ROUNDS (Bulgaria/Serbia/France, 2019, directed by Stephan Komandarev) is the winner of the main prize of the 20th edition of goEast – Festival of Central and Eastern European Cinema in Wiesbaden, the Golden Lily. The international jury, chaired by Christoph Terhechte, explained its selection by commenting that the brilliantly made, multi-layered film “explores the inner world and personal fragilities of its characters, questioning their ethical or moral choices, their convictions, strength or capacity to take a stand while facing a radical choice”. “With the authenticity of its dialogue, excellent acting and remarkable cinematography the film succeeds in creating insightful human portraits, it blends together the personal and the universal, and grows into a reflection about the dark and bright side of human nature and its interconnection with a bigger world,” as the jury emphasised. 

107 films from 40 countries, including a total of 21 German premieres, were all ready to go for the special anniversary edition of goEast – Festival of Central and Eastern European Film from 5 to 11 May 2020. Due to the unforeseeable limitations caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the festival organisers developed a hybrid solution for this 20th anniversary edition, featuring online offerings and live events postponed to later dates throughout the second half of the year. The goal: to enable audiences to continue to experience Central and Eastern European cinema (culture) in spite of the crisis in Germany, or precisely because of it. 

Karolis Kaupinis won the Award of the City of Wiesbaden for Best Director with his remarkable debut film NOVA LITUANIA (Lithuania, 2019). As the jury explained in its statement: “Shot in stunningly beautiful black and white in classic academy format, this film takes us back to a specific time and place, to the country of Lithuania in 1938, where worries about the impending war lead a solitary politician to think about plans for a ‘substitute Lithuania’ somewhere on a distant continent. Oscillating between grotesque moments and a feeling of melancholy reminiscence, the film makes the absurdity of its narrative universal, creating a surreal metaphor for defencelessness and vulnerability that resonates in times and places far beyond the film’s settings.” 

The film IMMORTAL (Estonia/Latvia, 2019, directed by Ksenia Okhapkina) was honoured with the Award of the Federal Foreign Office for Cultural Diversity. The jury emphasised that the film presents the complex structures of existence in an environment charged with ideology in an atmospheric and cinematically powerful form. As the jury statement explained: “The film’s meticulously choreographed structure creates an image of a city, once a place of sorrow for many, but now an instrument to raise the obliging citizens of a state. The concrete state becomes an example for other occurrences around the world. The film’s perfectly composed images and sound design, and choice of colour place us into a simultaneously captivating and frightening world.” 

The jury presented an Honourable Mention to IVANA THE TERRIBLE (Romania/Serbia, 2019, directed by Ivana Mladenović). The jury expressed the following praise for this charming hybrid mixture of fiction and documentary cinema: “The director of this film boldly implants herself at the centre of the narrative as an unlikeable, opinionated hypochondriac visiting home. She achieves a seemingly effortless realistic portrayal of her native Serbian village of Kladovo, surrounding herself with realistic performances by her own family members, friends, former lovers and local government officials. Personal is playfully political in this film, weaving questions about the future and the past of one’s place of birth as this confused millennial heroine ironically becomes a mascot of her village’s traditional summer festival celebrating Serbian-Romanian friendship. In the end, the film paints a compelling portrait of the millennial generation in the Balkans.” 

Festival director Heleen Gerritsen expressed her satisfaction with a truly special jubilee anniversary edition of goEast: “For the first time, a portion of goEast took place online. A new experience! In our virtual Caligari, avatars even celebrated real parties. Our juries collaborated online this year: jury members from diverse time zones and countries like Belarus, Germany, France, Georgia, Great Britain, Israel, Latvia, Romania and the USA met online and presented the – at times symbolic – awards. Still, there’s nothing better than real cinema with real encounters. I hope we’ll meet in November at the real Caligari FilmBühne for the screenings of the 16 entries to the Competition.” 

The International Film Critic’s Award from FIPRESCI in the category of fiction feature also went to ROUNDS (Bulgaria/Serbia/France, 2019, directed by Stephan Komandarev). As the jury shared in its statement: “The director’s criticism of his society gets its power from combining black humour, absurdity and sarcasm. When night falls in Bulgaria’s capital, the real talk begins. ROUNDS is a brutally honest yet elegantly built trip that caught our attention from the very start.” In the documentary film category, the jury chose STATE FUNERAL (Netherlands/Lithuania, 2019, directed by Sergei Loznitsa), commenting: “A fascinating documentary whose power is in its visuals – no narration, no interviewers, no sophisticated directing but above all editing. Visuals and music combine to make Sergei Loznitsa’s STATE FUNERAL into an accessible piece of history. A peerless experience and a morbid time travel none of us will ever forget.” 

Directors Jacek Naglowski and Patryk Jordanowicz were honoured with the Open Frame Award for virtual reality works, sponsored by BHF BANK Stiftung, for WHISPERS (Poland, 2019). The jury praised  WHISPERS as a “poetic exploration of healing and the ‘impenetrable forces of life and death’ in a time when the world is experiencing the extremity of these forces. (...) (E)very scene is a painting. A visual feast, from colours to composition – the cinematography is a feat of 360° immersive video.” The jury particularly commended the filmmakers’ care and tenderness toward the subject as well as the viewer. In their own words: “We were held. We had space to breathe. Congratulations to the filmmaker Jacek Nagłowski!” 

