Kinemastik: notes from the road

How did the idea of going on 'tour' with Kinemastik come about?

The idea is to make the Kinemastik festival most popular short film festival in the Mediterranean around the time when Valletta becomes European Capital for Culture in 2018. We are growing slowly and we have a decent following in Malta but unless we "spread the truth" about Kinemastik beyond the island, we will never achieve this aim.

What led you to choose these countries in particular?

You have start somewhere in Europe, and since Kinemastik had two founding members from Macedonia - Bojana and Aleksandar Dimitrovska - we have been invited there on numerous occasions. This year, when an invite came from the international film school that is based in Skopje, we said yes. Around the same time, a prestigious Romanian short film festival in Timisoara decided to focus on our festival this year, bringing lots of international attention to it. All this meant that we should give it an extra push to try and do something in time, a year before we celebrate a decade of the Kinemastik International Short Film Festival [happening over July 26 and 27 this year].

How did you go about organising the various events forming part of the tour?

We're making mashing things together: showing different films from all of our festival's previous editions. Some are Maltese, some international. Every city is presented with a different programme. We are showing off a number of quality films we have in our archive but also promoting these filmmakers to a number of different audiences. More than anything - and this is thanks to the support of Malta Arts Fund - we are promoting Maltese culture, as we have something to offer that is competitive to any international standards. We're trying to take of the whole Kinemastik experience on tour with us, so apart from the short films, we're showing Chris Bianchi's illustrations, projected on the walls and rooftops around different venues that we're visiting.

Ali Tollervey was our photographer since day one almost. We're presenting Ali's photographs of Malta, through the slide projections. We are selling that feel of Malta in a way that it relates to the way we (try to) make every festival of ours so special. These ideas came from the multiple brain cells of Sandra Banthorpe, Kinemastik's artistic director. She is also on this tour with us. When it comes to the music part of our cultural exchange, we are fortunate that Ali is multifaceted. It's slightly annoying, but that boy's got many talents. His party DJ skills have been put to test at each and every one of our festivals so far, so while visiting these places, we thought: we may as well throw a party. People tend to love that idea.

How have the events been received so far? What kind of feedback are you getting from 'locals'?

They like us. If one day, your road bends into these areas, and you get in some sort of trouble, you may say that you come from Malta, and you know of Kinemastik. That should be enough to sort you out.

For more information on Kinemastik log on to their official website or find them on Facebook.