M.A. in Film Studies at UM

We are proud to present the 𝘀𝗶𝘅𝘁𝗵 𝗲𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 of VIDEO NASTIES!, a growing local festival dedicated to horror short films. We are especially proud that the festival’s founder and principal organiser is one of our former students, Bruce Micallef Eynaud.
The festival offers a rare and invaluable platform for filmmakers, as there are neither submission fees nor rejections. As such, it brings together the work of established filmmakers alongside that of emerging creatives and first-time directors, fostering a strong sense of community and the exchange of ideas.
The participation 𝗿𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 are as follows:
𝗥𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲: 15 minutes or less (including credits)
𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗿𝗲: Must fall within the horror genre (in the broadest sense of the term, including dark comedy)
𝗢𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆: Must be an original production filmed after 2 April 2026
𝗘𝘅𝗰𝗹𝘂𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘁𝘆: Films must premiere at the event and may not be screened publicly beforehand
𝗔𝗴𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁: Directors must be 18 years of age or older
𝗗𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲: All entries must be submitted by 15 September 2026 at 23:59 to [email protected]
To know more and connect with the vibrant community that has formed around the festival, please visit the festival’s website (https://www.videonastiesfestival.com/) and Facebook group (VIDEO NASTIES! 2026).

On 7 and 8 May, we organised two truly unique events in Malta dedicated to 𝗟𝘂𝗰𝗶𝗼 𝗙𝘂𝗹𝗰𝗶, a versatile and inventive filmmaker who for far too long was overlooked or unjustly pushed to the margins of cinema history. On 7 May, photographer and sound engineer Shyla Nicodemi, known professionally as 𝗦𝗵𝘆𝗹𝗮 𝗡., delivered a talk at the Lecture Centre in Msida exploring Fulci’s career and artistic vision before focusing on the still photographs from 𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘛𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘢 𝘋𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 (1972), perhaps Fulci’s most accomplished work. The pictures were originally taken by a schoolteacher with a passion for photography and remained unpublished until last year, when Bloodbuster, the Milan-based cult cinema shop and publishing house, released them in a bilingual Italian-English volume: https://www.bloodbuster.com/catalogo/non-si-sevizia-un-paperino-le-foto-ritrovate-text-ita-eng/ The painstaking restoration of these images was carried out by Shyla N. herself, and several copies of the book were signed by her especially for the occasion.
On 8 May, at Eden Cinemas in St Julian's, we presented the first-ever Maltese screening of 𝘿𝙤𝙣'𝙩 𝙏𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙖 𝘿𝙪𝙘𝙠𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 in the superbly restored version produced by Arrow Films. The screening was followed by an engaging Q&A featuring Shyla alongside lecturers Dr 𝗚𝗹𝗲𝗻 𝗕𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗶 and Dr 𝗙𝗮𝗯𝗿𝗶𝘇𝗶𝗼 𝗙𝗼𝗻𝗶.
As the book copies available during the events were not sufficient to meet demand, anyone among our students interested in purchasing the book without having to pay shipping costs is invited to contact Dr Fabrizio Foni directly.
These initiatives were organised in collaboration with 𝗪𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗰𝘀, the NGO behind the Malta Comic Con, and VIDEO NASTIES! 2026, the independent local horror short film festival whose organiser, filmmaker 𝗕𝗿𝘂𝗰𝗲 𝗠𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗳 𝗘𝘆𝗻𝗮𝘂𝗱, was also present at the screening.

On 12 May, we proudly hosted a talk by Prof. 𝗦𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗙𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗸𝗹𝗶𝗻 in the Faculty of Arts Library that was both profound and highly informative, focusing on surrealism. Prof. Franklin has photographed some of the most significant news events of the 21st century: in 1989, for instance, he took his acclaimed photographs in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, where a demonstration for freedom ended in a massacre. To date, Prof.Franklin has published thirteen books, including 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘐𝘮𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘴𝘦 (Phaidon, 2016), which investigates the nature of truth in reporting and the drive towards self-representation in photography, and 𝘈𝘮𝘣𝘪𝘨𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘙𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥: 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘗𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 (Ibidem Verlag, 2020), which examines the role of ambiguity in art more broadly.

Our two events dedicated to Lucio Fulci on the 𝙏𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙈𝙖𝙡𝙩𝙖!

A tribute to Lucio Fulci: two nights of Italian horror and thriller The Department of Italian and the MA in Film Studies at the University of Malta are celebrating the Italian film-maker with a talk and screening on May 7 and 8

On Thursday, 𝟳 𝗠𝗮𝘆 at 𝟲𝗽𝗺, in Room 116 of the Dun Mikiel Xerri Lecture Centre (𝗟𝗖𝟭𝟭𝟲), Msida Campus, photographer Shyla Nicodemi (a.k.a. Shyla N.) will deliver a talk titled 𝗙𝘂𝗹𝗰𝗶'𝘀 𝗣𝗼𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗦𝘂𝗯𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗢𝗻-𝗦𝗲𝘁 𝗣𝗵𝗼𝘁𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗵𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘿𝙤𝙣'𝙩 𝙏𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙖 𝘿𝙪𝙘𝙠𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜. This is an unmissable event for all fans of Italian horror, thriller, and genre cinema. The talk is open to the general public.

