This year’s Mediterrane film festival has cost the government €3.9 million, according to the film commissioner, who insists the hefty bill is value for money.

The second edition of the event came to an end yesterday with the Golden Bee Awards at Manoel Island.

In the past, the festival has been dogged by claims of lavish spending and a lack of transparency over how taxpayer’s money was being used.

Asked about the cost of this year’s programme, film commissioner and head of Screen Malta Johann Grech said the bill is expected to come to €3.9 million – slightly higher than the €3.8 million spent in 2023.

But he said the funding was an “essential means of attracting investment to the country and film decision-makers to the island”.

He defended flying in actors and directors to take part in the eight-day festival, which includes film screenings, masterclasses and a black-tie award ceremony.

“Instead of paying for billboards in Los Angeles like other jurisdictions do, we are inviting studio executives, film producers, directors, location scouts and actors to come to Malta and see first-hand what filming in Malta would actually be like,” he said.  

“While in Malta, people in the film industry are taken to see potential locations for their upcoming projects and see the infrastructure available at hand.” 

After last year’s festival, Times of Malta reported that international actors, film crew and journalists were flown to Malta in business-class seats and accommodated in five-star resorts.

The cost of host British comedian David Walliams was not disclosed but he was paid €120,000 to host the Malta Film Awards in 2022, according to a freedom of information request.

Grech pointed to a report by RSM Malta, a partnership of Certified Public Accountants, which concluded that the total direct and indirect economic impact of last year’s film festival was €7 million.

He claimed it also led to media and social media coverage that would have cost €17 million had the government paid for it.  

 Grech said that another analysis report will be carried out this year but insisted the festival remains a necessary marketing tool to attract films to Malta in an industry that is increasingly competitive.  

This year, a Pierce Brosnan boxing biopic was moved from Malta to Leeds after the British government offered an incentive similar to Malta’s 40 per cent cash rebate system. 

Another production, a biblical-themed movie, was set to be shot in Malta but changed plans and went to Morocco instead.  

But Grech said that a slow-down in the number of productions this year has more to do with last year’s actors’ strike and the knock-on scheduling conflicts of the talent involved.