Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/439085
III This week maltatoday, Sunday, 28 december 2014 WWW.VALLETTA2018.ORG horse to rule them all bringing people together has been one of the Foundation's greater suc- cesses. Diversity and tolerance are important aspects of what Valletta 2018 is about." A less fraught appointment was that of multimedia archivist and podcast Toni Sant as Artistic Direc- tor at St James Cavalier. Speaking to MaltaToday, Sant said that the Cen- tre for Creativity will be taking on a more long-term approach towards its programming, while also seeking to make St James more of a welcom- ing home to all those interested in culture. "The fact is that there are a number of creative people who have never set foot in St James Cavalier – neither as artists nor as visitors. We want to make sure that they feel this could be a home for them to go to. That makes for a rethink of what the criteria should be for these proposals. If we're rethinking the criteria then we have to find ways to incentivise people who are creating work that has been under-represented, or audiences who still haven't found the kind of work that appeals to them," Sant said. This year may also prove interest- ing to any future anthropologists interested in tackling Malta's cultural landscape vis-à-vis cultural identity, as the Fondazzjoni Celebrazzjonijiet Nazzjonali (FCN) was set up to cel- ebrate 50 years of Malta's independ- ence through culture and entertain- ment activities. Not all of these were unmitigated successes; the much-hyped Music from Elsewhere St George's Bay concert was thrown-together, unin- spired and overshadowed by World Cup screenings. But the collective exhibition /ru:t/ at the Malta Mari- time Museum was an interesting experiment, with an unpretentious and visually stimulating clutch of installations and paintings. And speaking of roots, Valletta's carnival was also given its bite back, after a ban on political satire – hav- ing squatted in the rulebook since the 1930s – was finally lifted. This led to a few amusing floats depicting the likes of Franco Debono (spotless Form 2 report and all), Aus- tin Gatt and Konrad Mizzi, but it'll certainly be interesting to see what the new generation of float-makers can come up with now that they've got carte blanche on Malta's political class. On the more independent front, lo- cal art-cinema collective managed to reel in none other than Patti Smith to our shores. The punk pioneer performed a beautiful, heartfelt concert at the Temi Zammit Hall at the University of Malta campus, which was followed by an ad hoc acoustic gig-cum-poetry reading at the Mnajdra Temples. All in all the two-punch event made for a more quality musical experience than the annual hum-drum churn of Isle of MTV, which was this year headlined by Nicole Scherzinger and (once again, for the umpteenth time) Enrique Iglesias. Malta also had the dubious honour of hosting the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in November, courtesy of Gaia Cauchi winning the award in Ukraine last year. The award went to Italy's Vincenzo Cantiello, though our own Federica Falzon notably came fourth, scoring 116 points with her song 'Diamonds'... as well as getting a kiss from would-be winner Vincenzo as the scores were being tallied up (see cover). A week later, Amber won the Malta Eurovision Song Contest, scoring the oppor- tunity to represent Malta with the power ballad 'Warrior' at this year's Eurovision. The release of Simshar – i.e., a Malta-produced feature film we're not ashamed to export – was another significant achievement by a Maltese creative. Much hyped throughout its long seven-year journey to the big screen, Rebecca Cremona's drama about the titular boating accident does disappoint when it comes to the crunch. Though visually competent and with its heart in the right place, the script is weak: a parallel storyline structure is never fully reconciled, and the dialogue leaves much to be desired. But Simshar remains something of a milestone, if a flawed one. It's proof that, in today's interconnected world, a Maltese artist can have as much clout as any of their international counterparts if the effort is put in and the starts are aligned in their favour. treljic@mediatoday.com.mt PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOSEF BONNICI Carnival in Valletta Behind the scenes of Simshar Patti Smith