A highly complex wartime story - based on real events, but with some key episodes still buried in red tape under the Official Secrets Act - forms the plot behind the winning script that is to be made into a full feature film in a co-production by the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and A&AB Productions.
When PBS chairman Tonio Portughese announced the winner of the competition, late last month, he explained the purpose behind the innovative Film Malti project.
"The aim of this exciting initiative,' he told the press, "is to incentivise the development of original, quality-driven work for the broadcasting station and support the creation of new and innovative feature films by local filmmakers, at the same time endeavouring to bring Film Malti to the attention of overseas audiences.'
In collaboration with the Arts Council, PBS issued a call for applications which were adjudicated by a Board comprised of Rev Fr Joseph Henry Abela, Mr Toni Attard from the Arts Council and Ms Audrey Harrison, a member of the Malta Film Commission, chaired by Mr Tony Cassar Darien.
The adjudicators were impressed by the level of presentation of the proposals and eventually agreed unanimously on the winner. The chosen work tells the life story of the controversial wartime personality Carmelo Borg Pisani and was written by Charles Stroud, based on the literary work Ghal Holma ta' Hajtu by Lawrence Mizzi.
Carmelo Borg Pisani (10 August 1914-28 November 1942) was a Maltese-born artist and Italian Fascist who, on being discovered during an espionage mission in Malta, was found guilty by a British war tribunal and executed for treason.
Pisani believed that Malta's Latin soul was being destroyed by British rule and in order to restore Malta to its previous state it was necessary to remove the British. To this end, Pisani - along with many other Maltese students - joined the Fascist Party of Italy and the Black Shirt (Camicie Nere) movement. This led to him participating in the Italian occupation of Kefallinia (also Cefalonia) in Greece with the Compagnia Speciale del Gruppo CC.NN. da sbarco della 50a Legione.
On 18 May 1942, Pisani was dispatched on a secret mission aimed at making him the first (and only) Axis spy on the island of Malta. He disembarked in the Ras id-Dawwara area of Dingli Cliffs and transferred all his rations to the cave there, which he knew from his youth. However, the unusually inclement weather and rough sea washed all his possessions away within 48 hours and he was forced to wave down a British patrol boat. Upon rescue, he was taken to the Military Hospital in Mtarfa.
All would have probably have been well, had Pisani not been recognised by one of his childhood friends, Copt Tom Warrington. He was transferred to Corradino prison, interrogated and accused of treason. On 12 November 1942, Pisani stood trial. Since the Maltese Legal Code was suspended for the duration of the war, a popular jury was not convened. In addition, the judges did not consider his renouncement of British citizenship and passport, his acquisition of Italian citizenship and his participation in combat with the Italian Army. In fact, his participation in combat only served to weaken his position, since he had fought against Greece - an ally of the United Kingdom. On 19 November he was sentenced to death for conspiring against His Majesty's government and for treason. His execution followed nine days later.
While arguments continue in Malta as to whether or not he was a traitor of his country, in Italy the name of Carmelo is a legend. Benito Mussolini called him a 'Maltese Martyr' and in 1943 he created in Liguria the Battaglione Borg Pisani in his honour. He was posthumously awarded the Gold Medal of Military Valour, the highest Italian military award, by King Vittorio Emmanuele III. Requests have regularly been made by his family and the Italian Government to exhume his body and give it an honourable burial, requests that have never been acceded to.
In The Knight, the late former Maltese Premier Dom Mintoff described Borg Pisani as follows: "He was no common adventurer selling his services to the winning side; he was a quiet young artist fired by reckless idealism. He faced the gallows at peace with God and with his conscience. Malta is not ashamed to have had him as one of her unlucky sons."
A&AB Productions' director Michael Bonello explained: "The Borg Pisani saga, although an important part of our history, has never been told either accurately or with an open mind. We decided to submit our screenplay for adjudication because we firmly believed that, now so much water has flowed under the bridge, we could present the story without any prejudice. It is not our intention to take sides: we do not intend to judge the man. We will leave it up to our viewers to decide: hero or traitor - it's up to them.
"It is a story that is of interest not only locally but also to our Italian neighbours, where the spirit of Carmelo Borg Pisani still lives on for many. The story will be told in the vernacular - with Maltese, Italian and English being spoken."
A&AB Productions is best known internationally for its four-part documentary The Saharan Series, which was broadcast to worldwide audiences, and locally for the Reati and Sptar Mater Dei series.
The film's producers are Andrew Bonello, Charles Stroud and Michael Bonello. Adam Bonello is also the director, as well as being responsible for editing and original music. The producers are putting together a young and enthusiastic crew and a number of apprenticeships are being offered.