Maltese Falcon flies into film biz

Film fund pacts with Allegro, may greenlight WWII pic

By DANIEL ROSENTHAL

LONDON -- After 35 years of providing locations and services for international features as diverse as "Midnight Express" and "Gladiator," the Mediterranean island of Malta has taken its first step toward establishing an indigenous film production industry.

The directors of a newly established, state-backed film fund, Maltese Falcon Prods., plan to invest up to $10 million annually in projects to be filmed on Malta, at a rate of three or four a year for the next five years.

Coin will come from the company's three shareholders: Malta Government Investments, Mid-Med Finance and Valletta Investment Bank.

"We are looking to produce English-language TV movies, low-budget features and TV series for the international market," says Maltese-born helmer Mario Azzopardi, the fund's executive in charge of production and development. "The aim is to invest $1 million-$2 million in each project, up to a limit of 50% of its total budget. We hope to announce our first project next month."

Allegro production deal

The green light for that first film, possibly a WWII drama, moved closer last week when Maltese Falcon Prods. signed a five-year, first-look co-production agreement with Allegro Films, a subsidiary of Montreal-based Coscient Group.

"We hope Coscient will come on board with all our projects, but it is a very loose agreement," said Azzopardi. "We will be looking for other production partners globally."

Filmmaking on Malta, a former British colony with a population of around 400,000, has historically been based around the water tanks of Mediterranean Film Studios (MFS), established in 1963 and home to pics such as "Raise the Titanic" and, earlier this year, Universal's WWII submarine actioner "U-571."

"The island has great English-speaking technicians and craftsmen, but they have not had consistent work. The fund should create the continuity that is the key to a healthy industry," declared Azzopardi.

Having directed about 200 hours of TV, including the recent "Total Recall" pilot, since emigrating to Canada in the 1970s, Azzopardi hopes to generate Malta-based storylines by bringing U.S. and European scriptwriters to the island "to imbue them with a sense of Malta's character and 6,000 year history."