In the second version of my ‘Self-Portrait’ I attempted to focus more on my family and my ethnicity. I decided that these were probably the two concepts I identify with the most and I also think that most people could also identify with them. The film follows more of a storyline than anything, this was unintentional during pre-production and production but when editing it all together I saw how I could make it flow. I decided to capture the food production of a traditional Maltese meal. The meal itself is simple yet it brings together all members of my family. As food is a big part of my culture, it’s something that we take pride in, not only to enjoy as food, but to enjoy as something to call our own.
I tried to portray this pride through the first part of the audio in the film, as I recorded my younger sister explaining how she gave someone a look for making a statement against the Maltese. The second and last bits of audio are the sounds of my family eating a talking at the table. In the middle, I have placed a recording of my mother speaking in Maltese.

The film begins with a picture of a piece of wall décor that resembles the windows that are on the old limestone buildings in Malta. More importantly, though, is that it is reminiscent of the windows of my family’s house before they immigrated.
The way the video is edited is very simple, and traditional. I thought about editing in a more creative way, but I feel like it wouldn’t match with what I was trying to achieve through the footage.

‘Kulhad tad-demm u l-laham’ is the text I used in the product. In English it means ‘We are all flesh and blood’ – I found that this was fitting to put at the end of the video because it’s the type of thing my grandparents would put at the end of a statement.