ISLAMABAD: The Oscar winner headlined the Mediterrane Film Festival’s closing Golden Bee Awards alongside honorees Jeremy Thomas and Barbie Ferreira, and an epic production with choreographed dance numbers and dazzling fireworks displays.
Russell Crowe accepts a Malta film legend award during the Golden Bee Awards presented by the Mediterrane Film Festival at Fort Manoel in Gzira, Malta on June 29, 2025.
There’s a moment in Ridley Scott’s Gladiator when Russell Crowe’s enslaved Roman general Maximus, fresh from eviscerating five foes in short order, throws his arms in the air and asks a stunned arena, “Are you not entertained? Are you not entertained?”
It would not be that far from fiction to picture the organizers of Sunday night’s Golden Bee Awards repeating the same question after the final spectacle had been presented to close out a nearly three-hour ceremony held inside Gzira’s Fort Manoel in Malta. Presented by the Mediterrane Film Festival and hosted by David Walliams, the outdoor show finished shy of midnight and by that point had featured around a dozen musical numbers (complete with props, backup dancers and custom backdrops), a slew of Hollywood presenters (Anna Camp, Chris Perfetti, Jared Harris, Karen Pittman and Thunderbolts* director Jake Schreier), three fireworks displays and even Maximus himself.
