette to hand, we would also like to highlight some of our dirty favourite movies. These are films with something special to say, and that were mostly overlooked for one reason or another.
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The special relationship
Despite being nowhere near the Mediterranean, British films have a very special place in the Mediterrane Film Festival, and indeed in the heart of most Maltese people. The country was a British colony for 150 years until its independence in 1964, and their breakup was largely amicable. They remain close allies to this day. The recruiting of experienced British programmer Mark Adams this year is no coincide.
As such, there has been no shortage of British movies, from The Ballad of Wallis Island and Hot Milk, all the way to Athina Rachel Tsangari’s visually rich Harvest, humanistic underwater doc How Deep is your Love (Eleanor Mortimer), confusing Irish romance Four Letters of Love (Polly Steele), London mockumentary and comedy Time Travel is Dangerous (Chris Reading), and Brian Desmond Hurst’s Malta Story (a WW2 drama showcasing the Mediterranean nation’s “love story” with their British colonisers). That’s seven films in total, and just from the ones that’s we watched!
