JOHANN GRECH: “MALTA’S STRATEGY TO CONTROL THE PANDEMIC IS WORKING”

Malta’s history as a destination for film production goes back 95 years, during which the islands have played host to some of the most high-profile productions to shoot out of Hollywood. In the same line, the Malta Film Commission was set up in 2000 with the dual aim of supporting the local filmmaking community, while at the same time strengthening the film servicing sector. “Over the past 20 years, the Film Commission’s efforts to support the local film industry resulted in various financing incentives, including a financing incentive program in 2005, the successful Malta Film Fund in 2008, and a Co-Production fund in 2014,” described Johann Grech, Malta Film Commissioner to Señal News.

The Malta Film Commission under the auspices of the Ministry for Tourism is responsible for the management and administration of the Malta Film Fund. The Malta Film Fund has a total allocation of €600,000.

The objective of the Malta Film Fund is to nurture and back the development, production, and distribution of Maltese qualifying productions in all genres from new and established filmmakers for local and international distribution.  “It also aims to promote Maltese storytelling, Maltese stories, and Maltese cinema and by doing so, improve the structure of the Maltese indigenous film industry,” completed the executive.

THE CURRENT LANDSCAPE
Grech affirmed that all foreign crew, mainly from the EU and Canada, who were working in Malta on scheduled projects, flew back to their home countries. “The pandemic has placed film projects on hold and the productions which were expected to be shot in Malta have been temporarily suspended due to this crisis.”

The Malta Film Commission is following the situation globally and is in touch with studios and independent filmmakers on a daily level to ensure that these productions come to Malta, once it is safe for the production and our people. “Malta’s strategy to control the Covid-19 pandemic is working and in fact, this has been recognized by the World Health Organisation who have selected Malta, globally, as a model to all other countries to follow,” highlighted the Commissioner.

NEW STRATEGIES
The Malta Film Commission announced that local crew who were working on production until the 9th of March 2020 or were contracted to work on production after this date, are entitled to the Malta Enterprise COVID-19 wage supplement.  

The Malta Film Commission sets out an ambitious agenda for growth that will focus on bringing new productions to the Maltese Islands from beyond the traditional Hollywood studios. “Malta has seen substantial growth in film productions and has pledged to actively promote Malta’s world-class creative industries to emerging film industries, as well among various digital platforms,” concluded Johann Grech.

By Romina Rodríguez