Susanne Wolff film 'Styx' wraps up filming in Malta

Filming in Malta for the German drama “Styx", starring Susanne Wolff, has been wrapped up following months of work involving Maltese and German crews.

The film tells the story of a woman on a sailing trip who needs to find her inner strength as she faces a numerous challenges on the high seas.

The production was shot nearly entirely in Malta with 33 shooting days happening locally over October, November and December.

According to the Malta Film Commission, shooting took place mainly out at sea and at the Malta Film Studios in Kalkara, where a storm was created for dramatic scenes in the film.

Director Wolfgang Fischer said that Malta proved to be an excellent choice since Maltese film crews are well experienced in working on sea based films.

He added that the short distances on the island meant that the crew could very easily adapt and shoot either on the West side or the East side of Malta, depending on the direction of the wind.

Shooting is said to have been done at sea off the northern coasts in the Cirkewwa/Marfa area, at Ta' Xbiex Marina and at MFS water tanks.

The production was serviced locally by Twenty13 Productions Ltd. Simon Sansone, executive producer from Small Island Films Ltd, said that Malta is uniquely positioned to cater for marine based film productions. “Aside from its asset of the MFS water tanks and boasting far better weather conditions than virtually all other European countries, one of Malta's other strongest advantages is that it is an island and thus can nearly always offer sheltered waters somewhere around the island,” he said.

The Film Commission said that the German filmmakers had left the island satisfied that they had managed to capture the complex scenes they were after.

Tourism minister Edward Zammit Lewis said that 2016 was another successful year for the Maltese film industry. “Malta continues to attract productions of varying scales offering back to back work for crews and companies in the industry.” 

On the other hand, film commissioner Engelbert Grech said that the Film industry has a lot of momentum, but that Malta is now facing tough competition from other countries. To this end, he said, the Film Commission is planning to further fine tune the incentives to ensure that Malta has a competitive edge.