Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1097044
24 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 27 MARCH 2019 DAVID HUDSON MALTESE director Win- ston Azzopardi, behind the critically acclaimed The Boat, told MaltaToday that he thinks his film is 'some- thing special.' The Boat, starring the di- rector's own son, Joe Azzo- pardi, is nominated for the UK National Film Award, which will be presented on 28 March. Even though Azzopardi is proud of his film and thinks it's a special project, he said he doubts he would win. "I don't think we'll win. The UK didn't watch The Boat, as it's not released there yet. Only the critics did. The other competing films have all been shown to UK audi- ences, so this audience is against us." Despite this, Azzopardi says he will go to the event and enjoy himself. The Boat is up against Gloves Off (Steven Nesbit), The Beast (Michael Pearce), Yardie (Idris Elba), Apostasy (Daniel Kokotaljo), Annihila- tion (Alex Garland), Calibre (Michael Palmer), Ray & Liz (Richard Billingham), and Widows (Steve McQueen). "You don't know whether the final product is any good while you're filming, but we showed our film to a focus group and people loved it. Critics liked it too. When we watched the final cut, we knew we had something special," Azzopardi said, adding that he was proud that his son had performed so well. Azzopardi said that The Boat was funded privately and that there was no studio behind it. "This," he said, "allowed us to be creative. We had full freedom, which was nice." Maltese director says his prize-nominated film is 'something special' A foreign man has been arrested by the police on the strength of an European Arrest Warrant, the police said on Tuesday. The police said in a statement that the man was arrested as part of an investigation called "Operation Web- master", which led to the arrest of a number of individuals in Malta and another 13 countries. Operation Webmaster, the police said, focuses on money originating from organized crime. The police said that months of sur- veillance had led to the man's arrest. The Intelligence Unit, Economic Crimes Unit, Vice Squad and Interna- tional Relations Unit and the Special Intervention Unit were all involved in the operation. The police said that searches were still ongoing. The man is expected to be charged in court in the coming days. International crime investigation leads to man's arrest in Malta Actor Joe Azzopardi in the prize-nominated film 'The Boat' The man was arrested following an investigation involving 14 countries