After premiering her debut The Dragon Defense at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight back in 2017, Colombian writer-director Natalia Santa is back with her second feature, Malta. Set for a world premiere in the Global section at the 2024 edition of the SXSW Film Festival this weekend, the film follows a young Colombian woman who dreams of escaping her suffocating urban reality and traveling the world, yet an unexpected relationship with an unlikely man will make her confront her true motives for leaving. Ahead of the premiere, we’re pleased to exclusively debut the first trailer.
“Malta delves into themes of femininity, motherhood, and sexuality through the lens of Mariana, a young woman yearning to escape her home and its burdensome familial legacy. She seeks a place where she can carve out her identity without shouldering the weight of her mother’s failures and a history she’s determined not to repeat,” notes the director. “For me, Mariana embodies a sensory journey: she observes, smells, listens, and seduces, absorbing her surroundings and the people in her life. While navigating Bogotá’s bustling chaos and its eight million residents, she remains detached, both from her environment and herself. This disconnection shapes her relationships, especially with her mother, whom she regards with shame, and other women like her sister Mónica and Luisa, a pregnant teenage neighbor of her older brother.”
See the exclusive trailer below.
Malta premieres on March 9 at SXSW.