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10 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 23 DECEMBER 2018 FILM FILM MALTESEAUSTRALIAN filmmaker Peter Sant returns to the native isle to present a beautifully shot and occa- sionally inspired experimental feature Baħar Żmien (Of Time and the Sea), which had a private screening earlier this week in anticipation of its short de- but run at Spazju Kreattiv at St James Cavalier later this month. Co-written with novelist Alex Vella Gera, the film is unapologetically devoid of a conventional plot and boasts some high game performances from both vet- eran and fresh local acting talent. It is set in an entirely archetypal space, with its characters rooted in an atem- poral version of Malta in which micro- wave dinners co-exist with Quixotic knights in uselessly shining armour, and where the 'King' (Narcy Calamatta thrilling to a crusty ogre role with gus- to) is fading away. It is a slow-moving experience run- ning entirely on symbols, as delivered through the familiar rocky, garigue- eaten seaside landscape and stilted di- alogue that – let's face it – makes the best of some bad habits Maltese actors can't seem to shake off. But while it's tempting to say that cin- ematographer Martin Testar should take the bulk of the credit here – the setting really is a character – it is in fact Ruth Borg who is to be commended for providing this experiment in abstrac- tion with a real emotional centre. Her prowess as a physical performer shines through in every scene, especially the non-verbal ones, where her intuitive way with facial expression sucks us into her plight… even if we're puzzled as to where all of this is going. In less adventurous hands, this could have been a roll-call of cliches; luckily, Sant allows his Imp of the Perverse to freshen up our idea of what Maltese iconography can look like on screen. Interview with director Peter Sant by Vincent Poli, editor-in-chief for Marseille International Film Festival daily How would you tell the story of Baħar Żmien — a three-island archi- pelago where a solitary king lives with his two daughters? Is it inspired by a text? Another source? Your dreams? Yes, that's basically it. Of course, there's so much going on in the film it's difficult to pin it down… A lot of what was written stems from a myriad of lit- erary influences such as, St Augustine's Confessions. The central character, the girl in the orange dress, is directly influ- enced by books X and XI where St Au- gustine reaches fever pitch, grappling with remembering and forgetfulness. It's these types of sensations that also helped form the film's structure. The script was written so that the narrative unfolds and folds in on itself and was pushed even further during the edit as well as the sound design with sounds echoing back and forth, a bit like Au- gustine's text. For me this helped to create a kind of timelessness. Then of course there's this idea of the crippled king with his kingdom in ruins which comes from the unfinished legend of the Fisher King, the bleeding wound, the kingdom in ruins etc. There is a great sense of mystery in Baħar Żmien, in the way that the audience seems to be kept away from the real story and its outcomes… Personally, I think of it more as a sense of absence rather than mystery. There's the absence of the mother from the family, animals from the is- land and of course the fact that none of the characters have names. This al- lowed me to develop a very complex set of relations, not only between the char- acters themselves, but also between the visible and the invisible, the said and the unsaid. It's through this and other similar techniques that I attempted to create this sense of absence and uncer- tainty but at the same time maintain a level of momentum and intrigue. Could you talk about the frame and lightning (especially the difference between interiors/exteriors)? You of- ten keep some distance between the character and the camera… Martin Testar (DoP) and I worked on the visual style over several months leading up to the shoot. We always grav- itated toward the extremes, but at the same time tried to avoid things becom- ing overly stylised. We developed a few techniques that we employed through- out, like for instance, using only a thin slither of earth or sky for the exterior frames, or doing away with practical lights and windows for the interiors, which was a little daunting at first but ended up being quite liberating. As for the distance between the cam- era and the characters this was to per- mit the surroundings some magnitude. I mean the area where we shot hasn't got the grand scale of, let's say the Kings Canyon, but if you look at it the right way it could be any size. That's why I wanted to play with perspective, start- ing with empty frames where viewers establish their own sense of scale and then having a character walk into frame and disrupt it. The frames are also al- most always static and at times quite lengthy, this forces the viewer to take a more active role and become the edi- tor by dissecting portions of the frame. But most importantly for me, it allowed the audio to creep up the pecking order that, unlike the picture, remains in con- stant motion. Do not miss this cinematic bril- liance that is Baħar Żmien – it will have its Maltese premiere at Spazju Kreattiv on 27, 29 and 30 December! This Maltese production offers a lo- cal touch yet still gives off an inter- national flair. Tickets are out for this debut feature film produced and di- rected by Peter Sant and made with the support of the Malta Film Fund. Bahar Zmien (Of Time and the Sea) Another brick in the wall: Ruth Borg (left) in Peter Sant's baffling allegory Bahar Zmien, and Narcy Calamatta Teodor Reljic