IN PERSON SCREENING
WINNER of the Sundance Film Festival Special Jury Award for its lead actor, LUZZU follows the story of Jesmark, a struggling Maltese fisherman forced to turn his back on generations of tradition and risk everything by involving himself in black market fishing to provide for his family.
The latest in several generations of fishermen in his family, Jesmark is trying to eke out enough of a living to provide for his wife and their newborn son in the face of dwindling supplies of fish and government restrictions meant to help combat the damage done by overfishing. When two disasters hit at the same time--his wooden boat develops a leak that requires extensive repairs and his child develops a condition that requires immediate and expensive treatment--he finds himself compelled to participate in an illegal operation that sneaks out at night to catch fish that are ostensibly off-limits and sell them for a large profit on the black market.
"Distinctively gripping throughout, [and when] the climax arrives...it grows into something impactful and lingering."
"A poignant and stirring look at a way of life that is slowly and inevitably being eclipsed by the passage of time and those who end up getting caught in the middle of those changes."