Italian feature film to be shot in Malta this spring

Thanks to its participation in the EuroScreen Interreg IVC project with a number of European film commissions, universities and regional development agencies, led by Film London, the Fondazzjoni Temi Zammit (FTZ) has embarked on new initiatives to boost the local screen tourism industry.

Among other outputs, FTZ has produced a local implementation plan and a manual for the European partnership to exploit their potential film locations and enhance the economic benefits of screen tourism.

As a result of its new networks and contacts in the industry, FTZ has also managed to attract the attention of film producers scouting for locations for their new projects. The first of these consists in a film based on Pino Farinotti’s novel called ‘E l’angelo partì da lei’. 

An article by Mauro Molinaroli in Piacenza’s leading newspaper Libertà, published under the Culture and Entertainment page on 27 December 2014, claims that Farinotti has sold the rights of his novel to €-Sell, a Maltese company which, together with other groups, will produce the film.

The article, entitled ‘Farinotti’s Angel for the movies’, reports that this formal act bearing the signature of Francesco Colucci, sole director of €-Sell, effectively signifies the start of production. 

Farinotti, a Milanese author whose family hails from Piacenza, has also written the script of the film along with Claudio Malaponti, who will be directing it. Malaponti is the director of 7 km da Gerusalemme, based on Farinotti’s 2007 bestselling novel. 

The decision to relocate the film to Malta was taken after meetings with the Malta Film Commissioner, Engelbert Grech, where the incentives offered by the Maltese Government to film producers were discussed. Even the Malta Tourism Authority is supporting the production, which has also won the support of some other European contributions. The budget amounts to around €3.4 million. 

“The story,” Farinotti is quoted as saying in the article, “will be set mainly in the Mediterranean island that, as return on investment, will have some of its most important and evocative locations depicted”. Filming is expected to begin in May.

Malaponti clarifies that although the novel developed its story in Milan, the film will be transposing it to Malta. “It hasn’t been difficult to relocate the story to the island, in the script,” he said.

“Vanni, the head of the family, is an architect who gets an 18-month contract to work in Malta. In Valletta there is everything, the school for little Massimo, the right streets and squares, the cathedral and the hospital, the shops and all necessary facilities. Eventually we realised that the magnificent scenery of the island, the sun, the sea and all the rest, was an added value that took nothing away from the identity of the story. And even in terms of export, the choice has been appreciated.” 

The cast is now being finalised. One of the confirmed names is that of Luca Ward, protagonist of 7 km da Gerusalemme, who will return as the same character Alessandro Forte. Pino Farinotti will have a cameo role where he will play himself – the writer – in a prologue of events leading up to the novel. For the main actresses Elena, the mother, and the “mysterious foreign lady” Maria, contacts are ongoing, according to Malaponti. 

“They will be important and proven actresses, from different countries,” he said. “A European network for distribution of this feature film, which will be in theatres in early 2016, is also being completed.”