Queen Mary University of London (Gozo) is hosting a special educational screening of the award-winning film Simshar at the Queen Mary University of London Victoria, Gozo (opposite Gozo General Hospital).

The date of screening in Monday, the 5th of May, starting at 6pm. The film will be screened in its original language, Maltese, with English Subtitles and will be followed by a Q&A with Director and Co-Writer Rebecca Cremona.

Entrance is free but booking is required and can be made online by clicking here or here.

About Simshar

A fishing family from Malta become stranded at sea after their boat, Simshar, sinks. Their fate gets entwined with the saga of irregular African migrants crossing from Africa to Europe, with tragic consequences.

Young Theo is sent on his first trip with his Maltese sea faring family, but things go terribly wrong when the ‘Simshar’ sinks, leaving the crew stranded in the Mediterranean… Simultaneously, Alex – a medic reluctantly dispatched onto a Turkish Merchant vessel which has rescued a group of stranded African boat people between Malta and Italy – gets stuck on the boat as the countries wage a bureaucratic war over who should take in the migrants… The stories unravel in parallel and culminate tragically when the fishermen are traced down, but by that time there’s only one survivor. Simshar is directed and co-written by Rebecca Cremona.

About Rebecca Cremona

Insomnia made a cinephile of Rebecca early on and, since childhood, she has found storytelling to be her lifeline – be it to express herself, escape, explore worlds and characters, attempt to capture the ephemeral, or interrogate socio-political issues.

Born to a Maltese father and half-German mother, and raised between the mountains of Switzerland and the Mediterranean Sea, Rebecca is fluent in English, Maltese, Italian and French. Having travelled voraciously, she is particularly interested in stories which are at once universal and imbued with regional flavour.

Rebecca holds a BFA (Hons) in Film and Comparative Literature from the University of Warwick, UK. She went on to the directing MFA stream at the American Film Institute where she wrote and directed Mended spectacle. Moving to Art Centre College of Design, after securing a generous scholarship, Rebecca wrote and directed Magdalene. Simshar was Rebecca’s first feature as writer-director, and she toured with the film’s theatrical release across five continents.

Recently, Rebecca adapted Juliana Maio’s novel City of the Sun for producer Sara Risher (A Nightmare on Elm Street); and was commissioned to write The Crossing for Samson Films (Once) and Boudica Films (Body of the Water).

She is currently developing three TV series, as well as those on Kukumajsa’s Creative Europe slate. Previously, Rebecca worked with the camera departments on Spielberg’s Munich and Amenabar’s Agora; the art departments of ITV Granada and Sagafilm; and the development team at Kennedy/Marshall.

Rebecca was awarded the Order of Merit (Midalja g?all-Qadi tar-Repubblika) by the President of Malta in 2020 for her contribution to the island’s cultural sphere.

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