On Friday 𝟴 𝗠𝗮𝘆 at 𝟵𝗽𝗺, the first Maltese screening of the impeccably restored version of 𝘿𝙤𝙣'𝙩 𝙏𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙖 𝘿𝙪𝙘𝙠𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 will take place at Eden Cinemas. This cult film, directed by Lucio Fulci, blends thriller, horror, and social critique. Following the screening, there will be a Q&A session with Shyla Nicodemi, a.k.a. Shyla N., the photographer who restored the rediscovered photographs from the set.
The event is organised by the Department of Italian (Italian at UM) and the 𝗠.𝗔. 𝗶𝗻 𝗙𝗶𝗹𝗺 𝗦𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗲𝘀 at the University of Malta, in collaboration with Wicked Comics, the NGO behind the 𝗠𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗮 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗰 𝗖𝗼𝗻, and the independent horror short film festival VIDEO NASTIES! 2026.

🎬 Tickets for the 8th May screening of Lucio Fulci’s cult film 𝘿𝙤𝙣'𝙩 𝙏𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙖 𝘿𝙪𝙘𝙠𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 are now available online. Book yours now! 💀

Don't Torture a Duckling In the backward village of Accendura, the boy Bruno Lo Casio goes missing and the police inspector and the local commissioner and the village Captain Modesti investigate the case. When his father receives the request of a ransom, the police arrest the local Giuseppe and realize that he is innocent.....

𝙏𝙬𝙤 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙨 𝙙𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙇𝙪𝙘𝙞𝙤 𝙁𝙪𝙡𝙘𝙞, 𝙢𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙤𝙛 𝙄𝙩𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙖𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙤𝙧𝙧𝙤𝙧: 𝙩𝙖𝙡𝙠 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜

Owing to often limited budgets, tight production schedules, and the genres and subgenres he explored, the work of 𝗟𝘂𝗰𝗶𝗼 𝗙𝘂𝗹𝗰𝗶 (1927-1996) was long overlooked by critics and academics. For decades, Fulci was regarded, at best, as a resourceful craftsman. Nevertheless, figures such as Quentin Tarantino, Sam Raimi, and Clive Barker – all instrumental in legitimising genre cinema – have consistently expressed admiration for his work. In more recent years, Fulci’s filmography has undergone a significant critical reappraisal, extending well beyond cult audiences and earning a place within university curricula.
Spanning from the late 1950s to the early 1990s, Fulci’s prolific directorial career traversed a wide range of genres, from comedy and parody to spaghetti westerns and adventure films, and even ventures into sword-and-sorcery and postapocalyptic science fiction. However, he is most frequently remembered for his distinctive contributions to horror and thriller cinema.
The 𝗗𝗲𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗜𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗻 (Italian at UM) and the 𝗠.𝗔. 𝗶𝗻 𝗙𝗶𝗹𝗺 𝗦𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗲𝘀, both within the Faculty of Arts at the University of Malta, celebrate Fulci’s visionary and provocative talent through two closely linked events.
The first event will take place on Thursday 𝟳 𝗠𝗮𝘆 at 𝟭𝟴:𝟬𝟬 in Room 116 of the Dun Mikiel Xerri Lecture Centre (𝗟𝗖𝟭𝟭𝟲), Msida Campus. The 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗸, entitled “𝗙𝘂𝗹𝗰𝗶’𝘀 𝗣𝗼𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗦𝘂𝗯𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗢𝗻-𝗦𝗲𝘁 𝗣𝗵𝗼𝘁𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗵𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘿𝙤𝙣’𝙩 𝙏𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙖 𝘿𝙪𝙘𝙠𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜”, will focus on 𝘕𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘪 𝘴𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘻𝘪𝘢 𝘶𝘯 𝘱𝘢𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘰, a 1972 film that blends detective fiction, horror, and sharp social critique, marking a decisive shift towards explicit violence, elements already present in Fulci’s earlier work, but here elevated into a defining stylistic signature.
The talk, which will be delivered by Shyla Nicodemi a.k.a. 𝗦𝗵𝘆𝗹𝗮 𝗡., will offer a historical and thematic overview of Fulci’s cinematic corpus before concentrating on recently rediscovered on-set photographs from Non si sevizia un paperino. These images remained unpublished until last year, when Bloodbuster – a Milan-based bookshop and publishing house devoted to genre cinema – released them in a bilingual Italian-English volume. The more than eighty photographs were meticulously restored by Shyla N. through a rigorous analogue and manual digital process, deliberately avoiding the use of AI tools in order to preserve the material integrity of the original negatives.
The 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁 will take place on Friday 𝟴 𝗠𝗮𝘆 at 𝟮𝟭:𝟬𝟬 at Eden Cinemas (Paceville, St Julian’s), where for the first time in Malta 𝘕𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘪 𝘴𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘻𝘪𝘢 𝘶𝘯 𝘱𝘢𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘰 will be screened in its newly restored version by Arrow Films, presented in Italian with English subtitles. The screening will be followed by a Q&A session with Shyla N.
The two events are organised in collaboration with 𝗪𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗰𝘀, the NGO behind the long-running and widely renowned Malta Comic Con, and VIDEO NASTIES!, a fast-growing local festival dedicated to independent horror short films.
A sound engineer and street photographer with over two decades of experience in both analogue and digital formats, Shyla N. began working with 35mm film at the age of ten under the guidance of her grandfather, Cesare Saska, who had worked at the legendary Barrandov Studios in Prague. Her photographs have been exhibited in both solo and group shows in Milan and Berlin, and have appeared in several publications.