"An intriguing, impressive feature debut."

"There's never a dull moment!"

"Joe Azzopardi excels!"

These lines come from the slew of positive reviews garnered by The Boat, a Maltese feature film by father-son filmmakers Winston Azzopardi and Joe Azzopardi. Winston wrote, co-produced and directed the piece, while Joe co-produced and is the sole star of the film. The Boat is now sailing into Eden Cinemas, with a red-carpet premiere on 22 February and tickets are selling fast.

Based on a very simple idea - and executed slickly and excitingly - The Boat tells the story of a lone fisherman who boards an abandoned sailboat. Finding no signs of life, he emerges back on deck to discover that his own boat has disappeared, and a nightmarish journey commences as the boat presses on into unknown waters.

The film debuted last summer in a number of Film Festivals across the US, starting off at the Fantastic Fest in Texas, which is described as "the largest genre film festival in the US, specialising in horror, fantasy, sci-fi, action and just plain fantastic movies from all around the world".

The Boat positioned itself as one to be seen right from the start, with Evrim Ersoy - the Festival's Creative director - stating that: "The Boat is a menacing thrill ride that pits a violent survival drama against the supernatural. In the leading role, Joe Azzopardi excels as the fisherman. This is a B-movie in the best sense of the phrase, as The Boat is a brilliant thriller that cleverly highlights the natural in the supernatural."

As it moved from festival to festival, the film continued to ride on a wave of positivity. Writing for filmschoolrejects.com, a popular and influential blog dedicated to film industry news, reviews and commentary, Rob Hunter states that: "At 90 minutes a film like this could easily risk losing steam, but the script keeps things moving forward with a taut efficiency. There's never a dull moment as there's never really a down moment."

Trace Thurman from the crudely-but-effectively named www.bloodydisgusting.com goes so far as to reference Stephen King's horror classic by headlining her piece "Christine takes to the high seas in claustrophobic The Boat", adding that "(Winston Azzopardi) has fun playing with audience expectations with the film, frequently avoiding falling into the traps of genre tropes".

Kudos have also come from the influential trade paper www.screendaily.com. A highly positive review by Nikki Baughan singles out the "clever, twisting, dialogue-free screenplay" and the "intriguing, impressive feature debut from Winston Azzopardi" while also praising the "high level craft and talent on show" including Joe Azzopardi's performance and the cinematography by Marek Traskowski, Lachlan Anderson's score and the sound design by James Hayday. 

And the accolades keep rolling in. Winston recently received the news that he has been nominated for the award of Best director at the UK's National Film Awards 2019.

This reception must be a heady feeling for the Azzopardis. "I am very honoured to be nominated for the National Film Awards alongside the likes of acclaimed industry greats such as Steve McQueen, Alex Garfield and Idris Elba," says Winston. "And we are humbled by the glowing reviews that came in from the US. For us, The Boat is still a small independent Maltese film which seems to have travelled well abroad."

 

The premiere event on Friday, 22 February is open to the general public, followed by a Q&A with Winston Azzopardi and Joe Azzopardi immediately after the screening. Premiere tickets are at €10. For further information please visit Eden Cinemas