30/11/2012 - Everything is ready on the Mediterranean island to host tomorrow night's ceremony

Tonight, Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire will be playing in the centre of Valletta, while Media Desk Malta hosts an opening party at the other end of its Capital City for the 25th European Film Awards on December 1.

Michelangelo Antonioni's Deserto Rosso and the Lux Film Days films among others are also being screened and the European Film Awards will culminate tomorrow night, as Sacra Infermeria plays host to the best films of 2011 onward to close the EFA's silver jubilee.

Bernardo Bertolucci, Helen Millen and Dumbledore himself, Sir Micheal Gambon, will be crossing a city cut from its own limestone wells. 71 honey-colored pieces of this stone have been sculpted into an award for each winner.

Awarded €500,000 in EU funds earlier this year, the Malta Film Commission is gearing up to show off the island's potential. Last year, productions in Malta ranged from the Nordic Kon-Tiki [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] to bigger pictures such as World War Z, The Devil's Double and the successful series Sinbad, featuring Maltese national Marama Corlett in a leading role. All eyes are on Malta, as the ceremony will be broadcast in 50 countries and leading names from the industry are visiting the island during the next 48 hours.

Malta has always been on our screens but never really up front - this doesn't come as a surprise from a country whose number of burgeoning cinephiles competing for the 27 Times Cinema initiative can barely fill up a 50-seat seat theatre in a population of 400,000.

The red carpet opens at 6pm on December 1 and @Cineuropa will be live-tweeting the entire event.

Click here to read the full list of nominees.