A Maltese language short film about the island’s turbulent history leading up to independence has won the top design prize at a Polish film festival.

Ħallini Ħanini (Leave Me Be, Dear), a dark comedy set in 1964, was awarded Best Production Design at the 15th edition of the Grand Off Festival in Warsaw this week, where its World Independent Short Film Awards were being held between November 29 and December 6.

Film director Samira Damato accepting the award in Warsaw. Photo: Eraldo Brandimarte

Speaking to Times of Malta, the film’s director, Samira Damato said she was delighted that her crew’s effort to lend an authentic feel to 1960s Malta had been recognised.

“I’m absolutely overjoyed! It’s been an honour and a privilege to be recognised at such a prestigious event,” she said.

“We were awarded from over 4,000 entries and by an extremely diverse and international jury, which has been extremely motivating and inspires me to work more and with more intensity on future projects.”

Capturing a post-war Malta finding a new identity in surfacing turmoil, just as British influence on local politics is waning, Damato’s short film follows a small family navigating this emerging new world.

“Our principal characters are Mariella, a mischievous young girl who stands to represent the Maltese people in this time period,” Damato explained.

“Then, there is her mother, Ġuża, who experiences a radical shift from housewife to breadwinner, and her father, Charles, a military man serving the British, who, having done his duty as father and breadwinner, struggles to understand his new role outside of the colony.”

Inspired in part by her upbringing, Damato said she wanted to explore the country’s rich and complex history and “show it to the world”.

“I myself am half Maltese, which has always meant questioning what it means to be Maltese,” she said.

“In a way, at times, I feel that there is a collective question:  who are we in this day and age? Have we processed our history and do we know our contemporary identity as Malta? These were all very dear to my heart when writing this piece.”

The design elements are also very close to the director’s heart, with Damato’s ancestral family home setting the main stage for the story.

“I’ve been able to showcase a bit of my own very rich family history. The house in which the film is set was designed by my great-grandfather, Ġużé Damato, then, in turn, decorated by my nanna   and, finally, stylised and showcased by myself and my team in this beautiful short-film,” Damato said.

The film’s concept was painstakingly developed over six months before production began, she explained.

“Every detail sketched out, discussed, consulted, reconsidered and redrawn,” she said.

“The look and feel of the film was crucial and was discussed extensively. What you’ll see is that, in every scene, mother and daughter are matching. These dresses and details were custom-made to enrich the viewer’s experience.”

Even small details are imbibed with the feel of the 1960s, with posters in a butcher shop being custom made to resemble accurate period adverts.

A cover of the 1963 song, You Don’t Own Me by Lesley Gore, was translated into Maltese by Yasmin Kuymizakis and Andrew Ricca, with Kuymizakis recording a cover of the song titled M’Inix Ħwejġek.

The film will now be screened at the European Union Film Festival in India. For more information on where it is being screened, follow the page Ħallini Ħanini on Facebook.