No extension for Peter Busuttil’s Film Commissioner contract

Film Commissioner Peter Busuttil's contract will not be extended next year, reliable sources confirmed with MaltaToday last week.

Contacted by phone, Busuttil asked MaltaToday to send him a request for comment via email. However, no reply was forthcoming by the time of going to print.

Busuttil, a theatre practitioner and previously a fixture of local television, was appointed Malta Film Commissioner in May 2011, after former commissioner Luisa Bonello resigned for "personal reasons".

Under Busuttil's watch, big budget Hollywood productions World War Z and Captain Phillips were filmed on our shores, while the first - and, sadly, last - season of Sky 1's Sinbad was shot in its entirety in Malta in 2011.

Notably, Malta also played host to the hugely popular fantasy series Game of Thrones in 2010. However the production was marred in controversy after it emerged that the production resulted in the "total elimination" of an ecosystem in Dwejra, Gozo.

During his tenure as film commissioner, Busuttil also served as Artistic Director for Notte Bianca - the annual one-night festival of art and entertainment in Valletta - from 2009 until 2013. Though the event etched itself into the Maltese cultural calendar and proved to be consistently well attended, this year's edition ushered in a new artistic director - Sean Buhagiar - who implemented a different approach to the event's programme.

READ MORE: Interview with Peter Busuttil soon after he became Malta Film Commissioner

The latter years of Busuttil's stewardship of the Malta Film Commission were characterised by a distinct lack of big budget productions using Malta as a backdrop. Save for World War Z and Captain Phillips, Malta failed to assert itself as a notable film servicing location over the past few years.

Busuttil once again attracted public attention earlier this year, when he tried his luck at the vice-president post of the Malta Football Association.

READ MORE: Behind the scenes of the Captain Phillips shoot in Malta

A few months prior, local film producers and film service professionals put forward gripes against the way the film commission was run to Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia, whose ministry now incorporates the film commission.

Speaking at a 'film symposium' held on 16 July, television producer and director Mark Doneo said that he was embarking on his first feature film without the aid of the Malta Film Fund, and brought attention to the fact that anybody employed with TV stations was barred from taking advantage of the funds.

In response to this, Busuttil said applicants for the fund were required to set up a production company, which he however referred to as being simply a "guideline".

But in response, minister Mallia interjected saying he failed to see the "logic" of the guideline.