After so much pomp, the first edition of the Malta Film Awards has come and gone, and more than a renewed sense of appreciation for the local film industry, it has left a bitter taste in the mouths of many.

The first aspect which has riled up much of the general public: the event attendees and its organisers seemingly unwilling to follow or enforce restrictive measures which are in place due to Covid-19, such as – most prominently, the wearing of face-masks.

These measures, yes, have by now become a bit of a drag – but they’re there for a reason, and as long as they are there, we would expect a state-organised event to follow them.

Public Health Superintendent Charmaine Gauci said on Wednesday that the matter was being, rightly, investigated – but spared herself from expressing the same anger she had expressed in other cases of events which did not follow the regulations.

In any case, the worst that can happen now is what?  The event organisers – state entities – might be fined, which they will then gladly pay out of public funds, or rather, the money which you and me pay as taxes.

Of course that wouldn’t be the only needless public funds expense.

Many questions have rightly been asked about how much money was spent on the event, particularly due to the event’s over-extravagant stage, its massive PR-drive, and its engagement of British star David Walliams (whose special mention of Malta being known for tax evasion was sure to provide embarrassment to the organisers themselves) as the show’s host.

While the authorities responsible have remained coy about how much public money was actually spent on the event, but it’s been mooted that the total amount of spending was actually higher than the budget which the Malta Film Commission grants to local production houses throughout the year.

Transparency from the Tourism Ministry in this regard would help make things clearer.

Then we can get to the actual content of the Awards ceremony.

Mario Philip Azzopardi – who certainly cannot be accused of being biased against the Labour government – wrote an opinion piece this week which highlighted the exact problem with how the event was handled: it pandered to trying to appear extravagant, but was an abject failure when it came to actually recognising the local film industry.

The boycotting of the event by some of Malta’s biggest and best film producers – actually in protest against the amount of spending on the event – conditioned the choices when it came to certain awards, yes.

But that does not take away from the fact that certain awards went where they went either to pander to the global headlines or simply to pander to foreign productions.

The award of Best Actor to Harvey Keitel is probably the best example.  Keitel – a Hollywood A-Lister, yes – had one of the most minor roles in an international production which, really and truly, was nothing particularly special and which propagated certain fantasies about Maltese history.

And yet he won one of the most prominent awards of the night.

The further glorification of foreign actors and artists such as Russell Crowe for his portrayal of the lead role in the hit film Gladiator some two decades ago juxtaposed against the mere token mentions of local artists showed that the intention of such an event wasn’t to promote Malta’s local film industry, but a chest-pumping exercise (for want of a better phrase) just to show how many important foreigners came to Malta to make films.

It’s a pity that local artists are not glorified instead.  Luzzu – whose producer was one of those who boycotted the event – has shown that local, high-quality film work is possible.

For it to happen however, there must be the right backing and – more so – the right attitude.  The Malta Film Awards showed that there’s still a long way to go for both of those things.