Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo told Parliament on Monday that information on the expenditure on the Malta Film Awards is still being compiled and will be provided at a later stage.

Bartolo was replying to a series of questions by PN MPs Jason Azzopardi, Therese Comodini Cachia.

He would not say whether it the budget had exceeded €1 million or €2 million, as has been suggested. Azzopardi also said, at one point, that it has been rumoured that British comedian David Walliams, who headlined the event, was paid some €200,000.

Bartolo, however, would not answer, saying only that the information will be provided once it was available.

Initially, it had been announced that the awards night would cost €400,000, but film commissioner Johan Grech has refused to say whether it was true that the event went over budget.

The event was boycotted by some leading figures in the film industry, who lamented about the extravagant event in view of continued calls for an increase in the filming grant budget.

Bartolo criticised the PN for “attacking” the film industry which, he said, had been neglected by successive Nationalist administrations. He said a PN government had wanted to turn the Rinella water tanks into fish farms while land held by the Malta Film Facilities was being handed to the private sector.

He also said that, in 2012, under a Nationalist government, Malta spent €1.1 million on the European Film Awards. This was double the original budget and had exhausted government funding for the sector.

The tourism minister said that, over the past few years, the industry saw a turnaround, employing 2,000 people and generating almost €100 million during the pandemic.