Update 1pm
The Arts Council’s new fund for indigenous films has an increased budget of €1 million but film-makers can now access less funding per project.
The Screen Support Scheme, launched last month, replaces the Film Commission’s Creative Malta programme and shifts the indigenous film fund from the Tourism Ministry to the Culture Ministry.
Despite the increase from the last official Creative Malta budget of €600,000 to the Screen Support Scheme’s €1 million, individual projects will receive less funding.
Funding allocation per project has decreased in four categories: scriptwriting, development/pre-production, and production of feature and short films.
For example, the maximum eligible budget for short films is now €20,000, compared to the €30,000 that had been allocated under Creative Malta.
The maximum eligible budget to produce feature films has been reduced to €300,000, compared to the €380,000 awarded previously.
While the number of projects eligible for funding has increased, some categories, like feature film production, still fall short.
Film producer Oliver Mallia said: “Given the limited funding, a producer can apply for €300,000 from a total fund of €460,000. This means only one film can receive the full amount available.”
The Screen Support Scheme includes five strands: screenwriting, development, short film production, feature-length production, and cultural programmes. The cultural programme strand is new, but the scheme lacks a strand for promoting and distributing local films, which was part of Creative Malta.
While Mallia appreciated that the Arts Council listened to stakeholders before launching the scheme, he expressed his concerns about this omission.
“Given the limited funds available, there is no support for distributing and circulating films," he said. "This is a real blow to productions currently in post-production and looking at a release in the coming months.”
He added: “You cannot perform miracles with a limited fund of €1 million. I never regarded this call as the answer to our issues; ACM has limited funds. What is important is what happens next; will it improve?”
Arts Council Malta chairperson Albert Marshall previously called for the film fund to be tripled to €3 million for Maltese films to thrive alongside the foreign movie industry.
Mallia believes the issue extends beyond funding and should focus on developing a comprehensive film policy covering all aspects from development to exhibition.
He said it was incomprehensible that the ministry awarding funds to local filmmakers was not the ministry responsible for film.
“All state aid support to cinema happens because of its cultural importance and not because of tourism, so maybe it’s time to revamp and move the Malta Film Commission under the correct ministry.”
A spokesperson for Arts Council Malta said that the recommendations that came from the research consultation led to several changes in the funding block.
"The primary objective of these adjustments is to maximize the available funding and broaden the scope of beneficiaries who can be supported by the scheme,” they said.
“Arts Council Malta has already gone on record stating that this is a first step and that the overall sum allocation needs to be increased in the coming years. As it always does with regards to the various funding programs it administers it will keep making necessary internal requests whenever it deems fit and justified as is in this case.”