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maltatoday, SUNDAY, 27 APRIL 2014 10 News TEODOR RELJIC "SIMSHAR is a film that shouldn't have been possible to make, but we made it," director Rebecca Cremona said on Saturday afternoon, closing off a press seminar at St James Cava- lier, held after a screening of Simshar at Embassy Cinemas. In celebratory spirits after the screening of Cremona's feature film – inspired by the titular boating trag- edy, Simshar has long been touted as Malta's first 'bona fide' film – the seminar focused on what the film and its journey to the screen says about the current state of Malta's film industry, with particular em- phasis being placed on the need to foster international co-productions in an attempt to strengthen Malta's indigenous film scene. The panel was completed by Min- ister for Justice and Culture Owen Bonnici, Malta Film Commissioner Engelbert Grech, Simshar Associate producer Angelique Muller, Irish ambassador Jim Hennessey and a representative of the Irish post- production company Egg, which contributed to sound production on Simshar. Bonnici lauded Cremona's "deter- mination" in getting the project off the ground, acknowledging that it was an ambitious endeavour from start to finish, given Malta's limited financial and technical resources in the field of film. "Creative workers like Rebecca have the ability to bridge cultural barriers," Bonnici said, in reference to the fact that Simshar was made possible through collaboration with various countries, such as Ireland, France and Croatia. "We know that there remain signif- icant financial barriers for local film- makers, and we're striving to address them," Bonnici added. Having received support from the Malta Film Fund in 2011, Cremona sought further assistance from inter- national partners. Having employed Egg for sound production, Simshar used the Croatian company Lem- onade3d for visual effects, as well as employing French actors Sékouba Doucouré and Laura Kpegli in sup- porting roles. "This does not mean Simshar is a co-production, technically speak- ing, but hopefully it'll serve as an example of how Malta can creatively collaborate with different countries, and lead to co-productions in the fu- ture," Cremona said. In reply to a question by a British journalist – who asked the panel to specify which financial and infra- structural challenges are of most concern to the local film industry – Cremona said that Malta is host to an "interesting mix" of film pro- fessionals. "There are plenty of skilled tech- nicians who honed their craft while working on the big Hollywood pro- ductions that Malta has serviced over the years – and we made use of some of them for Simshar. But for example, when it came to hiring a focus-puller, we had to get one from France," Cremona said, which led to a discussion of film education in Malta. (Cremona herself studied film in the UK and US before setting out to make Simshar back in 2008). "The lack of training is a recurring issue. It is hoped that Malta will play host to more international produc- tions in the near future – we should be able to ride their wave so that we can learn from them, which will in turn feed into our own indigenous industry," Engelbert Grech said, while adding that the Film Com- mission is currently in the process of creating courses that would bol- ster the professional skills of pro- spective local filmmakers and film technicians. Simshar will be premiering tomor- row evening at Empire Cinemas in Bugibba, and will go on general re- lease – at Empire and Embassy Cin- emas in Valletta – as of Wednesday, April 30. Set around the real-life 'Simshar' tragedy which occurred in 2008, the film – co-written by Rebecca Cremona and David Grech – takes as its starting point the accident involving the titular fishing boat, which left Simon Bugeja's 11-year- old son Theo and father Karmenu dead at sea. A parallel story, also in the Medi- terranean, zooms in on the fate of a medic who is ordered to stay on a boat harbouring rescued African migrants, which Malta and Italy refuse access to. TEODOR RELJIC WITH World Book Day having been marked earlier this week and the first edition of the Campus Book Festival starting tomorrow, the 'internationalisation' of local literature appears to be ripe for discussion. In fact, the challenges of translat- ing Maltese literary works will be tackled during the Festival, organ- ised by the Ghaqda tal-Malti and taking place around the University of Malta campus from tomorrow until 30 April. Entitled 'The translator as a privileged reader', a discussion headed by Prof. Anthony Aquilina will open the festival tomorrow at 9am, and ask 'what is it a translator does? How loyal should translators be to the text they are working on? Are translators really privileged? And are they privileged as