The jury presented an Honourable Mention to BABYN YAR, VIRTUAL MEMORY (Ukraine, 2020) by Alona Stulii, praising the artist for careful and factual exploration and re-enactment in relating the tragic story of Babyn Yar in VR, adding: “Congratulations to director Alona Stulii, and producers Kirill Pokutnyy and Sergey Tereshchenko!” 

The RhineMain Short Film Award, endowed by Kulturfonds Frankfurt RheinMain, was presented this year for the second time. Following constructive discussion, the jury consisting of representatives of independent cinemas from the Rhine-Main region honoured the production IN BETWEEN (Kosovo, 2019, directed by Samir Karahoda), explicitly opting to highlight a brilliantly shot documentary. The jury explained its choice thusly: “The engaging composition of the images enables intense impressions for the viewer regarding architecture, history, family and individuals of the Kosovar culture while inviting the audience to engage in a discourse about traditional family structures and also about economic and social cohesion. Furthermore, the short documentary is fascinating as a whole and works to illustrate the narrative scenario with a meticulous closeness to its protagonists and their stories. The jury wants to point out the sense of a great scenario-concept for telling the story (...) extraordinary!” 

The jury gave a Special Mention for VIRAGO (Estonia, 2019, directed by Kerli Kirch Schneider) as a fairy- tale-like plea for nearly perfect narrative cinema. In their own words: “VIRAGO impressed with its subtle, fresh tongue-in-cheek humour and its great magic. It is an outstanding contribution and perfect example for the art of short filmmaking and telling big fairy-tale stories with deep moral aspects.” 

The 2020 Renovabis Research Grant for documentary film projects with a focus on human rights went to HOME IS WHERE THE FILMS ARE by More Raça. This year’s winning project underlines the fact that the right to imagination and culture is a human right. The jury explained their selection with the following statement: “We see this project as well as the award itself as a form of moral support for all cultural creators in these difficult times.” The winning project treats film screenings for children in refugee camps. As a child, the Kosovar director herself lived in such a camp in Macedonia, where she experienced personally the energy that film and culture can set free. The films that she saw there inspired her to become a filmmaker. Cinema became a home for her, in the midst of the chaos and misery of the camp. 

SHUT THE FUCK UP! by Taisiia Kutuzova of Ukraine was honoured with the goEast Development Award as the best project in the scope of the East-West Talent Lab. “The most significant factor in our decision was the urgent relevance of the project as a mirror for our times and a signal of hope in the face of difficult societal conditions”, as the jury emphasised. A young protagonist exhibits civil courage in a small Ukrainian provincial town – by waging a solitary struggle against corruption. Though a local story, the project manages to encapsulate the state of an entire nation. Where functioning democratic structures still have to be established, political engagement of this variety can be life-threatening – and not only for the activist. “For this reason, we would like to honour the courage of the filmmaker, and her perseverance. May the prize fortify her resolve and enable her to continue her vital work”, as the jury wrote in its statement. 

Every year since the beginning of the festival goEast media partner 3sat has offered to purchase broadcast rights for one film from the programme. For 2020, 3sat has selected the Competition film ZANA (Kosovo/Albania, 2019) by Antoneta Kastrati. The film is expected to celebrate its television premiere on 3sat in 2021. 

The fate of the jubilee anniversary edition of goEast was initially uncertain due to the Covid-19 crisis. Thanks to the commitment of the festival organisers and support on the part of sponsors and funders, the festival was able to take place, and will now extend beyond the originally scheduled festival week. Thus, the awards ceremony does not represent the grand finale for goEast’s 20th edition, as the festival forges on, bringing Central and Eastern European films back where they belong: to the cinema. 

From 24 to 27 July the goEast Symposium “Film Heritage in Transition” will take place in the cinema of DFF – Deutsches Filminstitut und Filmmuseum. In late summer, culture aficionados can look forward to an evening short-film walk, a shared meal outdoors and language courses in Mix Markt in the scope of the Pan-European Picnic. Finally, in the scope of November’s exground filmfest, the entire goEast Competition section will be screened for the public. Hosted at the lovely Caligari FilmBühne, the festival will once again be welcoming renowned film guests to Wiesbaden, among others including Stephan Komandarev (director of ROUNDS), Vlad Ivanov (lead actor in SERVANTS), Karolis Kaupinis (director of NOVA LITUANIA) and Ksenia Okhapkina (director of IMMORTAL). In the scope of the screenings, with the presentation of the goEast Audience Award the festival year’s last prize-winner will also be revealed. 

