Żejtune director urges public to protest Manoel Island padel courts

Alex Camilleri, the award-winning director of Żejtune and Luzzu, has called on the public to attend a protest against the Planning Authority’s decision to sanction illegally built padel courts on Manoel Island.

The PA last week sanctioned 20 courts that had been built without a permit and approved another 10, while imposing a €25,000 fine for the unauthorised works.

The application, filed by Gżira United FC president Sharlon Pace, covers some 6,700 square metres at the former Nicholl football ground near the island’s entrance. Works began months before a permit was issued and were halted by the PA in March following complaints by campaigners.

Camilleri, who previously contributed to the Manoel Island: Post Għalina campaign to turn the island into a public park, said his latest film was inspired by Malta’s natural world.

“I feel like it’s so often overlooked, and yet it’s these spaces that help us feel like ourselves,” he said.

He added that the questions at the heart of Żejtune were the same ones being asked by campaigners.

“What do we owe to the land that has given us so much, and what kind of future do we want to have in Malta?”

The film follows Mar, a young woman who plans to leave Malta by selling plots of farmland she inherited following her estranged mother’s death. Żejtune won the best screenplay award at the 2026 Tribeca Film Festival and later received the audience award at the Mediterranean Film Festival Split.

“I wanted to ask if we can recognise the value of what we have right in front of us here at home before it disappears,” Camilleri said.

“Manoel Island gives us a chance to answer that question. So, if you believe Manoel Island should belong to everyone, regardless of where you’re from or how much money you have, and that Malta’s open spaces are worth protecting, I hope you’ll join us.”

The Post Għalina campaign was launched in 2025 by Moviment Graffitti, Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar and dozens of other organisations. It called for the government to negotiate an end to MIDI’s development concession and transform the island into a publicly accessible national park.

Its parliamentary petition attracted more than 10,000 signatures, while almost 270 academics backed the campaign. The movement was later named Times of Malta’s Person(s) of the Year for mobilising tens of thousands of people and helping force a rethink of the island’s future.

Earlier this year, the government agreed to pay MIDI €43 million to terminate the concession covering Manoel Island and Fort Tigné. The sites were formally returned to the state in May, with Prime Minister Robert Abela promising that Manoel Island would become a public park.

The padel-court decision has since prompted accusations that the government is retreating from that commitment. Din l-Art Ħelwa has said it will appeal the PA’s decision, describing the sanctioning of the illegal development as a betrayal of the national park promise.

In a statement on Thursday, Moviment Graffitti, one of the NGOs that spearheaded the campaign, said the government had placed the rest of the island under grave threat by reneging on its promise to return the entire former MIDI concession to the public as a national park and instead “gifting” a considerable part of it to private business interests.

“As the struggle for Manoel Island has shown time and again, people have the power to defend this unique and vital place for our collective wellbeing,” it said.

“They are now being called on to do so by attending the Żommu Kelmtkom [Keep Your Promise] protest this Friday.”

The NGO said the protest was against the occupation of public space for profit through what it described as an illegal land grab.

It stressed that the Manoel Island: Post Għalina campaign had always supported Gżira United’s wish to have a football ground on the island.

The protest will take place on Friday, July 24, at 6.30pm, starting at the entrance to Manoel Island.

'Public pressure needed' - Momentum

Momentum also backed the protest, urging people who care about protecting public spaces to attend.

The party said campaigners had spent years pushing for Manoel Island to be returned to the public and noted that, when the government paid €43 million to regain the concession, it had promised to turn the island into a national park.

Momentum executive member Katya Compagno accused the government of giving in to commercial interests by allowing private activity at the site to continue and expand. She said sustained public pressure was needed to ensure the government honoured its commitment to create a national park for present and future generations.