Mario Azzopardi refuses to give up on his dream

by Ariadne Massa of The Times of Malta

Though his meeting with Finance Minister John Dalli, to revive the idea of a film fund in Malta, never materialised, film-maker Mario Azzopardi refuses to give up on his dream.

Just before leaving again for Hungary a few days ago, to continue filming the television series Dinotopia after the 10-day shoot in Malta, Mr Azzopardi said he planned to present the government with a series of options on the film fund in the near future.

"I want to organise a study to show how it's done abroad, present the options to the government and then it's up to them to decide whether to set up a film fund or not," he said.

Mr Azzopardi, who emigrated to Canada 25 years ago, has struggled for several years to set up the first film fund in Malta, only to see all the good work crumble into nothing.

He had been the driving force behind the creation of Maltese Falcon Productions, a state-backed film fund which was supposed to co-finance three or four low-budget Maltese features a year.

After one of its principal backers, Mid-Med bank, backed out following its HSBC takeover, Mr Azzopardi was so frustrated with the lack of progress that he quit as the fund's development and production chief.

However, he has not given up on the idea of Malta becoming a co-producer of international films, creating a film producing industry in the process.

"A new film fund cannot be set up on the lines of the MFP. First of all it cannot be run by technocrats, bureaucrats or politicians," he said.

One person that Mr Azzopardi wishes to bring on board, if his dream materialises, is Malcolm Scerri-Ferrante who was also involved in the initial set up of the MFP.

Mr Scerri-Ferrante, who joined the Mediterranean Film Studios in 1998 as production and marketing manager, resigned two years ago to take up the position of managing director of the Producer's Creative Partnership Limited.

This company specialises in the production management of international film and television productions.

"I would definitely want Malcolm to be involved, since he had been on board from the beginning. He is as good as any production manager you would find abroad and his experience is phenomenal," Mr Azzopardi said.

Delving into the concept, Mr Azzopardi said that Malta did not have the necessary infrastructure for a film industry and a fund would serve as a "carrot dangled in front of the producers".

"It's all well and good that we have had big films such as Gladiator and U-571, but low-budget movies are the staple of the industry," he said.

Mr Azzopardi said that Malta stood to gain by setting up a film fund. He explained that one way the fund could work was through lending $1 million to the producer, who would in turn return just $900,000, keeping $100,000 as an incentive.

"However, though the Maltese taxpayer loses this $100,000, the island gains because the producer is injecting another $1 million in the island by coming to film here," he said.

"If we want to have some control over the finances, distribution and content, then the fund is the way to go about doing things," he said.

So if the film fund was such a godsend for the industry why has it not been set up yet?

"I believe that the idea of a film fund is shrouded in misconceptions. I hope to be able to explain to the government exactly how a film fund works abroad to enable them to take an informed decision," he said.

Mr Azzopardi said Malta was not a cheap island and everything, from services to dining out, came with a hefty price tag.

"Just to put you in the picture, it has been cheaper for our team of people working on the series of Dinotopia to call our colleagues in Hungary by going through Los Angeles using roaming on our mobile phones, rather than using Maltese phone cards," he said

"It's going to be a long road, but I sincerely believe it can be done. By setting up the film fund we can save money and make money."