Here is an overview of this year's prize-winners: 

Golden Lily for Best Film ROUNDS / V KRAG, Bulgaria, Serbia/France, 2019, directed by Stephan Komandarev 

Award of the City of Wiesbaden for Best Director NOVA LITUANIA, Lithuania, 2019, directed by Karolis Kaupinis 

Award of the Federal Foreign Office for Cultural Diversity IMMORTAL / SUREMATU, Estonia/Lithuania, 2019, directed by Ksenia Okhapkina 

Honourable Mention IVANA THE TERRIBLE / IVANA CEA GROAZNICĂ, Romania/Serbia 2019, directed by Ivana Mladenović 

International Film Critic's Award – FIPRESCI (fiction feature) ROUNDS / V KRAG, Bulgaria/Serbia/France 2019, directed by Stephan Komandarev 

International Film Critic's Award – FIPRESCI (documentary film) STATE FUNERAL / PROSHANIE SO STALINYM, Netherlands/Lithuania, 2019, directed by Sergei Loznitsa

Open Frame Award WHISPERS, Poland, 2019, directed by Jacek Naglowski, Patryk Jordanowicz 

Open Frame Award – Honourable Mention BABYN JAR, VIRTUAL MEMORY, Ukraine, 2020, directed by Alona Stulii 

RhineMain Short Film Award IN BETWEEN / NË MES, Kosovo, 2019, directed by Samir Karahoda 

RhineMain Short Film Award – Honourable Mention VIRAGO, Estonia, 2019, directed by Kerli Kirch Schneider 

Renovabis Research Grant for documentary film projects with a human rights focus HOME IS WHERE THE FILMS ARE, Kosovo, directed by More Raça 

goEast Development Award SHUT THE FUCK UP!, Ukraine, directed by Taisiia Kutuzova

Sofia International Film Festival Director Stefan Kitanov

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Malta saw a somewhat quieter year in 2016, albeit still managing to attract a few names and productions of note, and making significant steps towards the establishment of film as a medium of indigenous creative expression, artistic appreciation and academic inquiry.

PRODUCTION

Local film production saw two feature films made and benefiting from financial incentives from the Malta Film Commission: Peter Sant’s Maneland, an allegorical film about a king who lives with his three daughters in an island bunker, and Mark Doneo’s The Weeping House of Qala produced by his own Mad Movies Productions, a ghost story based on an urban legend about a dilapidated house.

U-Film resumed work on their miniseries entitled The Mystery of the Brittanic, completing episodes 2, 3 and 4, with Evgeny Tomashov and Sergey Veksler taking turns in the director’s chair. The same company also serviced Bulgarian director Javor Gardev’s Ikariya, a Russian sci-fi thriller based on the myth of Daedalus and Icarus.

Lana Wachowski brought Daryl Hannah and the rest of the Sense8 cast to shoot a special episode of the Netflix series, which was serviced by Pearly Gates. Another key figure, Gabriele Salvatores, filmed parts of Indigo Film and Rai Cinema’s Invisible Boy 2 / Il Ragazzo Invisible: Fratelli, with Valeria Golino. Latina Pictures took care of the shoot in Malta.

The largest foreign production was a retelling of the 1976 hijacking and subsequent rescue in the eponymous Entebbe, with José Padilha (Bus 174, RoboCop) calling the shots, and featuring Rosamund Pike and Daniel Brühl. Pellikola serviced the production for Working Title Films. Another remake, Papillon, brought Charlie Hunnam and Rami Malek to Malta for a five-day shoot in the tanks at Malta Film Studios and at a cliff-side location. Red Granite pictures appointed the Producer’s Creative Partnership, which handled the production with Twenty13.

Schiwago Film and Amour Fou steered Wolfgang Fischer’s Styx towards Malta, filming in open water around the islands, and using the storm generation facilities at Malta Film Studios. Starring Susanne Wolff and Gedion Wekesa Oduor, the film narrates the transformation of a strong woman on a solo sailing trip. Small Island Films took charge of operations in Malta, again in collaboration with Twenty13.

A mini-series based on the 1996 Yohan migrant tragedy, The Ghosts of Portopalo / I Fantasmi di Portopalo, again used the aquatic facilities at MFS. With Beppe Fiorello in the lead, the Picomedia production teamed up with the Producer’s Creative Partnership.

Television series constituted a significant percentage of productions that used Malta as a base for any length of time. Paul Parker handled the Smithsonian Channel and ZDF-backed Warrior Women: The Gladiatrix Episode for Urban Canyons. Katrina Samut-Tagliaferro in turn took care of the Christmas Special for the long-running BBC series Birds of a Feather, featuring Pauline Quirke and Linda Robson. The Bravest / Danmarks Modigste, a large-scale endurance game show produced by Copenhagen-based Mastiff A/S, used the deep-water tank at the MFS as a set in itself, along with several other locations around Malta. Specialist Rock Productions helped make it happen.

Stargate Studios Malta, the key VFX provider in Malta, kept the ball rolling with three substantial jobs. The Embassy / La Embajada extended Stargate’s long-running relationship with Spanish studios, recreating Thailand on a Spanish set for Bambú Producciones. Canada-based Leif Films returned to the company with a work order for two biblical films: Joseph and Mary with Kevin Sorbo and Lara Jean Chorostecki in the lead roles, and The Apostle Peter: Redemption with familiar faces of John Rhys-Davies as Peter and Stephen Baldwin as Nero.

DISTRIBUTION

Rebecca Cremona’s Simshar kept on travelling with screenings in the UK in conjunction with We Are beyond Cinema, and in France with Visiosfeir Distribution. Festivals took the film to Chicago, New York, Leuven, France, Naples, Nice, Stockholm, Prague, Annaba, Zagora, Ashdod, New Delhi, Dubai, Singapore, and Trinidad and Tobago. And in time for the holiday season, the film made it to DVD.

Simshar’s online presence in the US and Canada spread to several networks including iTunes, Xbox, Amazon, Google Play, Time Warner Cable, AMC and the Sundance Channel, some of which made the film available to subscribers in Europe. The film was also picked up by regional networks like the Croatian B.net, Du in Dubai, OTE TV in Greece, MTN in South Africa, CableNet in Cyprus, SBB in Serbia, Solo in Nigeria and Telekom Slovenije.

