The Malta Film Commission has refused a Freedom of Information request filed by The Malta Independent in order to ascertain how much money was spent on the extravagant Malta Film Awards.

In the reason provided for the FOI refusal, the Commission said that the documents are still being compiled – the same justification that those in charge of the film sector have used when questioned by journalists about the event in past weeks.

“The documents requested are still being compiled. The total expenditure and the breakdown of costs will be published, once all invoices are compiled,” the Commission said in its refusal note.

This newsroom had asked for what the initial budget for the event was set at, for the total government expenditure in relation to this evening, a breakdown of these costs by item, to whom they were paid, and through which means of procurement (direct order/negotiated procedure/tender etc) that each item was acquired.

The Film Commission did not use the possibility of extending the timeframe to provide answers by 40 working days, as government entities tend to do to extend the wait for documents, opting simply to reject the request outright.

The Malta Film Awards were held on 29 January this year amid much fanfare, but the event’s extravagance raised questions from both filmmakers, some of whom even boycotted the event out of protest at its cost compared to the annual budget allocated to helping the local film industry, and in the political sphere.

The freedom of information request was filed last month after Film Commissioner Johann Grech nor Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo, under whose political remit the industry falls, spent weeks dodging questions from both journalists and MPs about the cost of the event.

The gala event reportedly went well over its €400,000 budget – which was already a source of irritation for those in the film industry who noted that Malta’s annual film fund only had a budget of €600,000.

Industry insiders have placed the actual cost of the event, which saw British comedian David Walliams be brought over to host it and saw a wide-reaching public relations campaign to encourage increased viewership, to be over €1 million and even closer to €2 million.

Times of Malta had a similar FOI rejected some days ago, while the Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation had an FOI asking for how much David Walliams was paid to host the event refused as well.