Film slate, with local roots and international partners and reach, to boost Malta's fledgling indigenous film industry

ended

Consisting of 3 features and 1 short, Kukumajsa’s slate is Maltese in inception, European at its core, and global in vision. Spanning diverse talents, perspectives, genres and budgets, the slate is unified by its exploration of socially pertinent issues. The Gut is a WW2 story told from a colonised, female and queer perspective. 2nd time writer-director Rebecca Cremona’s aim is to reclaim history by depicting real members of the marginalised entertainment communities whose contribution to the war effort has been largely forgotten. The Crusaders is a contemporary story of an American visiting the ‘Old World’, only to find a bitcoin culture and fractured society which he explores through a connection forged with an immigrant from Niger. Directing duo Magdalena Zyzak (Poland) and Zachary Cotler (US) are in the unique position of telling this semi-autobiographical story. Moo is a universally appealing family film set in locally specific Gozo, centred around an 11-year old activist in the vein of Greta Thunberg. Written by multi-award winning environment economist Marie Briguglio, this important story is at once timeless and timely. Moondance, is a magic realist short by emerging writer director Ryan Gatt, which taps into Maltese traditions to spin a mythological story of a woman allergic to sunlight who is ostracised by her insular town. Established in 2010, Kukumajsa is a pioneer of Malta’s fledgling indigenous film industry. We have Malta’s first ever Oscar submission under our belt, as well as a DGA and EMMY awarded short; we've collaborated with companies from high audiovisual capacity countries in above-the-line capacities and have produced one of few existing Maltese literature short film adaptations. It’s no exaggeration to say that, if this application is successful, it would not only usher in a new chapter of multiple international co-productions for the company but give an unprecedented fundamental boost to the national cinema of the EU's smallest state.