Updated 10.45am with Labour statement
Johann Grech’s position as Malta’s Film Commissioner is no longer tenable, the PN said on Saturday one day after Times of Malta revealed Grech had sought to conceal criticism a top Hollywood director made about Malta.
“Our country needs a film industry that truly serves Malta, not the personal ego of the Commissioner who is supposed to lead this industry,” the PN said through its culture spokesperson Julie Zahra. “Film Commissioner Johann Grech must resign immediately so that the film industry can truly reach its full potential, focus on local talent, and support Maltese film producers in their initiatives.”
Grech, who earns €12,500 a month as film commissioner, shared a clip of Gladiator 2 director Ridley Scott describing Malta as a “treasure trove of architecture” while being interviewed by fellow director Christopher Nolan.
But the clip Grech shared was an incomplete one: in the actual interview, Scott also advised audience members not to visit Malta on holiday.
“I wouldn’t go back there on holiday,” he said.
That section was edited out of the clip Grech shared on social media.
The PN noted that Grech – who has in the past attacked critics of film rebates – was now “under attack by the very person who benefited the most from these rebates.”
It said Scott had "humiliated" Grech with his interview comments about Malta and that the film commissioner's role was no longer tenable.
Reacting, the Labour Party said that by the PN's own yardstick, PN leader Bernard Grech should resign because he had previously said he felt ashamed to be Maltese.
"Anyone who degrades our country is condemnable," Labour said.
Grech is no stranger to controversy. In 2023 Times of Malta revealed how the film commissioner has amassed a massive profile on public film database IMDB, where he was linked to 64 productions that were fully or partially filmed in Malta. After that was exposed, the profile was trimmed significantly.
And earlier this year, the film commissioner received a rebuke from his minister after it was revealed that he made a cameo appearance in a 10-minute film starring David Walliams intended to promote Malta as a film destination.
Gladiator 2, which was largely filmed in Malta, received €47 million from the Maltese government through a cash rebate scheme that was significantly widened under Grech’s oversight.
The revised scheme has been criticized for being too broad, as it allows foreign productions to claim rebates for expenses not incurred in Malta.
A Gladiator producer described the Malta rebate scheme as the “most generous in the world”.
“We took around 500 people to Malta and we were able to get the rebate on all of those people and that equipment,” he told industry publication Deadline in October 2022.
In its statement, the PN said that while it backed cash rebates for the film sector, these should be capped to prevent any single production from draining millions out of the economy.
The PN also said it would introduce co-production funding to ensure that local producers and workers have a level playing field with their foreign counterparts.
It said Culture Minister Owen Bonnici – who is now politically responsible for the Film Commission – had remained silent over the most recent controversy.