Film Season 2022/23

Luzzu (Luzzu, Malta, 2021, 95 min.)

This debut film of a Maltese-American director is a universal story about an Everyman who strives to survive, torn between tradition and the requirements of the present. The lead actor, a real-life local fisherman, won the Special Jury Award at the Sundance festival.

Director and Screeplay: Alex Camilleri
Cinematography: Léo Lefèvre
Music: Jon Natchez
Cast: Jesmark Scicluna, Michela Farrugia, David Scicluna
Festivals, Awards: Sundance (special jury prize for play); Sofia (young jury award); Molodist (special mention); Film Independent Spirit Awards (Someone to Watch Award); Independent Film Festival Boston (audience award, special jury award); the Maltese Academy Award nominee for Best International Film; New Directors/New Films; Karlovi Vari; London
Distribution: Demiurg

Plot
A hardworking Maltese fisherman, Jesmark is faced with an agonizing choice. He can repair his leaky luzzu – a traditional, multicolored wooden fishing boat – in the hopes of eking out a meager living at sea for his wife and newborn son, just as his father and grandfather did before him. Or he can decommission it in exchange for an EU payout and cast his lot with a sinister black-market operation that is decimating the Mediterranean fish population and the livelihoods of the local families who depend on it.