The aim of the Valletta Film Festival (VFF) (15-21 June 2015) is to become a prominent film festival in the Mediterranean, presenting to audiences a selection of high-quality productions from around the world. The screenings at the festival will take place at several open air venues and established theatres from the 16th century Fort St. Elmo at the tip of the peninsula, to the new open air theatre at the entrance of the city designed by renowned architect Renzo Piano on the remains of an opera house, that was bombarded during the Second World War.

Organised by the Film Grain Foundation, the first edition of the festival will consist of an Official Competition for feature films, documentaries and short films. Three international juries will adjudicate the films and award several prizes.

The festival will also include a number of thematic sidebars. Islanders is a section open to productions that are mainly set on islands or produced by filmmakers that are citizens or residents of an island. The nine productions selected will compete for a number of awards including an audience award.

Without Borders is a non competitive section of the festival that focuses on cinema of a particular country or region. The first Without Borders section of the Valletta Film Festival will focus on films from Scandinavia.

Masters Of Cinema is the classics section of the festival. Each year the festival will be celebrating works of established directors, actors and cinematographers. A lifetime achievement award will be bestowed on an acclaimed artisan by the Film Grain Foundation at a ceremony held during the festival.

The Film Grain Foundation is currently receiving submissions for the festival. For more information, click here. More details about the first edition of the festival will be in announced in the coming weeks.

The film festival is supported by the Kinemastik, Pellikola Limited, Malta Arts Fund, St. James’ Centre for Creativity, Pjazza Teatru Rjal and Valletta Local Council.