GRANTS AND LEGISLATION

The Ministry of Tourism, under whose remit falls the Malta Film Commission, launched the first National Film Policy in January 2016, amid criticism that whilst a step in the right direction and inviting discussion on the preservation of film heritage, it did not go far beyond generic statements.

Released after a consultative process launched in the last quarter of 2015, the document assessed the current situation in the servicing industry, the local production situation, and the education possibilities available, making fairly generic forward-looking statements in each case. In particular, the report identified anomalous employment conditions in the servicing industry, particularly with the long hours crews were expected to work, but took a cautious approach in advocating changes.

The Malta Film Fund opened its yearly call in April and distributed 230,914 EUR in funds, split as follows:

On the occasion of Malta’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union in 2017 and Valletta’s tenure as European Capital of Culture in 2018, the Film Fund launched a surprise call in August 2016, making a further 250,000 EUR available albeit for production only. Results are expected to be released in February 2017. In conjunction with Arts Council Malta, Malta Film Commission also announced in December the intention to introduce Distribution Support in 2017.

University of Malta's Master of Arts in Film Studies programme, funded by the Ministry of Tourism and the Malta Film Commission, saw first films made under the tutorship of Antonio Piazza and Fabio Grassadonia (writer-directors of Salvo, 2013 Grand Prix winner at the Semaine de la Critique), Scott Graham (writer-director of 2012 BAFTA-nominated Shell) and cinematographers Francesco Di Giacomo and Federico Angelucci. Robin Hardy gave a masterclass and presented the restored version of his acclaimed 1973 film The Wicker Man, his last public appearance before passing away in July 2016.

The sophomore edition of the Valletta Film Festival, with the support of the Malta Film Commission, had Sir Alan Parker as its patron, presenting a screening of Midnight Express (1978) in the same location it was filmed in. Jurors Carolina Hellsgard, Cosmina Stratan, Tamer El Said, Valery Rosier and Brontis Jodorowsky selected Måns Månsson’s The Yard as best film, and Laila Pakalnina, Yves Jeanneau and Hrönn Marinósdóttir laurelled Pablo Iraburu and Migueltxo Molina’s Walls as best documentary. Sidebar events included an international conference on the Cinema of Small European Nations.

Arts Council Malta, through its Culture Partnership Agreement, awarded funds for a three-year period to the Film Grain Foundation as organisers of the Valletta Film Festival, to Kinemastik (Kinemastik Short Film Festival) and to the Malta Film Foundation (Malta Short Film Festival).

TV

Malta has nine television channels, two of which are state-owned (TVM, TVM2), two are run by the main political parties (ONE, Net), and the rest are private. Three of the private channels have a General Interest Objectives licence (Smash TV, f Living, Xejk), and the remaining two (iTV, Owners’ Best) are teleshopping channels. The national regulators are the Malta Broadcasting Authority for content and the Malta Communications Authority for matters related to transmission and the service providers.

Transmission is digital and, depending on the provider, via cable, terrestrial wireless, or IPTV. All GIO stations (public and private) are broadcast on a free-to-air platform managed by Public Broadcasting Services Ltd, the national organisation which runs all state-owned broadcast media.

PBS has a public service obligation, for which it was given a budget of 3,900,000 EUR in 2016, and through which it issues a yearly call for programmes of a diverse nature.

The National Book Council held its second annual short film contest with PBS, making available 7,000 EUR in production funds and 1,000 EUR in rights, to adapt a Maltese literary work for the screen. The project for 2016 was Il-Kompliċi, directed by Ryan Gatt from a short-story by Walid Nabhan.

Foreign television channels are readily available via cable, satellite and digital terrestrial transmission. And yet, Broadcasting Authority surveys, held thrice yearly, show that TVM, ONE and Net have retained their position at the top of viewership tables. Channels from Italian state broadcaster RAI, as well as Mediaset stations, fill in the subsequent slots, maintaining a long historical tradition of Maltese viewership. Overall, Maltese channels attracted an average of 66.87% of audience share (an increase of 3.05 points over 2015). Missing from the surveys, for reasons of understandable difficulty in quantification, is the number of viewers that in 2016 had taken to watching foreign programming, US series in particular, on un-licensed streaming services on their computers or through Android TV boxes. Netflix reached Maltese shores in January 2016, but statistics for the first year have not been made publicly available.

Source: Malta Broadcasting Authority

From the locally-made programming crop, drama remains the most popular format, consistently hitting the topmost slots. Strada Stretta from Sharp Shoot Media, a period series set in a particular Valletta street known for its hedonistic entertainment in Malta’s days as a British Colony, vied for first rank with Ċaqqufa, a series on female empowerment from Watermelon Media.

