Catherine Hardwicke, Rick Carter Lead Jury for Mediterrane Film Festival
The new creative team for the festival, which runs from June 21 to 29 in Valletta, Malta, is led by festival director Ray Calleja and festival curator Mark Adams.
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The festival features three programming strands: the Main Competition, showcasing films from across the Mediterranean; Out of Competition, featuring a selection of international films; and Mare Nostrum (a.k.a. Our Sea), for films dedicated to sustainability and environmental themes.
In addition to public screenings, the festival will host an industry strand, housed in the 400-year-old Fort Ricasoli, offering panels, roundtables and masterclasses from leading industry figures.
The Main Competition jury will decide on the winners of the Golden Bee Awards, which will be announced at a gala event on June 29.
As well as Hardwicke, director of 'Twilight, 'Thirteen' and 'Lords of Dogtown,' which will screen at the festival, and Carter, who won Academy Awards for 'Avatar' and 'Lincoln,' the jury also includes: costume designer Charlese Antoinette, whose credits include 'Air' and 'Judas and the Black Messiah,' for which she received a Costume Designers Guild Award nomination; set decorator Elli Griff, who was Oscar nominated for 'Napoleon'; production designer James Price, who won an Oscar with 'Poor Things'; and Maltese director Mario Philip Azzopardi, known for 'ZOS: Zone of Separation,' 'Habbilni Ha Nirbah' and 'Il-Gaġġa,' which is considered to be the first full-length feature film made entirely in Maltese.
The Mare Nostrum jury will include Grainne Humphreys, artistic director of the Dublin Film Festival, and Ania Trzebiatowska, senior programmer at the Sundance Film Festival.
Malta Film Commissioner Johann Grech said: 'The Mediterrane Film Festival was born from a simple yet powerful idea – to connect creative minds from the Mediterranean and across Europe and transform their ideas into reality. We stand for opportunity, collaboration and creativity.'
Calleja said: 'As we celebrate 100 years of filmmaking in Malta, we're honored to welcome an exceptional panel of judges who reflect the depth, diversity, and global reach of contemporary cinema. Together with our festival curator, Mark Adams, we're committed to shaping a program that not only honors Malta's cinematic past but also champions bold new voices from across the Mediterranean and beyond.'
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