Five international short films from the UK, Ireland, New Zealand, Iran and the US are the winners of the 57th edition of the Golden Knight Malta International Short Film Festival. 

The Bind

The event, which has grown in scale and importance since it was launched in 1962, this year saw 380 productions from 52 countries vying for the top awards. 

A team of six assessors ‒ Edgar Ciancio (panel chairman), film school lecturer Paul Camilleri, producers and directors Joe Debono, Charles Stroud and Michael Bonello and unit director/film festival programmer Angelique Muller ‒ evaluated all the entries over the past six months. They ultimately chose 25 productions which were presented for the final judging 

Vincent Lungaro Mifsud, chairman of the Malta Cine Circle, which organises the event, explained that the main criteria for voting were entertainment value, audience appeal and technical skills, covering editing, direction, photography and camerawork.

The winning list includes the UK thriller/drama The Bind, which follows the fate of a mother as her son turns up in the middle of the night with his daughter and threatens to kill his parents if they refuse to give him his fair share of the farm, which they have given to his brother.

The New Zealand entry Trap is an animated short based on a personal family story. 

The festival has grown in scale and importance

It is about a girl named Christine who has been adopted and is struggling to adapt to her new home. The couple who adopt her also face difficulties, so all of the three protagonists feel trapped. 

The Iranian film Magralen revolves around a family of four who live in a scrapyard in Iran. The children, a 12-year-old boy and a four-year-old girl, spend their time playing in the yard. They are both interested in driving and F1 races and they spend most of their days imagining they are driving.

The Irish animated tale Abe’s Story is set in Victorian London, where an overworked Irish writer is desperate to find an ending for his novel, which has been in the works for seven years. His boss threatens to burn his manuscript if he does not finish it by dawn.

Magralen

The US short film New York Rhapsody follows three creatives as they fight against and within the rhythm of the city to chase their artistic vision.

These films will be screened and awarded with a Golden Knight trophy during a prize-giving ceremony on Saturday.

Another four short films will receive a ‘highly commended certificate’: The Snip (Australia), Robot Will Protect You (Estonia), Multiverse (Japan) and Quiet Land Good People (Switzerland).

The first Golden Knight Festival was held in 1962 with a handful of participants, mainly from the UK. As the years rolled on, the event gained in stature and prestige and within its first 10 years attracted participants from around the globe. Today, the festival annually attracts over 350 participants from all over Europe, the US, Australia, South America, the Far East and, more recently, from Turkey, Iran and Israel, among other countries.

The awards ceremony will be held on Saturday at the Malta Experience Theatre, Valletta, at 7.30pm. Admission is free but booking is recommended. Reservations can be made on bookings@goldenknightmalta.org or by calling on 9946 0866 or 9947 2513.

New York Rhapsody

Trap