CONTACTS:

MALTA FILM COMMISSION
St Rocco Street
Kalkara KKR 9062
Malta
Phone: +356 2180 9135
www.maltafilmcommission.com 
Engelbert Grech, Film Commissioner
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Jean Pierre Borg, PR & Marketing Executive
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CREATIVE EUROPE DESK MALTA
21, Chateau de la Ville
Archbishop Street
Valletta VLT1443
Malta
Phone: +356 2567 4210
www.creativeeuropemalta.eu 
Lisa Gwen Baldacchino, Head
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ARTS COUNCIL MALTA
Casa Scaglia
16, Mikiel Anton Vassalli Street
Valletta VLT 1311
Phone: + 356 2339 7000
www.artscouncilmalta.org 
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Report: Kenneth Scicluna (2017)
Sources: Malta Film Commission, The Times of Malta, The Malta Independent, Malta Today, IMDb, Official Facebook Pages for Simshar, Limestone Cowboy, Filmed in Malta, Stargate Malta, Valletta Film Festival, University of Malta, Arts Council Malta, National Book Council, Malta Broadcasting Authority, Malta Communications Authority, Ministry for Finance.

Malta Country Profile

By Kenneth Scicluna

VALLETTA: Malta celebrated 90 years of filmmaking in 2015 with several milestones.

Michael Bay’s 13 Hours crowned, in terms of the 50m USD it left behind, a bumper crop of foreign productions that sought to film in Malta, 16 of which benefitted from the Malta Film Commission’s attractive incentive scheme. Other notable names that worked on the island in 2015 include Christian Bale and Oscar Isaac in Terry George’s The Promise, Colin Firth and Rachel Weisz in James Marsh’s The Mercy, and Michael Fassbender in Justin Kurzel’s Assassin’s Creed.

The Ministry for Tourism, responsible for the film commission, launched a draft National Film Policy along with a consultation process that eventually led to a document that was received with mixed feelings.  On the plus side, the MFC also signed agreements with the Malta College for Arts, Science and Technology, as well as the University of Malta, with the aim of creating a strong skill base. In the latter case this led to the launch of a hybrid Master of Arts programme in Film Studies with a practical component. Another initiative by the MFC brought together a crew composed of trainees to create a feature film, 20,000 Reasons, under the tutorship of Film London’s Microwave International programme, which was released locally in 2016.

Rebecca Cremona’s Simshar produced by Kukumajsa Productions Ltd won awards at festivals and gained distribution online in Tunisia and in Australia, and the second feature expected to attract foreign attention, Abigail Mallia’s Limestone Cowboy produced by Take2 Entertainment, entered a long phase of postproduction work. The difficulties of indigenous filmmaking in smaller countries were brought to European attention with a special session at the European Parliament, focussing on Malta and Croatia.

Cinema audiences increased by 8% over the previous year, overwhelmingly opting for US films, with European films getting a lukewarm reception and local productions little more than a sidelong glance overall, even though Simshar was popular with audiences. On the other hand, the Valletta Film Festival got off to a great start with Roland Joffé heading an international jury.

PRODUCTION

Two feature films of note were made in 2015, both with significant involvement from the Malta Film Commission and the Malta Film Fund that it administers. 

Abigail Mallia, a name known locally for above-par television drama, steered her Limestone Cowboy, part-financed with 90,000 EUR from the MFF, into postproduction. Based on a local political dark horse, the film attracted substantial attention throughout its gestation period due to the popularity of the actors featured and the involvement of substantial amounts of extras. Hopes for a 2015 release, teased by the periodic release of production stills, did not materialise however, with the film having its first screening during the 2016 Valletta Film Festival.

Jameson Cucciardi’s 20,000 Reasons, from a script by Malcolm Galea, was the fruit of a long training scheme masterminded by the film commission in conjunction with Film London’s Microwave International programme, and a budget of 200,000 EUR sourced from a European Social Fund scheme. Seeking to bolster skills across the board, the crew benefitted from mentorship throughout the various stages of the process with the film eventually reaching local screens in 2016.

U-Film started work on Dark Waters, a documentary series on wrecks in the Mediterranean, the kind of production uniquely posed to create having a sister company called U-Boat, which specialises in underwater research with the aid of two Triton submersibles.

Returned émigré Mario Philip Azzopardi, known for directing episodes of Star Gate, Dinotopia and Degrassi, produced two television films for Canadian eOne in coproduction with his own Ċittadella Films. Titled A Dangerous Arrangement (starring Tamara Duarte and Colm Meaney) and The Red Dress (with John Rhys-Davies and Once Upon a Time’s Sean Maguire), both films were written by Azzopardi, with the former also having him as director. A large part of the cast on both films was Maltese, with Stargate Malta handling visual effects.

Stargate, a rising VFX star this side of the Mediterranean, with strong support from its parent company in Canada, has helped create another pillar of interest for foreign production companies looking at bringing film work to Malta. Beyond the usual attractions of sunlight on the same latitude as Los Angeles, good weather, a variety of locations, marine facilities, and an affordably talented, multilingual cast and crew, the offer of high-grade value-for-money visual effects has been creating its own particular kind of business, which is no longer dependent on physical locations. In fact, most of the material that Stargate handled in 2015 was shot on location away from Malta. 

On the other hand, their participation in various projects opened a conduit for elements and scenes, sometimes on a fairly large scale, to be filmed in Malta. Some of the company’s larger projects included Pietro Mennea – La Freccia del Sud (Casanova Multimedia, Milk & Honey, Rai Fiction), I Misteri di Laura (Casanova Multimedia, Mediaset), El Principe (Plano a Plano, Mediaset España), Medici: Masters of Florence (Wild Bunch, Big Light, Lux Vide – with Dustin Hoffman), and You, Me and the Apocalypse (Working Title TV, Big Balls Films, Sky, NBC – with Jenna Fischer and Rob Lowe).

