LUZZU (15) 

Director: Alex Camilleri, Malta, 2021, 94m, subtitles

Luzzu is a beautifully observed study of fishers trying to stay afloat.  Casting real-life fishers as his stars, Maltese-American director Alex Camilleri’s paean to his homeland is a neo-realistic classic in the making.  On the face of it, this film is a commentary on the darker side of globalisation and modern commerce, but for Camilleri who was raised in Minnesota in a Maltese family, it also feels like a pilgrimage back to one’s roots, highlighting the specificities of the Maltese language and culture which are still sorely underrepresented in world cinema.