What started as a hobby quickly grew into a insatiable passion for Maltese short-film producer Ray Mizzi. News have just reached him that his short 11-minute film 'The Medic' inspired by a friendship born out of the World War II confict has been awarded the Best Directorial Debut of a Short Film by ITN Distribution Film and New Media Festival in New York.
The Award will be presented during the Awards Night to be held in Cannesnext year.
"I started this purely as a hobby and I never thought it would reward me with such unexpected satisfaction and feeling of accomplishment," comments Ray Mizzi. "I am an amateur and I produce short films purely as a passion. I just thrive for that feeling of directing and watching a written script come to life with the participation of so many friends and colleagues whom I choose as my characters.
'The Medic' is Mr Mizzi's third short film. His first two short productions were 'Lucrezia' (2008) and '6 a.m.' (2009).
'The Medic' has already won two awards for Best Production and Best Cinematography at this year's Malta Cine Circle National Competition. It also won the Local Jury Award and Viewers' Choice Award and was nominated for Best Picture and Best Director in The Malta International TV Short Film Festival 2011.
Encouraged by its local success, Mr Mizzi submitted 'The Medic' to a number of foreign film festivals and has so farbeen officially selected in Romania, Spain, UK, Germany and USA.
Speaking about The Medic, Mr Mizzi explained how it has always been his dream to produce and direct a WW2 film specifically for the thrill of directing a battle scene.
"Having watched alot of war movies, I tried my best to come up with an original script. With the help of two friends, Joseph Navarro and Jeannot Kuenzel, we built a story about two enemy soldiers who end up becoming best friends. The script saw a different ending where the two soldiers die on the battlefield after becoming friends, but somehow, I was not so much convinced. Being fond of happy endings, we decided to change the script!" quipped Mr Mizzi.
Notwithstanding the limited budgets, Mr Mizzi managed to secure the contribution of Kenneth Cassar and Roderick Pulis of 'Extreme Effects', a well known local special effects company that has worked on films such as 'Gladiator', 'U-571' and more recently 'The Devil's Double' and 'World War Z'. Another challenge was making uniforms and fire arms props. None of these were hired but produced 'in-house' with the help of Mr Mizzi's parents and friend Kevin Mallia.
The contribution of German actors contributed to a more faithful dialogue in German making the film more credible.
Ryan Galea and Alvin Cacciattolo are the main actors in this short production with a score penned by composer Mark 'Larski' Ellul.
"I cannot thank all those involved enough. Without their dedication and commitment, we wouldn't have been able to bring this project to life. Sharing this passion with others such as family and friends and bringing it to life together remains the most rewarding part in the whole script!" concluded Mr Mizzi.