Italy has long found Malta a convenient location for its television series and acclaimed leading man Raoul Bova headed back to produce and star in Fuoco Amico: TF45 (RB Productions), which was serviced by veteran company White Coral Films.

The traditional servicing industry enjoyed an equally prosperous year with several high-profile and lucrative productions spending long periods, and large amounts of cash, on the island.

Latina Pictures serviced Michael Bay’s 13 Hours, which saw the construction of a sprawling set making Malta stand for Benghazi, a hectic six-month schedule and the injection of 50m USD into the local economy. Latina also handled Justin Kurzel’s Assassin’s Creed, with Michael Fassbender, which filmed in Valletta on a closely guarded set.

Falkun Films handled Terry George’s film on the Armenian genocide, The Promise, with Charlotte Le Bon, Christian Bale and Oscar Isaac in lead roles, with Valletta this time standing in for Istanbul. The same company also facilitated the production of Stephen Quale’s The Lake with JK Simmons and Diarmaid Murtagh, which made extensive use of the aquatic facilities at the Malta Film Studios.

Russian director Yuriy Moroz brought leading man Maksim Matveyev to Malta to resume his eponymous role in the high-octane series The Gambler. U-Film provided the services, in keeping with the special relationship the company enjoys with the Russian film and television market.

Belgian company Studio 100 returned to Malta to shoot a film, with the assistance of Parker Film & TV, and featuring two characters highly popular with audiences in Flemish Belgium and the Netherlands: Mega Mindy vs Rox.

Small Island Films took care of Philippe de Chauveron’s Débarquement Immédiat!, whilst Twenty13 handled The Mercy, the Donald Donald Crowhurst project directed by James Marsh and featuring Rachel Weisz and Colin Firth.

DISTRIBUTION

Rebecca Cremona’s Simshar went from strength to strength in 2015, a feat remarkable not least because it was the first indigenous film to travel as far, as rapidly, and with as much acclaim as it did.

After finishing 2014 as the most popular Maltese film in local cinemas, and one of the two most popular films overall, Simshar made it again to local screens with a presence spanning the whole year from January to December. The film made it into the official selection of various festivals in Europe, America, Asia and Africa, winning Silver at the California Film Awards, the Silver Dhow at Zanzibar, the Golden Aphrodite at the Cyprus International Film Festival, Best International Feature at Edmonton in Canada, and the Best Director award at Agadir in Morocco.

The true breakthrough came in September 2015 with the general release in Australian cinemas through The Backlot Films, and in Tunisia via Hakka Distribution. Extended several times, the runs lasted until November 2015 down-under and till December 2015 in Tunisia.  Gravitas Ventures acquired the rights for the US and Canada and released it in November 2015 on the major VOD channels, including iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, Time Warner Cable and Comcast.

FILM INSTITUTIONS

In March 2015, the Ministry of Tourism, under whose remit the Malta Film Commission falls, announced the appointment of a consultative council to draft the first national film policy, although the names of those involved were not made public. In September 2015 the draft document was released and a public consultation process launched until October 2015. 

The document assessed the current situation in the film services industry, the local production situation, and the education possibilities available, making fairly generic forward-looking statements in each case. In particular, the report identified anomalous employment conditions in the services industry, particularly with the long hours crew were expected to work, but took a cautious approach in advocating changes. 

The final report was released in January 2016, attracting criticism that, whilst it was a step in the right direction and it cast a glance at the need for a discussion on the preservation of film heritage, it did not go far beyond the generic statements of the draft document.

The Malta Film Fund distributed 243,000 EUR in funds, split as follows:

In a drive to bolster film education in Malta, hitherto served by first degrees in media and communication studies at the vocational Malta College of Arts, Sciences and Technology, and at the Faculty of Media and Knowledge Sciences at the University of Malta, the Malta Film Commission signed agreements with both institutions. With MCAST, the commission signed a memorandum of understanding, through which Creative Arts students would be given the opportunity to create several featurettes under the mentorship of the film commission in the various elements required to create the clips.

At the University of Malta, the Ministry of Tourism and the film commission funded the Faculty of Arts to assist it in the setting up of a particular MA in Film Studies programme that aims to provide a solid theoretical and practical base in film.  Tutors in the first year included Antonio Piazza and Fabio Grassadonia (writer and directors of Salvo, 2013 Grand Prix winner at the Semaine de la Critique), Scott Graham (writer and director of 2012 Bafta-nominated Shell) and Gigi Roccati (Babylon Sisters, 2016).

The Valletta Film Festival, launched by the Film Grain Foundation, had its first edition in June 2015 and got off to an auspicious start. More than 5,000 tickets were sold for 77 screenings, with master classes also proving popular.

Also in June 2015, Maltese MEP Marlene Mizzi convened a seminar at the European Parliament in Brussels, to discuss the particular problems faced by the smallest filmmaking countries in Europe.  Using Simshar and Dalibor Matanić’s High Sun / Zvizdan (Croatia, Kinorama, kinorama.hr) as test cases, the seminar had Rebecca Cremona, Martina Petrović (Head of the Croatian Creative Europe Desk, Pauline Durand-Vialle (FERA CEO), Engelbert Grech (Malta Film Commissioner), Matteo Zacchetti (Deputy Head, DG Information Society and Media) and European Commissioner Günther Oettinger, as speakers.