readers, authors, or both?' Speaking to MaltaToday, Aquilina – an Associate Professor within the Department of Translation, Ter- minology and Interpreting Studies Faculty of Arts, at the University of Malta – singles out "reading strat- egies and language analysis" as the fundamental tools necessary for any translator. "Translation is really a combi- nation of skills and this is what makes good translators authors in their own right. They definitely need a nigh-perfect command of both Source and Target languages, a good ear for the best distribu- tion possible of word clusters and enough translation theory to see you through when the going gets tough. "Each language has its peculiari- ties and therefore juggling with the various translation tools at one's disposal, such as shifts, transposi- tions, change of polarity, expansion and reduction, to mention but a few, becomes the order of the day," Aquilina said. Asked whether Malta is equipped to translate literary works, Aqui- lina expressed confidence in the way the Department of Transla- tion, Terminology and Interpreting Studies has developed over the past decade, and that it has "provided the means to cultivate the neces- sary skills". "Not only has it succeeded to ca- ter for the needs of the translation market, created thanks to Maltese becoming an official language of the EU, but it has also contributed, through various publications, to demonstrate how well theory can be put into practice with regard to literary translations." Aquilina also emphasised that translation should value structural technique over the individual lan- guages in question – particularly when, in the case of Malta, we are in fact not as bilingual as we may like to think. "The faster we shed this myth the better, because only then can liter- ary translators feel free to admit the enormous effort and research it takes to produce a good translation and lay claim on a just reward for their work," Aquilina said. There appears to be unanimous agreement on the question of 'faithfulness' to a source text, with writers and academics conceding to the fact that a translated text should read well first and fore- most, rather than serving as a lit- eral translation. But the need for Maltese literature to be translated is also being felt, particularly now. Author Immanuel Mifsud – whose work has been translated into Eng- lish, French and Slovene – frames this need in a historical context. "To start with I think that more than in any other time contempo- rary Maltese writers feel the need to have their literature read abroad," Mifsud said. "I don't think that Maltese writers in the early 20th century felt this need: in their collective unconscious maybe Malta was large enough, and anyway they had a different mis- sion altogether: they had to launch a Maltese literature, not to mention that those were different times al- together. Once writers noticed how small the country was and then, thanks to our recent EU member- ship, they began believing they are part of a large entity, their hopes and expectations broadened," Mif- sud said, adding that unlike other comparatively small countries like Liechtenstein and Cyprus – whose language allows them to penetrate other markets – Maltese is truly limited in its reach. "So basically our language is our worst obstacle." Both Mifsud and Merlin Publish- ers Director of Publishing Chris Gruppetta agree that, while it may be natural to assume that English should be the first port of call for local writers, an English-language translation of a Maltese work may be met with a hostile reception abroad, particularly in the UK/US markets. "My impression is that the French are more open to translating and publishing foreign work and that is also a huge market. The same holds true for the Italian; one wonders why there has been so little Maltese literature translated into Italian, given our geographical and cultural proximity and I think we should do something about this," Mifsud said. However, Gruppetta concedes that having an English translation out there in the first place can serve as a crucial stepping-stone for Mal- tese works to be translated into other languages. "If there's one thing I'm proudest of, from my three year stay on the Malta Council for Culture and the Arts, it's having pushed for and set up Spreading Words, the literary translation strand of the Malta Arts Fund, that enables authors to apply for funding for professional literary translations of their work," Grup- petta added. Simshar: a sign of things to come? The necessary perils of literary translation The future of Malta's film industry was debated in cautiously optimistic tones during a press seminar which followed a screening of Rebecca Cremona's long-awaited feature film, Simshar Rebecca Cremona, Engelbert Grech and Owen Bonnici PHOTOGRAPHY BY RITIANNE MUSCAT