Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/553115
14 WE must have made a surreal sight, Slavko Vukanovic and I, in the main lobby of the Phoenicia Hotel. Both of us were suitably dressed… for an early August heatwave. Yet both of us were also positively drenched to the bone; and I for one was almost shivering with cold. 'It's global warming,' I had just heard one of the hotel guests re- mark. 'One minute you're basking in sub-tropical heat… next thing you know you're caught up in the middle of a mini-monsoon lasting just over 10 minutes…' Slavko arrives after inspecting the damage at the Garden of Rest across the road: venue for that very evening's Kinemastik Short Festi- val (11th edition). Nothing too seri- ous, it would seem. They managed to get the equipment indoors be- fore the storm… even though they may have to rebuild the makeshift bar in the corner. But the place is waterlogged, and will have to be cleaned up before the first screen- ing some eight hours ahead. All part, I suppose, of what Mel Brooks must have had in mind, when he immortalised the catch- phrase "Movies is Magic" in 'His- tory of the World Part One'. Just to talk about the movies is to somehow invite the unexpected: anything and everything, including heavy thunderstorms in August, might happen. And to talk about movies we have come: short movies, to be precise (which might explain why the downpour didn't last very long). Anything between 1.03 minutes (e.g, 'Fake Propaganda Video for Isis', by Donna Abbabzadeh) to 37 minutes long (e.g, Your Heart At Random', by Aude-Lea Rapin). In a word, the sort of films an NGO called Kinemastik has dedicated it- self to screening since 2003. "There was a little bar called 'Ghand Alex', at the bottom of Val- letta, where I used to organise film screenings every Sunday," Slavko Vukanovic, one of its founders, recalls when asked about the first film festival 11 years ago. "The place was a shambles, but it was full of memories that were film- related… because the 'Alex' who owned the bar had been involved in the film industry himself. He was one of those Valletta guys who had worked on the set of 'Midnight Express': there were posters of that film, and others, all over the bar. He also had a screen and a pro- jector. So I approached him and asked him if we could run a film club there…" Even in its early days, the as yet unnamed film club somehow at- tracted attention. Attendance would vary, but Slavko remem- bers gatherings of up to 30 or 40 people on some nights. "Little by little, Maltese film-makers or film- lovers started gathering there. And I met more and more people who had made short films of their own. Eventually we decided we wanted to do a short film festival…" The idea concretised during a conversation between what would become the core group behind 'Kinemastik': including Emma Mattei (who would later screen a film of her own, 'Terminus'); and London-based illustrator Chris Bianchi, who was in the process of setting up the arts collective, 'Le- Gun', among others. The first festival was held in 2005. "I set it up myself: there was no Kinemastik yet," Slavko recalls. "I carried all the chairs down my- self, and it was then that I realised our choice venue was the stupidest one imaginable: Gardjola Gardens in Floriana…" Tucked away in a fold of the bas- tions above the Grand Harbour, Gardjola Gardens have everything a festival organiser could possibly hope for. Stunning, iconic views… a bastion that can double up as a giant screen… secluded nooks and crannies where smaller screens could be set up… but first, you have to actually get there. "There was a super long walk down from behind the Central Bank, through a tunnel, up and down stairs… I did that walk around 17 times in one night. Then I realised that if this was go- ing to become something regular, it would need an organisation be- hind it." Emma Mattei came up with the name. Chris Bianchi designed the first poster, and has done artwork for Kinemastik ever since. "We showed about 14 films in all, five of which were Maltese. The rest were films I found on the Internet, and managed to contact the film-makers and get their ap- proval. It wasn't professionally done. You could see that things came together more or less there and then… but that, I suppose, was part of the charm." Whether it was the charm, the films or the location, Kinemastik quickly gained a following… even if Slavko tells me it never really looked for one. "We have never had a powerful marketing machine. Kinemastik was always – how can I put this? – a small thing, really. Which is how we wanted it. We never pro- moted the festival in any serious way, either. But word got around very quickly. The festival's name grew much more than Kinemastik itself did… and all of a sudden peo- ple started sending us more and more films. Film-makers from all sorts of places would contact us… Interview By Raphael Vassallo maltatoday, SUNDAY, 9 AUGUST 2015 'Movies is magic' PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHRIS MANGION