The same topic was discussed through aesthetic, practical and academic lenses in September when the itinerant Small Nations Cinema Conference opened its 2015 sessions in Valletta.  Various filmmakers, scholars and practitioners from ancillary arts met to discuss and deliver papers on the particular voices emerging from the smallest filmmaking nations around the world.

Recognising the efforts made during the previous nine decades, Intellect added an edition on Malta to the seminal World Film Locations series, making it the only book to-date to study the productions made in Malta, of local and foreign origin, in relation to the context in which they were filmed.

EXHIBITION AND BOX OFFICE

Ticket sales for Maltese films decreased to 2.9% of total sales in 2015 from 4.2% in 2014.  US films still lead the pack with 79% of seats sold (up from 73% in 2014), with EU films registering a meagre but steady 16%.

A total of 375 different titles were shown, up from 368 in 2014. Attendance overall registered an 8% increase, with ticket sales hitting 704,243 and raking in 4.19m EUR in gross receipts, of which Maltese productions pocketed just 0.1 m EUR. Whereas in 2014 Maltese films attracted the largest audience per film (average of 5,500) and had the greatest exposure (average of 280 screening days), the figures almost halved in 2015 (audience 2,500, screening days 70), losing out to films from the US on audience and hitting a draw on the latter figure.

A winner, in rather relative terms, was the documentary format, climbing up from 121 seats sold for two films, to 5,814 admissions for 15 films. On the other hand, stereoscopic films slid downwards to 9.4% of tickets sold from 12.8%.

TV

Malta has nine television channels, two of which are state-owned (TVM, TVM2), two are run by the main political parties (ONE and Net), and the rest are private. Three of the private channels have a General Interest Objectives licence (Smash TV, f Living, Xejk), and the remaining two (iTV, Owners’ Best) are teleshopping channels. The national regulators are the Malta Broadcasting Authority for content and the Malta Communications Authority for matters related to transmission and the service providers.

Transmission is digital and, depending on the provider, via cable, terrestrial wireless, or IPTV. All GIO stations (public and private) are broadcast on a free-to-air platform managed by Public Broadcasting Services Ltd, the national organisation which runs all state-owned broadcast media.

PBS has a public service obligation for which it was given a budget of 3.9m EUR in 2015, and through which it issues a yearly call for programmes of a diverse nature.

The National Book Council launched an annual short film contest with PBS, making available 7,000 EUR in production funds and 1,000 EUR in rights, to adapt a Maltese literary work for the screen. The first project under the scheme was Dar ir-Rummien, directed by Federico Chini from a short story by Pierre J. Mejlak.

Arts Council Malta announced a scheme of its own with a budget of 280,000 EUR. Kultura TV co-finances culturally-relevant works which may be factual or fiction in nature, one-off films or serialised, as long as they are created in coproduction between one of the private television channels and a local production company. Six proposals out of 18 earned sufficient marks and were allocated a total of 184,456 EUR. Creators of televised series also have the option of applying for financing from the Malta Film Fund, although the latter intimates that they are more interested in pushing for material with international marketing potential.

Foreign television channels are readily available via cable, satellite and digital terrestrial transmission. And yet, Broadcasting Authority surveys, held thrice yearly, show that TVM, ONE and Net have retained their position at the top of viewership tables.

Channels from Italian state broadcaster RAI, as well as Mediaset stations, fill in the subsequent slots, maintaining a long historical tradition of Maltese viewership. Overall, Maltese channels attracted an average of 63.82% of audience share. Missing from the surveys, for reasons of understandable difficulty in quantification, is the number of viewers that in 2015 had taken to watching foreign programming, US series in particular, on un-licensed streaming services on their computers or through Android TV boxes. The only indications of a conjecturally substantial size of clandestine viewership came from debates on social media on series that were otherwise not available in Malta, and from the number of adverts for Android receivers. Netflix was still unavailable in 2015, being released to Maltese viewers in January 2016.

From the locally-made programming crop, drama remains the most popular format, consistently hitting the topmost slots. Ċaqqufa, a drama on female empowerment from Watermelon Media vied for first rank with Rewind Productions’ tale on two orphans, Katrina. A drama on a particular Valletta street, known for its hedonistic entertainment in Malta’s days as a British Colony, Strada Stretta from Sharp Shoot Media entered the charts at the fifth slot in October, to quickly climb to the top by February 2016.

CONTACTS

MALTA FILM COMMISSION
St Rocco Street
Kalkara KKR 9062
Malta
Phone: +356 2180 9135
www.maltafilmcommission.com 
Engelbert Grech, Film Commissioner
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Jean Pierre Borg, PR & Marketing Executive
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CREATIVE EUROPE DESK MALTA
21, Chateau de la Ville
Archbishop Street
Valletta VLT1443
Malta
Phone: +356 2567 4210
www.creativeeuropemalta.eu 
Lisa Gwen Baldacchino, Head
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Sources: Malta Film Commission, National Statistics Office, The Times of Malta, The Malta Independent, Malta Today, IMDb, Official Facebook Pages for Simshar, Limestone Cowboy, Filmed in Malta, Stargate Malta, Intellect Ltd, Valletta Film Festival, MCAST, University of Malta, Malta Broadcasting Authority
Report by Kenneth Scicluna

Dates: 25-26 September 2019
Place: Warsaw 

DAY I - INSPIRATION DAY 

INSPIRATION DAY PART I- ARE WE ON TRACK or do we need to fast forward? 

