[WATCH] 'Fishers have no steady income' says Maltese award-winning actor of Luzzu

Sundance award-winning actor Jesmark Scicluna may have not walked the red carpet to collect his accolade, but – bluefin tuna apart – he certainly has become Maltese fishing’s most famous of exports.

“It’s like catching one of the biggest fishes in your life ever,” Scicluna says about nabbing the World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award in acting at the Sundance Film Festival. It is quite the change from his life as a full-time fisher, whose catch mainly consists of squid, swordfish and bottom-feeding fish, usually through fly-fishing (rixa), liners (konzijiet) and nets (pariti).

The Siggiewi-born fisher became the lead actor in the film Luzzu after being spotted on the job by director Alex Camilleri, a first-generation immigrant in the United States who hit gold with his story on a desperate fisherman. In Camilleri’s words, his feature film is a story in which “Malta plays itself”, and it is indeed through Scicluna that this very Maltese of stories comes alive: Luzzu is also the story of the larger changes within the fishing community around him.

Jesmark Scicluna in Luzzu

In Luzzu, Scicluna plays a struggling fisherman forced to turn his back on generations of tradition to risk everything by entering the world of black-market fishing to provide for his wife and new-born baby. When Jesmark’s boat is temporarily out of commission, he doesn’t look beyond fishing to earn the money he needs, but instead gets involved with the more criminal aspects of the trade.

“We used the idea of black-market fishing for the plot’s sake. Although there are those who do it, it is the absolute minority, because if you get caught it’s not worth it,” Scicluna told MaltaToday in a conversation about the darker side of Maltese fishing.

Luzzu is directed by Alex Camilleri

“The technologies like GPS and data trackers make it even harder for fishers to resort to illegal fishing.  There is also the fact that you do not just get in and out of illegal fishing as you please, and a lot of fishermen realise that is not worth it after all the sacrifices they made.”

Scicluna is well aware of the problems Maltese fishers, not least the diminishing work force that once made up this proud Maltese industry.

More foreign muscle, mostly Indonesian or Egyptian, has been imported to help small-time fishermen, but even then, it is a challenge for employers to house them and pay them a decent wage.

But Scicluna does not blame large-scale fishing in Malta, which absorbed many struggling fishing outfits through the industrialisation of fishing for their export to foreign markets. “People are looking at getting a steady income and guarantees. You don’t have that with fishing,” he said.

Another challenge is unlawful competition from Tunisian fishers on the high seas, where Maltese lampuki fishers face a veritable Wild West as they see their quarry plundered. “Unfortunately, that is one the many challenges we face,” Scicluna says, although never having experienced such an incursion. But he has heard how fellow fishers have been harassed.

The biggest challenge to any fishers still remains the weather, Scicluna says. “You can have the best boat and the best equipment, if the weather doesn’t permit, you cannot go out at sea and work.”

Scicluna says he will never let go of his passion for the sea. “Both are rewarding in their own way,” he says when asked whether he would ditch his trade for acting. His journey in film might not stop with Luzzu, with the fisherman gearing up to audition for any spots which come up.

Luzzu is expected to be available for Maltese viewers by mid-2021. “We’re super-excited to get to show everyone what we’ve been up to,” he says as anticipation builds up for the Malta release.