This evening at 7pm, as part of the events to mark World Book Day, St James Cavalier will be screening A Gentleman from Malta.

This is a 50-minute documentary that was produced in 1997 on a shoestring budget of Lm500 and won the MBA Best Documentary Award of 1998.

The documentary takes a deep look into the personal life and works of the late Francis Ebejer, a renowned Maltese playwright and novelist of international acclaim.

In 1996, rare and exclusive footage of Ebejer was discovered in Vienna. The tapes, containing unused scenes, had been relegated to the basement of a producer’s weekend log-house on the outskirts of the city. The recordings, filmed shortly before his death, showed Ebejer playing himself in a rare attempt to reveal his private life. It was the discovery of this footage that led to the creation of the documentary.

During his career, Ebejer wrote more than 50 plays for theatre and television, and his novels have been translated into nine languages, including Japanese. He received many awards, both locally and abroad, including France’s Medaille d’Honeur de la Ville d’Avignon.

Ebejer explored novel means of expression in dramatic literature. In his works, one can trace a fascinating and intriguing development that is to this day debated in various universities across Europe. Critics have described Ebejer as “a man ahead of his time”.

This documentary attempts to shed some light on who was Francis Ebejer – a playwright and a novelist and also a person who had to deal with the pitfalls of life.