WELCOME to a new edition of the INSPIRATION DAY - our exchange hub for all professionals working with children’s screen content. Our best practice presentation is an excellent opportunity to learn from our experts what television programmes can offer. New this year is a keynote on trends in young people’s habits and preferences when it comes to TV, linear and digital; two masterclasses focusing on feature films for theatrical releases; and a hands-on workshops designed to hone your business decisions. With INSPIRATION DAY, we want you to explore new creative and business mindsets and equip you with useful skills for creating captivating and daring new programmes for young audiences, that are both meaningful to them and in the end feed your pockets.

KEYNOTE & PANEL 

Title: FORECASTING THE FUTURE FOR KIDS CONTENT  - In TV and Digital SVoD

Host/Keynote: David Kleeman, Dubit & Prix Jeunesse, SVP, Global Trends & Advisory Board Chair, USA

Time shifts, viewer habits have changed and big, powerful and cash-rich companies like Netflix, Amazon and YouTube are re-shaping kids’ media. Disney+ and AppleTV+ will start their own digital channels this autumn. Warner and NBC have announced similar plans. Therefore, we’ve assembled a team of independent thinkers, researchers, content providers and visionaries of PSB’s & (private channels) to look at children’s viewing habits. What are their favorite themes and programmes, and how are content trends influencing development and production. The session also aims to decode what major SVoDs want and how their business model works, to predict what creatives will need to produce in a few years’ time. 

After an intro by David Kleeman and the Dubit Trends report, the session will ask the panel speakers to bring in their perspectives. What do these forecasts mean for them regarding developing content for dedicated kids programs? Does it differ for business grounded in linear free-to-air vs. non-linear channels? What's next in terms of content and how to make a profit? 

Panel speakers:

Claire Tavenier (UK) - a digital and media strategist who helps media companies design their commercially successful, investable, digital content and distribution strategies

Luca Milano (Italy) - Executive Director of “Rai Ragazzi”, Rai's department for children and kids, controlling 2 free-TV Channels (Rai Yoyo, the leading Italian children's channel, and Rai Gulp), as well as the units for production and co-production of Animation, kids' drama and live shows

Richard Rowe (UK) - Director of International Acquisitions and Co-productions, sources original content for co-productions and television programming for DHX Media’s distribution unit

CASE STUDY 

TITLE: DEVELOPING AN IP 360°  - from the idea to licencing and immersive experience

speaker: Marie-Claude Beauchamp, President & Founder of Carpe Diem Film & TV and Pink Parrot Media, Canada

Producing an independent animated film is no longer just delivering a fun and touching picture. With a competitive industry, the need to engage the audience in a project as many ways as it can be is now predominant. Three key words imposes themselves in the creation, production and deployment of an IP: Humor, Heart and Huggability. How to integrate these values into your films and programs and bring out the best engagement from your audiences? By multiplying the experiences with the IP. It’s the key to develop a sense of ownership towards it! Based on the recent brand development of the projects SNOWTIME - SNOWSNAPS - RACETIME, Marie-Claude Beauchamp - President of CarpeDiem Film & TV will expose her 360 degrees strategy.

DAY 2  CO-PRO-NECT BREAKFAST

This programme is a special 1 hour interactive network session which requires additional registration. Please note that seats will be limited by number.

In these 30 minutes intimate & interactive sessions, key funders and content executives share their experiences in co-production, investment & partnership, programming, acquisition and commissioning strategies. This time allows producers to get a sense of how to find the right strategic partnerships, how does co-production with a specific country or broadcaster work, and what the market currently needs in order to prepare your pitches accordingly.

Each of the tables will be organized around a host who will kick off the discussion with an intro followed by a possibility of a Q&A. In this 1 hour session, participants will be able to visit two 30 minutes table talks. Registration is required as seats are limited!

This event is designed for producers, writers and distributors to learn more about the structuring of international co-productions and get the inside scoop on mandates from top international media experts.

The complete list of experts is published online

Special guests among others are:

Agnes Augustin

Shaw Rocket Fund

President & CEO, Canada

Agnes Augustin has been driving the Shaw Rocket Fund’s ongoing commitment to champion Canadian children’s and youth programming through strategic investments in linear and digital content and spearheading industry initiatives such as the much celebrated Shaw Rocket Prize.

Marie-Claude Beauchamp

CarpeDiem Film & TV

Founder, CEO & Producer, Canada

Marie-Claude Beauchamp founded the media production company CarpeDiem Film & TV focusing primarily on entertainment for the entire family. The company achieved a milestone with the production of LA GUERRE DES TUQUES 3D / SNOWTIME! an animated feature film in 3D which received critical and popular success.

Luca Milano

RAI

Manager at RAI Radiotelevisione, Italy

Luca Milano is the Executive Director of “Rai Ragazzi”, Rai's department for children and kids, controlling 2 free-to-air TV Channels (Rai Yoyo, the leading Italian children's channel, and Rai Gulp), as well as the units for production and co-production of Animation, kids' drama and live shows. RAI Ragazzi is one of the main European commissioners and investors in kids’ content.