Mediterranean Competition to spotlight regional filmmaking excellence from Carmen Maura in Maryam Touzani’s Calle Malaga, to forbidden love in Leyla Bouzid’s In a Whisper and cinema history in Sylvain Chomet’s beautifully animated A Magnificent Life.
New World Cinema celebrates unique creative voices, including cultural titans in Moss & Freud; acclaimed Marianne Faithfull documentary Broken English; Stephen Graham and Andrea Riseborough in The Good Boy; Mads Mikkelsen in The Last Viking; all-action excitement in Ben Wheatley’s Normal, starring Bob Odenkirk, and Macau-set crime thrills with Jackie Chan and Tony Leung Ka-fai in The Shadow’s Edge.
Environment-themed Mare Nostrum programme brings global stories of the natural world to Malta, including super-8 film Super Nature, The Tale of Silyan and The Musician and the Whale
MALTA, Valletta, 20 May 2026 – Malta’s Mediterrane Film Festival returns for its fourth edition with a high profile mix of the year’s buzziest films, festival hits, special previews and bold new voices. The 2026 film selection, revealed today, will screen between 21 - 28 June 2026 in the capital of the island, Valletta and at some of its most historic and iconic surrounding locations.
In an expanded public screening programme, which grows from three to five strands in 2026, the Festival will showcase more than 35 films from some 20 countries, including eight films in its newly launched Big Screen Competition; eight in a uniquely focused Mediterrane Competition, and a host of additional Out of Competition films presented under the banner of New World Cinema. Five new films also compete in its environment-themed Mare Nostrum section.
The winners will be unveiled at the coveted annual Golden Bee Awards, at a special Gala event set against the dramatic backdrop of the Malta Film Studios and the Mediterranean sea on Sunday June 28, 2026, presented alongside the Festival’s Rising Star, Lifetime Achievement and Local Legend prizes and a programme of sensational live entertainment. A stunning outdoor screenings strand will feature movie classics and contemporary favourites, whilst a further programme of locally produced Maltese shorts and features are presented through Malta Focus.
Under the 2026 theme ‘Beyond Together’, a concept designed by the Malta Film Commission to position Malta as the definitive bridge between the Mediterranean’s creative heritage and the future of global storytelling, this year’s Festival will also bring together a host of pioneering and expert voices in international filmmaking, for its in-depth industry masterclasses and panel events programme, to be announced.
BIG SCREEN COMPETITION:
Big Screen Competition: A celebration of the best of mainstream films, bringing bold cinematic visions to the big screen and featuring filmmaking talent, both established and new, from around the globe. Highlights include Steven Sodebergh’s art forgery drama, The Christophers, starring Ian McKellen, Michaela Coel, Jessica Gunning and James Corden; Alice Winocour’s captivating fashion drama Couture featuring Angelina Jolie; Gus Van Sant hostage thriller Dead Man’s Wire, with Al Pacino, Bill Skarsgard and Colman Domingo; Charli XCX fronted mockumentary The Moment; and Mark Jenkin’s acclaimed drama Rose of Nevada, set in a tiny Cornish fishing village.
Stellar ensemble turns from Callum Turner, Elle Fanning, Jamie Bell, Riley Keough and Pamela Anderson play out in Rosebush Pruning, as family revelations are made against the backdrop of an opulent villa in the Catalonian sun; Virginia Woolf’s Night and Day - an unromantic comedy and new adaptation of her funniest novel, set in Edwardian England, is about a passionate astronomer doing everything she can to avoid romantic love, with a cast including Haley Bennett, Jack Whitehall, Lily Allen, Jennifer Saunders and Timothy Spall; and Olivier Assayas’ The Wizard of the Kremlin, charts the path of Vadim Baranov, from artist to spin doctor of then KGB agent Vladimir Putin, starring Paul Dano, Alicia Vikander, Tom Sturridge, Will Keen, Jeffrey Wright and Jude Law as Putin.
MEDITERRANE COMPETITION:
Mediterrane Competition: Focusing on new films from the broad Mediterranean region, this competition shines a spotlight on regional stories and talent, celebrating the diversity and ambition of filmmakers and stories from the Mediterranean.
Taking in the best in contemporary filmmaking, from Morocco to Egypt, Tunisia, Cyprus, Italy, Spain and more, the 2026 selection includes a series of powerful female-led stories and performances including Carmen Maura in Calle Malaga; family secrets resurface in French-Tunisian In a Whisper; whilst forbidden love plays out in La Gioia; grief and horror in Cyprus come together in period piece Motherwitch. The extraordinary and desolate A Survivor's Tale, set in 16th century Newfoundland also screens, alongside Cairo-set Complaint No 713317 and Maltese psychological drama Vanitas, set on the island of Gozo.
The section also features the stunning new hand-drawn animation A Magnificent Life from acclaimed filmmaker Sylvain Chomet, which follows the life of 60-year-old Marcel Pagnol, the acclaimed French playwright, novelist and filmmaker, who is visited by a vision of his childhood self and dwells on his literary and filmmaking life.
NEW WORLD CINEMA: OFFICIAL SELECTION (OUT OF COMPETITION):
New World Cinema brings exciting new films from around the globe to Malta, embracing a broad variety of genres and styles and offering audiences a chance to revel in vibrant and exciting new releases. This year’s programme highlights include Australia’s Beast of War, which was shot in Malta and focuses on a group of young soldiers, fresh out of boot camp, who find themselves stranded on a raft in the middle of the ocean after their ship is sunk; whilst two further films focus on the consequences of life after prison, including Mario Martone’s Fuori and Anders Thomas Jensen’s The Last Viking, which stars Mads Mikkelsen and Nikolaj Lie Kaas. Singular British filmmaking talent Ben Wheatley’s action-packed new US-set feature film, Normal, starring Bob Odenkirk, screens alongside black comedy and family drama The Good Boy starring more British talent in the shape of Stephen Graham and Andrea Riseborough.
Meanwhile, Macau-set crime thriller The Shadow’s Edge, pits Jackie Chan against Tony Leung Ka-fai against each other in a battle of wits between cops. The selection also includes films focused on extraordinary creative lives, including Moss & Freud which imagines the coming together of two cultural titans - supermodel Kate Moss and artist Lucian Freud as he paints her in his studio; and Broken English, the bold new documentary portrait of the inimitable icon and singer Marianne Faithfull, from BAFTA-nominated British filmmakers Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard, starring Tilda Swinton, George MacKay, Nick Cave and more.
MARE NOSTRUM (OUR SEA) PROGRAMME:
In the Roman Empire, ‘Mare Nostrum’ was a term that referred to the Mediterranean Sea, meaning ‘Our Sea’ in Latin. This programme curates films with an environmental message, which this year include Jeanie Finlay’s All The Rivers Spill Their Stories To The Sea following northern fisherman Stan Rennie; The Musician and the Whale which follows electronic musician Rone as he discovers whales attracted to boats playing his pulsating music; from the Oscar-nominated director of Honeyland comes the poignant and visually arresting story The Tale of Silyan, set in the heart of rural Macedonia. Also featured are Super Nature, Ed Sayers’ global love letter to nature shot entirely on super8 cameras and Time and Water, which explores themes of family, memory and deep time, as Icelandic writer Andri Snær as he faces the loss of both his country’s glaciers and his elderly grandparents.
MALTA FOCUS:
Malta Focus is a chance for guests from outside Malta, as well as local film-goers to dip into homegrown films – both shorts and features – that display the skills and ambition of the islands’ filmmakers.
