Minister dodges questions on Mediterrane Film Festival expenses

Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo is once again dodging questions about the Malta Film Commission’s extravagant spending habits, this time asking him to quantify and detail what were seen to have been lavish expenses splashed out on the recent Mediterrane Film Festival.

Bartolo was pressed in Parliament on Monday to give a breakdown of the controversial costs associated with the festival held on 30 June by Opposition Shadow Minister for Culture, Arts and National Heritage Julie Zahra.

But the minister, who should have presumably been prepared to answer the questions given the raging controversy and speculation over the event’s price tag, had no reply for Zahra, except for the standard time-buying reply that “the information will be given in another sitting”.

Parliament generally rises for the summer recess in mid-July and reconvenes in October, which means that if the minister continues in this vein, answers will not be forthcoming until after summer.

Zahra asked Bartolo to respond to an array of questions the public has been asking since public outcry erupted in the wake of the event, which was hosted by David Walliams.

She has asked for a detailed breakdown of the festival’s total cost including the names of the people invited by the Malta Film Commission and the ministry – plus the amount of public funds that went toward travel, accommodation, transport, food and drink and other related expenses per person.

Zahra also asked for a separate breakdown of the expenditure incurred for the Gala Awards evening.

On top of that, Zahra is asking for a complete list of the foreign journalists brought in to cover the event, the reporting they gave Malta, whether that reportage was paid for and, if so, how much had been paid.

She has also asked for a breakdown of the festival’s marketing expenditure.

She separately asked the minister to table copies of the Memoranda of Understanding signed between the Malta Film Commission, Bank of Valletta, Malta Enterprise and the British Film Commissioner to promote the festival.

In addition to Walliams, the event featured celebrities such as Jared Harris, Eric Bana, Darko Peric, Natascha McElhone and Annabelle Wallis. It also saw the participation of around 70 judges, critics, journalists, and various industry professionals.

The Times of Malta has estimated the event, for which no expense was seemingly spared, to have set the public coffers back at least €1 million, but industry insiders have termed the figure as being conservative.

This is not the first time that the Malta Film Commission’s spending sprees have caused consternation, nor is it the first time that those spending the public’s funds have been tight-lipped.

Another case in point was that of the last Malta Film Awards, which cost €400,000, while the fee charged by Walliams, who also hosted that event, was said to have been in the region of €200,000.

The event was boycotted by many leading Maltese filmmakers who objected to the expense when the overall budget for Maltese productions was limited to €600,000.

Bartolo later said that €1.3 million had been spent on the Malta Film Week but the cost of the awards night, held in that week, was never published.

In a 2020 report on public accounts, the National Audit Office criticised the Malta Film Commission for its “extravagance in the use of public funds”. The Auditor General found the Malta Film Commission lacked effective internal controls that “resulted in a concentration of authority with the Film Commissioner and no independent oversight.”

This, the NAO found, “contributed to a disregard to budgetary controls and standing regulations”.