Malta Film Fund Launched 

The government of Malta has officially launched the new Malta Film Fund, with €233,000 to develop and produce feature, documentary, and short films.

The fund will provide €3,000 to €20,000 for film development, and €5,000 to €100,000 for production. Applications for funding will be accepted through 25 October 2011.

According to the Times of Malta, Mario de Marco, the Culture Parliamentary Secretary, noted that the creative industry was responsible for 4% of the country's gross domestic product, and employed over 7,000 people. In 2011, Malta will see €30 million in spend from foreign productions filming in Malta, including Asterlix and Obelix, Sinbad, and World War Z.    

Record Month for Malta Film Industry

VALLETTA: June 2011 is going down as a record-breaking month for Malta's film service industry, with at least five films and TV productions planning to shoot in the island nation.

They include World War Z for Paramount, starring Brad Pitt; a large-scale Norwegian  film, Kon-Tiki, employing as many as 650 extras in a day; the Sinbad TV series for Sky1; and films from Italy and India.

According to the Times of Malta, the explosion of film productions is challenging the local service industry, with supplemental crews coming in from abroad. Even hotel rooms and car rental companies are said to be close to capacity.

The situation has the Malta Producers Creative Partnership warning companies not to take advantage of the abundance of work by pricing themselves out of the market, as happened when Munich filmed in Malta in 2005.