Everyone loves a good movie. And everyone loves the evening breeze under the stars on Maltese summer nights. So what could be better than an open-air film screening right there, in the great outdoors of your village square? This is what Solar Cinema brings to you as part of Valletta 2018.

Meet Maureen Prins, 41 from Holland (favourite movie: Dead Man - Jim Jarmusch) and Cathleen Tanti, 35 from Malta (favourite movie: L' Avventura - Michelangelo Antonioni). Together, they are bringing 'unseen films to unusual places' in Malta this summer.

Solar Cinema Malta from Solar World Cinema on Vimeo.

What is Solar World Cinema?

Maureen: Solar World Cinema is an international network of solar-powered mobile cinemas. All the equipment of the mobile cinemas is powered by 100 per cent solar energy. After sunset, open-air films are screened in a public space. Our solar cinemas travel around the globe and are completely self-sufficient. 

Trailer Solar World Cinema from Solar World Cinema on Vimeo.

Cathleen: The pioneer of Dutch Solar Cinema, Maureen Prins, has been touring around with her solar-powered cinema in The Netherlands and Europe since 2006. She had a dream of finding like-minded people to create a sustainable cinema network worldwide. The association was set up in 2009, with Dutch colleagues Stien Meesters and Maartje Piersma and now, in 2018, there are ten solar cinemas travelling the world through the Solar World Cinema network. 

Maureen: The solar cinemas around the world run all year round, reaching out to a massive audience. We are an alternative distributor of independent cinema and inspiring content that reaches an audience even in remote places that are normally difficult to reach, such as the Sahara desert. Furthermore, the Solar Cinema itself is an innovative tool that demonstrates sustainable solutions.

How does the Solar Cinema work?

Cathleen: The photovoltaic system captures sunlight during the day and this is transformed into projection light at night. The solar system produces enough energy for five hours of film screening, and no additional energy source is needed. This makes us completely independent and capable of screening on a square, park or beach, anywhere.

Maureen: We work with equipment that is highly mobile, easy to set up and capable of serving massive exhibitions in the open-air. High-quality screening and sound equipment is used because the cinematic experience is an important characteristic of our work. The projectors are 5500 ANSI lumens or more (HD) and we project from digital files, Blu-ray or DVD. We use a variety of structural or inflatable screens and a sound system of a minimum of 400 watts.

What is the concept that drives the team and the project?

Maureen: Freedom and film drive the team. We all share a love of film and have a background of working in the film industry, and we are very driven by the impact Solar Cinema screenings can have. We love to inspire people with film, share a green message in a fun way and observe the impact our screenings can have on people. We also like that we can reach out to culturally deprived areas.  

The project itself fulfils multiple objectives. Travelling cinemas are completely autonomous and offer a stage to independent films that might not reach normal cinemas. Solar Cinema creates a special platform to screen films on social matters for free. It turns public spaces into self-sustainable open-air cinemas. At the same time, we're an example of how solar energy works, meeting our objective to raise awareness and stress the importance of switching to renewable energies. All this comes to the daily life of the audience through free screenings, workshops and cultural activities. 

Which types of movies do you screen, and why?

Cathleen: Films are made to be seen. There are many good independent films being made, but many never reach the cinema or the audience they were made for. That’s why we try to screen small independent films, and bring them to an audience that suits them.

Maureen: We believe in offering our audiences something different to what they may never see at a cinema. In this sense, our network is an alternative distributor of films. We have a very big heart for short films as they are very suitable for outdoor cinema screenings, we promote sustainable energy and we love to inspire people. Depending on where we travel, we develop our own annual short film programme with inspiring, exciting and quirky short films that deal with the themes of sustainability, climate change, nature and other social issues. Each year we select a series of short films, without dialogue and suitable for an international audience of all ages, made by young artists. We believe we can empower people to make ‘greener’ choices by inspiring rather than being moralistic.

How did Solar Cinema come to Malta?

Maureen and Cathleen met in 2009 during an intensive training course (CICAE) for Arthouse cinema managers in Venice. During this course, they expressed a desire to work together on film projects with the Solar Cinema. In 2012, there were three screenings in Malta as part of the Dutch Solar Cinema European Tour. In 2017, The Solar Cinema Malta Touring Festival was selected to be part of the V18 celebrations. 

How long will Solar Cinema stay in Malta, and how many movies will be screened?

The V18 Solar Cinema Malta Touring Festival will include 24 outdoor film screenings, held weekly or bi-weekly, across Malta and Gozo. Solar Cinema Malta will execute screenings from May to October 2018, and includes nine short film programmes containing more than 80 hand-picked films from more than 25 countries.

The Solar Cinema is travelling to small villages to present a programme of curated short films, feature animations and documentaries. All the films are suitable for a broad audience and are either in English audio, subtitled or without dialogue.

The Solar Cinema programme also includes a special family-friendly short film programme as well as feature-length documentaries and animated films, including the films Two Trumpets for St Andrew (1968), Boy and The World (2014), The Red Turtle (2016), Sonic Sea (2016) and Dolphin Man (2016).

Are the movies ticketed or free of charge?

Maureen: Our mission is to democratise cinema and outreach culture to an inclusive audience. This means that nearly all our film screenings are free of charge.

Schedule of Solar Cinema film screenings in Malta 2018

For more details about the films being screened, check out the film schedule. Stay up to date with any possible programme changes on the Solar Cinema Malta Facebook page.