2025 | S16mm | 1:1.66 | 100mins | colour |5.1
(currently in post-production)
(currently in post-production)
Synopsis
Shot on 16mm with open sets and non-actors, documentary and fiction converge in this emotional journey of yearning, scepticism, and hope. Set in a small and densely populated seaside town in Malta, Żafżifa paints a corrosive portrait of a man drifting through a world of concrete and steel to discover his friends have taken advantage of the changing economy and moved on with their lives. Tortured by a mysterious past he unleashes himself from the progress that surrounds him.
Throughout, friends and enemies swim by, failing to puncture his carapace until he meets Annie. She, like him, has a child she never sees; has been disappointed in love; lives in a vacuum, without freedom, without companionship. Brought together by fate and torn apart by circumstance, together they struggle against a barrage of obstacles the gods throw in their path.
Shot on 16mm with open sets and non-actors, documentary and fiction converge in this emotional journey of yearning, scepticism, and hope. Set in a small and densely populated seaside town in Malta, Żafżifa paints a corrosive portrait of a man drifting through a world of concrete and steel to discover his friends have taken advantage of the changing economy and moved on with their lives. Tortured by a mysterious past he unleashes himself from the progress that surrounds him.
Throughout, friends and enemies swim by, failing to puncture his carapace until he meets Annie. She, like him, has a child she never sees; has been disappointed in love; lives in a vacuum, without freedom, without companionship. Brought together by fate and torn apart by circumstance, together they struggle against a barrage of obstacles the gods throw in their path.
DIRECTORS NOTES
This project began with a decision to focus on what other filmmakers who grace the shores of Malta decide to frame out. Beside the favoured architectural relics and blue seas is a world of overdevelopment and cheap migrant labour. With this in mind, the film attempts to question the notion and consequences of ‘progress’ through both broadly political and personal perspectives. Structurally, the film is built on a delicate plot where characters and their stories come and go. Moreover, like the environment itself, these stories build continuously to culminate in an architectural collapse that, for me, becomes a realistic portrayal of a contemporary society that reminds us of how we are all conditioned by the environment in which we live.
This project began with a decision to focus on what other filmmakers who grace the shores of Malta decide to frame out. Beside the favoured architectural relics and blue seas is a world of overdevelopment and cheap migrant labour. With this in mind, the film attempts to question the notion and consequences of ‘progress’ through both broadly political and personal perspectives. Structurally, the film is built on a delicate plot where characters and their stories come and go. Moreover, like the environment itself, these stories build continuously to culminate in an architectural collapse that, for me, becomes a realistic portrayal of a contemporary society that reminds us of how we are all conditioned by the environment in which we live.
DIRECTORS BIO - PETER SANT
Born and raised in Sydney, Australia to Maltese parentage, Peter relocated to London in 1998 where he completed his MA at the Slade School of Fine Art. His debut feature Baħar Żmien (2018) premièred at FIDMarseille and his short film Zero (2020) at IFFR. Peter works across several disciplines including music, sound and film. His work has been exhibited in numerous galleries and festivals worldwide. He is also the founder of Hereonin, a film production company based in Malta.
Born and raised in Sydney, Australia to Maltese parentage, Peter relocated to London in 1998 where he completed his MA at the Slade School of Fine Art. His debut feature Baħar Żmien (2018) premièred at FIDMarseille and his short film Zero (2020) at IFFR. Peter works across several disciplines including music, sound and film. His work has been exhibited in numerous galleries and festivals worldwide. He is also the founder of Hereonin, a film production company based in Malta.
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CREW
Writer, Director, Camera: Peter Sant
Producers: Angelique Muller, Peter Sant
Editors: Daniel Goddard, Emma Van Den Berg, Peter Sant
Sound: Peter Sant
Writer, Director, Camera: Peter Sant
Producers: Angelique Muller, Peter Sant
Editors: Daniel Goddard, Emma Van Den Berg, Peter Sant
Sound: Peter Sant
made with the support of
