The Malta Entertainment Industry and Arts Association (MEIA) and the Malta Producers’ Association (MPA), through the Malta Academy Selection Committee (MASC), have selected ŻEJTUNE, written and directed by Alex Camilleri, as Malta’s official submission for consideration in the Best International Feature Film category at the 99th Academy Awards.

Told almost entirely in Maltese, ŻEJTUNE follows Mar, who returns to Malta intending to sever ties with her homeland once and for all by claiming her inheritance. Guided across the islands by a charismatic, octogenarian għana troubadour, she finds herself softening to the country and its culture. The film is a portrait of Malta rendered through its landscape, its language and its living folk-song tradition.

ŻEJTUNE had its world premiere in competition at the Göteborg Film Festival and its North American premiere at the Tribeca Festival, where it won the award for Best Screenplay in the International Narrative Competition. It has since screened at festivals across Europe, including the Cabourg Film Festival, the Kosmorama Trondheim International Film Festival, the Split Mediterranean Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award, Cinema Jove – Valencia International Film Festival, where it won Best Sound and Music, the Hamburg International Film Festival, the Festival of 5 Continents, and the Valenciennes Film Festival.

At home, the film has resonated strongly with audiences, registering over 11,000 admissions in Maltese cinemas, and it has been sold to 22 countries, including France, Italy, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, the Balkans and several Eastern European territories.

ŻEJTUNE is the second feature by Alex Camilleri, a Maltese-American filmmaker whose debut, LUZZU, premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, won the Special Jury Award for Acting, and served as Malta’s submission to the 94th Academy Awards. Camilleri is a recipient of the Independent Spirit “Someone to Watch” Award and a Guggenheim Fellowship. ŻEJTUNE is produced by Oliver Mallia, Ramin Bahrani and Alex Camilleri, for Solari Productions and Pellikola.

The film was chosen by the Malta Academy Selection Committee,  an independent jury of Maltese creative professionals convened by MEIA and MPA, following its evaluation of this year’s eligible submissions.

Malta’s entry is submitted to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for consideration in the International Feature Film category. The Academy will announce the films it accepts as eligible, and any subsequent shortlist and nominations, in due course.

For further information, please contact the Malta Academy Selection Committee by email at maltaacademyselectioncommittee@gmail.com.