film profile], premiered in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition of the recent Sundance Film Festival. In his social drama, he shows a side of Malta that is a world apart from its traditional, tourist-orientated vistas. Choosing non-professional actors to embody the main protagonists added a particular authenticity to his story, in which a young fisherman is confronted with a life-changing decision that will affect the fate of his family. Camilleri told us about the situation for filmmakers on Malta and his concept for the film.
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2021 Sundance Film Festival Review – Luzzu flickeringmyth.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from flickeringmyth.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
A Siġġiewi fisherman has described his shock at being honoured for his acting at an international film festival.
Jesmark Scicluna, the star of Maltese film Luzzu, was handed the World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award in Acting at the Sundance Film Festival on Tuesday night.
Judges praised Scicluna for bringing a sense of “mystery” to his eponymous role as Jesmark, a struggling fisherman forced into the black market trade to provide for his wife and newborn baby.
But the 28-year-old told Times of Malta that his successful foray into acting came entirely by chance.
“It was all by luck that I landed this opportunity,” Scicluna said.
Malta film Luzzu shines at Sundance, as lead actor clinches Dramatic Special Award
Maltese fisherman-turned-actor takes Sundance World Cinema Dramatic Special Award
3 February 2021, 9:30am
by Laura Calleja
The film, directed by Alex Camilleri, premiered at the festival over the weekend.
The announcement was made during the awards ceremony Wednesday, hosted by actor and comedian Patton Oswalt, ending the festival’s seven-day run.
Scicluna plays a struggling fisherman, who is forced to turn his back on generations of tradition and risk everything by entering the world of black market fishing to provide for his wife and new-born baby.
Upon receiving the award, Scicluna thanked the director, as well as the casting director, “for taking a leap of faith in me.”
Top row: CODA, Courtesy of Sundance Institute; Summer of Soul (…Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised), photo by Mass Distraction Media; Flee, courtesy of Sundance Institute. Bottom row: Hive, photo by Alexander Bloom; Writing With Fire, courtesy of Sundance Institute; Ma Belle, My Beauty, courtesy of Sundance Institute. Park City, UT After six days and 73 feature films, the 2021 Sundance Film Festival’s Awards Ceremony took place tonight, hosted by actor and comedian Patton Oswalt, with jurors presenting 24 prizes for feature filmmaking and seven for Short Films. Honorees, named in total below, represent new achievements in global independent storytelling. Bold, intimate, and humanizing stories prevailed across categories, with Grand Jury Prizes awarded to