Malta will be participating with Mario Azzopardi’s Il-Gagga in “The Great Directors Film Festival” to be inaugurated in Tripoli, Libya, tomorrow.

The film festival is being organised by the Italian Cultural Institute in collaboration with the Tripoli Municipality People’s Committee for Culture and Information and with the participation of the Embassies of Brazil, Canada, Egypt, France, Germany, Italy, Republic of Korea, Japan, Malta, Poland, Serbia, Switzerland, Turkey and the USA. Sixteen films are participating in the festival.

Nasser Al-Qattari’s The Ambassadors, a 1980 Libyan production, will be screened at the festival’s opening night ceremony to be held at the Al-Fateh Cinema in Tripoli at 8pm.

Malta’s participation in the film festival is the result of action taken by the Embassy of Malta in Tripoli in promoting different aspects of Maltese culture through its own activities and in cooperation with the Libyan Authorities and other European Union Embassies.

During preparatory talks leading to the Festival, the Embassy of Malta in Tripoli contacted Studio Seven Productions Ltd. to propose that Il-Gagga participates as Malta’s entry in the international film Festival.

Il-Gagga will be screened on Wednesday, 21 November at 8pm. at the Italian Cultural Institute in Tripoli.

Produced by acclaimed Maltese film Director by Mario Philip Azzopardi in 1971, the film Il-Gagga (The Cage) is an icon of Maltese cinema. An adaptation of a novel by Frans Sammut, it remains very relevant to our times in that it captures the tormented impact of conflicting values, social mores and cultural change have on the community and individuals alike.

Studio Seven Productions Ltd. was responsible for the transfer and the enhancement of the movie onto DVD format and the re-mastering of the film with English subtitles included before it was released again in 2007 in Maltese cinemas.

Studio Seven Productions Ltd will be represented at the screening of Il-Gagga at the festival by General Manager Mr Joseph Debono and Productions Manager Mr Emanuel Ciantar.

The Embassy of Malta in Tripoli wishes to thank Studio Seven Productions Ltd. for its permission for the screening of Il-Gagga and Air Malta for its sponsorship of Malta’s participation in the film festival.