Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo has extolled the Mediterrane Film Festival and underlined the need for increased investment in the film industry amid criticism over exaggerated spending and a lack of accountability.

Writing on Facebook the minister explained how the recently concluded second edition of the festival drew 300 foreign participants including producers, directors, writers, actors and representatives of top film studios.

The purpose of the festival, he said was to facilitate networking in a way that benefited Malta.

"Instead of going abroad to attract productions to our country, we used the festival as a tool to promote Malta as a filming destination."

The participants, he said, could see Malta's potential for filmmakers. They visited various sites and facilities and were also briefed on incentives offered to productions.

Talks were held on production work in Malta and the festival was therefore expected to yield more work in Malta in the near future. He had been informed, the minister said, that in the wake of the festival, some producers had already changed their plans to shift their work to Malta. 

Bartolo also pointed out that until last year, Malta was the only EU country that did not host a film festival, a situation which had now been rectified in order to better support promotional efforts.

Bartolo said the outcome of the festival encouraged the authorities to invest further in the film industry in order to attract more film companies and film buffs to the island, creating more jobs locally and giving Malta a stronger position in the global film industry.