Amateur director Ray Mizzi will be releasing his first full length feature film to the general public on 2 October. Two years ago, Mr Mizzi’s won an award for the Best Directorial Debut of a Short Film by ITN Distribution Film and New Media Festival in New York, for his short-film ‘The Medic.’

His next film, ‘Adormidera,’ is a fictional story set in the late 1300s.

“The story is about a group of five soldiers who are returning home from battle. As they journey back across different lands they encounter an unforeseen turn of events,” Mr Mizzi told The Malta Independent online.

The inspiration behind the movie’s plot came during an event organised by Medieval Mdina.

“During the Medieval Mdina event of last year, I was intrigued by the costumes of two local re-enactment groups, namely Anakron and Show of Arms, and I decided to join forces with them in making this film,” Mr Mizzi said.

Mr Mizzi gets his kicks from seeing his ideas playing out on the big screen.

“I am an amateur director. I do movie-making purely for the passion of realising what is in my imagination into a motion picture.”

‘Adormidera’ was originally meant to be about 30 minutes long, Mr Mizzi says, but after being contacted by the management of Eden Cinemas, the original story was developed further, and on the persuasion of his cast and crew, it was turned into a full feature film.

Mr Mizzi proudly states that the film was produced locally without any out-sourcing to foreign companies.

“It was all filmed in various locations in Malta with a crew of mainly Maltese, with the exception of a camera person and the movie sound-track composer,” Mr Mizzi said.

The director laments that “compared to large foreign productions, the importance given to local productions leave much to be desired, since local productions generate negligible income, if any at all.

He does however say that he found support from Peter Busuttil and Sue Ronald from the Malta Film Commission, in that they gave him permission to film at Fort Ricasoli, as well as use of props stored inside the Fort.

Mr Mizzi hailed the “collaboration and passion of all the cast and crew”, as well as those providing ancillary services.

Mr Mizzi said that thanks to everyone’s help, “the budget involved was kept at a minimum.  If all had to be paid fairly, the movie would have ended up costing more than Eur150,000.

Premiere night is on the 28 September and the general release is on 2 October.