Valletta

EVOCAZIONI E INVOCAZIONI – RITUAL SONGS FROM ASTROMONTE Davide Ambrogio skillfully captures the vast tapestry of Mediterranean culture, spanning from Albania to Greece, from Italy to the Arab world. Raised in a small town in Aspromonte, a mountainous territory in the extreme southwest of Italy, in Calabria, Davide was surrounded by ancient religious rituals and devotional chants that are still very much alive. Tethered to his Calabrian roots, he drew inspiration from the oral traditions of the region to create his distinctive musical language.

Often credited with the revival of Maltese sung pop music, Brikkuni have been around since their seminal 2008 debut Kuntrabanda – a genre-hopping pop/rock/punk hybrid that transformed the band into a local cult phenomenon and ushered in a new wave of Maltese alternative music.

BONĠU BEJT! revolves around three characters who become stranded on a roof after a cyclone sweeps through, leaving them stuck on Peppu’s pristine roof. The flagpole in the middle of the roof is his pride and joy. Peppu, along with the fussy Tina and the acrophobic service worker, must now find a way to safely get off the roof. Their adventure on the roof is filled with thrilling acrobatics on a massive pole and a mischievous mouse that wreaks hilarious havoc on our protagonists. But how will the discovery of a mysterious egg help them find a way off the roof safely?

A hardworking Maltese fisherman, Jesmark is faced with an agonising choice. He can repair his leaky luzzu – a traditional, multicoloured wooden fishing boat – in the hopes of eking out a meagre living at sea for his wife and newborn son, just as his father and grandfather did before him. Or he can decommission it in exchange for a European Union payout and cast his lot with an illicit operation that is decimating the Mediterranean fish population and the livelihoods of the local families who depend on it.