Sophia Loren, Mediterrane Screen Icon

Sophia Loren, Mediterrane Screen Icon - Neapolitan spirit, Hollywood Glamour.

A lavishly illustrated talk by Adrian Wootton OBE

Celebrating Sophia Loren’s more than seventy years as a star, style icon and groundbreaking actress, in Italian and Hollywood cinema, this is a unique event, especially for the Mediterranee Film Festival.

Drawing on her Neapolitan roots (and the strong sense of cultural identity they gave her), Sophia Loren entered the Italian film industry in her twenties and in a few short years, during the 1950s, became an international, stunningly glamorous star and an accomplished actress, deftly capable of comic brilliance and dramatic power. With her professional and personal alliance with producer Carlo Ponti and her long-term creative relationships with legendary actor/director Vittorio De Sica and equally iconic co-star Marcello Mastroianni, she made some of the most beloved films in the history of Italian cinema (there will be two screenings in Malta, in new restorations, courtesy of CineCitta). Interspersing these with impressive appearances in international productions, Sophia Loren has cemented herself as an enduring legend of world cinema, whose scintillating career we are delighted to showcase.

British Film Commission CEO, Adrian Wootton OBE, a Loren expert and the Curator of the very first retrospective of her work in the UK in 2025, here gives an illustrated talk ranging over all of Sophia Loren’s extraordinary life and career. Wootton will provide insights into and anecdotes about the making of her greatest movies, as well as behind the scenes stories about her most creative relationships. Interspersed with plentiful clips (including of rare films) and slides.

Don’t miss open air screening of Marriage Italian Style which will take place in Valletta on Friday, 26 June (Upper Barrakka Gardens) at 8.30pm 

Venue Details

Part 1 — Mediterrane Festival Hub

The event opens at the Mediterrane Festival Hub Room M2, 113 Archbishop St, Valletta VLT1444, from 17:45 to 18:45. This venue serves as the gathering and programme space before the group moves to Valletta for the screening.

Important: By confirming your attendance at the public talk, you will receive a complimentary ticket on the day of the event to attend the screening of Two Women at Embassy Cinemas, Valletta.

Part 2 — Embassy Cinemas, Valletta

The screening of TWO WOMEN will take place at 19:00 at Embassy Cinemas in Valletta. Attendees should allow time to transfer between venues following the conclusion of the talk at 18:45.

Speaker

Adrian Wootton OBE

Film London (the agency charged with developing the screen industries in the capital) and the British Film Commission, the unit responsible for promoting the UK as the best place to produce feature films and high-end television.  

Prior to becoming the Chief Executive of Film London in 2003, Adrian was Acting Director of the British Film Institute (BFI), in addition to having been the Director of the London Film Festival (LFF), the National Film Theatre (NFT), Head of BFI Exhibition and Director of the crime and mystery film festival, Crime Scene.  

Before his appointment to the BFI, he was founding Director of Broadway Media Centre in Nottingham and Director of the Bradford Playhouse & Film Theatre. Adrian is a Programme Advisor to the British Film Institute’s London Film Festival; Venice Film Festival; Noir in Fest, Milan; the Founding Director of Shots in the Dark, Nottingham’s crime and mystery film festival and the Curator of the UK Italian film showcase Cinema Made in Italy.

He regularly broadcasts and reviews films for Radio 4 and contributes articles to various newspapers and magazines, including The Guardian and Sight & Sound. He frequently lectures nationally and internationally, as well as curating film programmes and retrospectives for numerous organizations, including BFI Southbank, on a wide variety of subjects, as diverse as Elvis Presley, Raymond Chandler, Graham Greene, Frank Sinatra and the Rolling Stones.  As an acknowledged authority on Italian cinema Adrian has in recent years curated the first UK retrospectives of filmmakers Marco Bellocchio and The Taviani Brothers and in August 2025 is programming for The BFI a Sophia Loren retrospective. Adrian also is the Artistic Director of the Annual Cinema Made in Italy Festival in London. 

Adrian co-ordinated the film and television components of the international Dickens 2012 celebrations, of which Film London was a co-ordinating partner, with the Charles Dickens Museum. Specifically, Adrian co-curated a large film and television retrospective, which toured throughout the world. He also produced, co-wrote and co-narrated the 2012 documentary Dickens on Film for BBC Arena and Film London.