Mise-en-Malta

2021's Luzzu  has made waves in the local (and international!) film scene recently, and while I haven't yet had the chance to watch it myself ( please have a local release soon!), I have had the opportunity to interview Ms. Michela Farrugia, who plays leading man Jesmark's wife in the film. Farrugia gives us her insight on what it means to be within the acting profession on our isles, both in Film & TV as well as on-stage. Source: Twitter (@MichelaFarr) When asked to elaborate on what makes the two mediums most different, Farrugia told us that stage actors usually perform 'larger', as opposed to performances for more camera-centric mediums which allow for more subtlety owing the how the audience is placed in relation to the actors; "being able to whisper was new to me". There's also a difference in how one prepares for go-time. "In stage productions... there's a rehearsal period... in film, however, the actor needs to do a lot of his/her

Malta's film history is an underappreciated part of our national heritage. Multiple figures over the last century have tried their hand at filmmaking in a nation that did not attend to, and even censored the medium. In this article we'll look at three of these personages which have contributed to the limited but growing filmic culture of our isles. (Banner  photo sources clockwise: MaltaToday, Filmed in Malta, TVM) Cecil Satariano Cecil Satariano (1930–1996) was a Maltese film-maker, critic, censor and author. He started making films in 1969 using a Super 8mm Canon 518 which he had bought for himself as a Christmas present. Satariano was entirely self-taught but despite this managed to gain the recognition of  UK Film Magazine Movie Maker , who awarded him one of their Ten Best awards for his first film I'm Furious ...Red  (1970).  The following year, Satariano released Giuseppi  (1971) , which won him the first prize award in the same competition. Giuseppi  was Satariano’

 Alex Vella Gera's much-lauded 2012 novel Is-Sriep Reġgġu Saru Velenużi  will soon find it's story on the silver screen as the 2021 release of its film adaptation has been announced. The film is shot, directed and partially produced by Shadeena Entertainment's Martin Bonnici, with help in the adaptation from the novel by Teodor Reljic. The novel and film can be considered drama and explores both Maltese politics through a fictional assassination attempt on 80s Maltese priminister Dom Mintoff as well as family dynamics through a contemporary story told alongside. The film was shot on a tight €250,000 budget, with partial funding from the National Book Council, through their 2019 NBC Film Adaptation Fund. Funding was also achieved through Shadeena Entertainment themselves as well as Splash Screen Entertainment. If the novel and trailer are any indication for what's in store once one sits down to watch this film, then good things are abound. It will be released locally th

According to new research by the European Audiovisual Observatory (EAO), the median average budget of a European film production is around €2 million. It's safe to say that this is quite a small budget compared to that of European Films' movie-sibling across the Atlantic, where the average Hollywood production costs closer to the €65 million mark on average. Despite this, there is another class of film budget - one even smaller than small: the microbudget film . Microbudget Films are films produced from tiny budgets spanning from a few hundred-thousand down to single-digit thousands. As an example of this type of film, one can look at Robert Rodriguez's  El Mariachi (1992), a Mexican film which was shot for a measly €7,000. Having a budget under €1.5 million, means your work as a filmmaker could be considered a  'Difficult Audiovisual Work' , according to the Malta Film Commission. Unfortunately for Malta's local film industry, most of the productions on our

On April 15th, the Malta Film Commission announced a relaunch of the funding scheme for local filmmakers called  ScreenMalta  for 2021. The scheme has a budget of €600,000, and is aimed at film and TV productions. In the promotional video for the scheme's launch, the sound stages that are currently being built were also mentioned, signalling their progress. The scheme can net creators up to €20,000 without the need of setting up a company, and more than that if they do. Like last year, the upper threshold of support is capped at €200,000. Interested filmmakers should keep in mind that applicants need to be citizens of Malta and should be registered under the 'Opportunity for All' registers by the Film Commission and check a few other boxes. some of the criteria for the Screen Malta scheme If you're interested in applying, the application form can be found at www.screenmalta.com under 'Support Schemes', here's a direct link to the application form . Good lu

Actresses and actors can't fulfil their roles if they're still wearing their everyday clothes on-screen. Even if a film is set in contemporary times, it's important to remember that the actor is not their character, and would necessarily be wearing different clothing. Who gets to design and decide this? Who manages and coordinates the teams that aid in creating a character's identity in what they wear? Well, of course that's the costume designers and costume coordinators respectively. We spoke to Martina Zammit Maempel, a costume designer and costume supervisor from our own isles, for some more insight into the role.  Maempel has been working in film & TV for about 7 years. She first got into the industry after she returned from London where she had been working in the fashion industry. Upon moving back, since locally there was not much of a fashion industry, she decided to apply for a role in the costume department. "I seemed to be at the right place/right