The comments made by BBC producer David Ball about Malta’s potential in the film industry ought to further induce the government to continue investing and offering incentives in this sector.
In recent years the government has given great importance to this industry, believing that it can contribute to the economic growth of the country. Investment in it should therefore be maintained, because Malta stands to gain heavily from it.
Mr Ball is in Malta leading a BBC crew in the filming of The Roman Mysteries, a series aimed at the BBC’s children’s channel. The production has a budget of Lm1 million for each episode.
Speaking to journalists during a visit by Investment, Industry and IT Minister Austin Gatt to one of the sites where filming was taking place, Mr Ball could not have made a better promotion for Malta.
“Being in Europe is a bonus, since we share a language as well as a set of regulations, but some areas in Malta and Gozo are absolutely stunning. It is our first time, but hopefully it will not be the last… This production has found its feet in Malta. The Malta Film Commission opened all the doors and gave us the opportunity to discover such beautiful places…”
The production team was so amazed by what Malta and Gozo had to offer by way of satisfying their requirements, that it extended its initial stay from three weeks to nine, and could stay here longer.
Over the years, Malta has had its fair share of attractions in terms of important films that were partly filmed here. One only has to mention Gladiator, Troy, Munich and The Da Vinci Code to demonstrate that these islands have provided a great backdrop to successful productions.
But it must be understood that it is a rarity for such blockbusters to be filmed here, and therefore it is important not to expect such happenings on a regular basis. In fact, other productions have found in Malta the ideal place for filming, and although they were not watched by millions of people, as were Gladiator, Troy, Munich and The Da Vinci Code, the publicity surrounding them was also an ideal promotion for Malta.
Other famous films have been partly shot in Malta, among them Count of Monte Cristo, Cutthroat Island and, to go back to the 1970s, Midnight Express. But there have been many other films, including series for television, which, over the years, have been filmed or partly shot in Malta and Gozo.
It is an industry that needs nourishing, and the government is doing well by offering incentives and investing in an industry that can bring a lot of money to Malta.
For one thing, the many people involved in productions who come to Malta have to eat and sleep, and this is already a lot of money that is pumped into the country’s economy.
Secondly, the promotion of such films abroad will mean that Malta gets its share of publicity, in the sense that the locations where films are shot are regularly mentioned wherever the film is released.
Malta could therefore benefit from the exposure it receives in such promotions, and such an exercise could also serve to attract more tourists to the country. This is especially so when the film’s backdrops show the beauty of our country, as happened in the case of the film Count of Monte Cristo.
It is therefore important that such an industry is nurtured well by the local authorities, and Mr Ball’s praise of the treatment the BBC crew is receiving in Malta during its work here could go a long way towards encouraging other producers and directors to choose Malta for their filming.