Comino – a secret paradise, the latest in a series of landmark underwater documentaries focusing on local Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), has been screened for the first time at Eden Cinemas for St Monica B’Kara primary school students earlier this week.

The documentary’s script was penned by executive producer Prof. Alan Deidun, resident academic at the Department of Geosciences, with the documentary being financed by the Malta International Airport (MIA) Foundation. This week’s documentary launch was attended by Environment Minister the Hon Jose Herrera who stressed the importance of a zero tolerance approach towards illegal development on Comino, as well as by Ms Antonella Vassallo and Dr Awni Behnam, Managing Director and Honorary President of the International Ocean Institute (IOI) whose headquarters are based at the University of Malta.

Previous documentaries scripted by Prof. Deidun include Filfla (launched in 2015), Mġarr ix-Xini (launched in 2013), Rdum Majjiesa (launched in 2012) and Dwejra (launched in 2012). Whilst the Filfla production was also sponsored by the MIA Foundation, the previous three documentaries were produced within the ambit of the Italia-Malta 2007-2013 PANACEA project. All five locations are enclosed within designated MPAs and the scope behind such a mammoth effort is to promote the submerged assets of the same sites for ocean literacy purposes.