Luzzu

Jesmark, a Maltese fisherman discovers another leak in his wooden luzzu boat. Barely getting by, he sees his livelihood and the family tradition imperiled by diminishing harvests, a ruthless fishing industry, and a stagnating ecosystem. Desperate to provide for his wife and their sickly son, Jesmark slips into a sinister black-market operation. Luzzu is the first Maltese feature to compete in a major international festival, picking up the Special Jury Award for acting at Sundance, and heralding the arrival of writer-director-editor Alex Camilleri.

‘If you cast well, half your work is done. Finding Jesmark and David lit the proverbial light bulb. I improvised with them in an audition. They’d known each other because they’re cousins and on-and-off fishing partners. One more thing that they’re bringing to the table was a relationship with so much history. I started writing the script around them and had the characters inspired by the real men. It’s a fictional story, but I was able to learn about them and borrow things from their life that I had come to know. You’ll have any amount of success with a non-actor as long as you are putting them in a good position to succeed, and it starts with the script.’

Director Alex Camilleri, from an interview in Seventh Row.