Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1012451
17 COMMERCIAL maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 8 AUGUST 2018 Judo goes to the beach Translating emotion from poetry to film in Valletta 2018 project THE Malta Judo Federation can proudly say that it has been keeping itself very busy. An international tournament for the upcoming team, a visit and training camp from an international coach who will be joining this winter, cel- ebration of the Olympic day with games for parents and children, free lessons for 450 children from government schools who visited our Na- tional Dojo so far, and the lat- est event: a judo shiai (compe- tition) on the beach. Even though the national squad keeps up their train- ing regularly, it is quite dif- ficult to hold a tournament in the scorching heat. So, the officials of the federation de- cided to take the tatami (judo mat) to Mellieha Bay and hold their bi-monthly event there. As the team started laying out the tatami, curious passers-by were asking what was hap- pening. More spectators gath- ered around the small tatami as the officials, including the referees dressed up in fluores- cent #BEACTIVE safety vests and the athletes got ready to compete in their Judogi. In between events, the children and youngsters watching were invited to the tatami to try out Judo and were given #BEAC- TIVE pouches donated by Sportmalta on occasion of the European Week of Sport (EWOS). SPORTMALTA kindly assisted the federation with the event by offering transport for the tatami. The event generated a lot of interest, as the live videos broadcast from the Malta Ju- do Federation Facebook page reached over 10,000 people. THIS year's edition of Poetry on Film will see two popular Maltese poems; Achille Mizzi's 'Kafè', and Oliver Friggieri's 'Il- Lejl f'Dan l-Istazzjon', made in- to films for the Malta Mediter- ranean Literature Festival 2018. These will be screened during this year's edition of the Malta Mediterranean Literature Fes- tival, taking place between the 23 and the 25 of August at Fort Manoel, Manoel Island. Poetry on Film, which is now in its fifth edition, is a Valletta 2018 project in collaboration with Inizjamed, as part of the Valletta 2018 Cultural Pro- gramme. It aims at developing the poetry film sector in Malta and at stimulating a wider in- terest in it, through training, the commissioning of short poetry films and the export of commissioned films. Together, the Valletta 2018 Foundation and Inizjamed work to make poetry more ac- cessible through collaboration and co-creation across different artistic disciplines and media. This year, Clare Azzopardi and Ken Scicluna are working on 'Kafè', while Abigail Mallia and Carlos Debattista are pro- ducing 'Il-Lejl f'Dan l-Istazzjon'. When asked what inspired them the most about 'Kafè', Clare Azzopardi and Ken Sci- cluna said, "We fell in love with the poem upon the first read- ing, as although at first glance it seems to be a simple recounting of the process of coffee-making, there are several interesting ele- ments to be explored in the po- em's verse sequence and allit- erative sounds. These elements instilled in us emotions which go beyond the very existence of words which we use in our day- to-day conversations". Abigail Mallia said that 'Il- Lejl f'Dan l-Istazzjon' is a po- em which instantly struck her and fellow producer Carlos. "Through the film, we want to come as close as possible to the way we felt the first time we read the poem – a sense of nostalgia and a sense of an ending", she said. 'Il-Lejl f'Dan l-Istazzjon' explores the ways in which the protagonist, Paul, in- teracts with death and endings throughout his life. After workshops organised by Inizjamed, where filmmak- ers were encouraged to submit their short poetry-film propos- als, Achille Mizzi and Oliver Friggieri and each of their re- spective poems were selected by Immanuel Mifsud, who is literary consultant for the Po- etry on Film project. The first poetry film was commissioned for the 2014 edition of the Malta Mediter- ranean Literature Festival, and was based on two poems by Doreen Micallef as a represent- ative of Maltese poetry of the 1960s. In 2015, a second poetry film based on a poem by Mario Azzopardi was commissioned, as a representative of Maltese poetry of the 1970s. The films chosen in 2016 were based on poems by Lillian Sciber- ras and Ray Mahoney, while last year, the two films chosen were based on poems by Vic- tor Fenech and Maria Grech Ganado. The Malta Mediterranean Literature Festival 2018 will take place between the 23 and the 25 of August at Fort Ma- noel, Manoel Island, Gżira. 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