Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1181922
25 OPINION other way round: govern- ment would come up with the 'idea', and then put out a call for public tenders to select an entity to deliver the finished product. This case (assuming my other assumptions are cor- rect), is clearly not the same. And I don't think it necessar- ily should be, either. For instance: how would it work out if it was my idea to write a script for a movie about Sette Giugno? Or anything else (personally, I'm leaning more towards a Kurt- Russel inspired, soft-porn vampire rom-com fantasy set in the time of the Knights… with some steampunk thrown in for no particular reason.) Naturally, my first (and, quite frankly, only) option would be to try and pitch it to a studio or independent producers. I'd get paid for the rights… and that's it. It's someone else's intellectual property now, and my in- volvement will be at an end. But – only for the sake of argument – let's imagine that I'm not me at all, but… Orson Welles. Or Charles Chaplin. Or (more likely) Ed Wood Junior: all film-makers who were – or fancied themselves, in the latter case – writer, di- rector, and producer of their own movies, all at once. If, under the circumstances, I approached the Malta Arts Council for 500K in fund- ing (note: I could make that Knights-era porno for a lot less, you know…): would my intellectual property then have to be put out for auction by public tender, like a gov- ernment contract? Or subject to any form of public compe- tition to decide who's going to make my own pet project? I certainly wouldn't apply for any public funding under those circumstances. And I somehow doubt a great many films will ever get made here, either. But then again, it's not exactly what Pierre Ellul is arguing. So let's go back to the argu- ment itself. Pierre is perfectly right to point out that the act of simply dishing out 500K to a hand-picked beneficiary is both suspicious and unfair. And I've heard it from other film-related sources that the other entities mentioned above – Malta Film Finance, the CoPro Fund, the Malta Film Fund, the Malta Film Commission, etc. – may be a good deal less than trans- parent when it comes to the question of 'who gets what financing for which movie project'. I haven't had time to look into it more closely (been a kinda busy week, if you know what I mean) but all those en- tities – and I could add PBS, too: which, if I'm not mistak- en, is also involved in 'Stor- bju' – are publicly funded, and therefore subject to strict public procurement/transpar- ency/meritocracy rules. Now: I've already laid out my own view, above, that public procurement rules should not apply to pro- jects which are intellectu- ally owned by individuals. But that doesn't mean there shouldn't be any form of public scrutiny at all. Af- ter all, €500,000 might be nothing in terms of a movie budget – personally, I doubt it will even cover the cost of Harvey Keitel's fake mous- tache – but… to an independ- ent film-maker in Malta, struggling to get a foot on the movie-making ladder… that's a lot of money. In fairness to Jean Pierre Magro, however… I don't think anyone (not even Pierre, though a hint of un- derstandable envy does creep into his tone) is suggesting that he is either underquali- fied or somehow undeserv- ing of this chance to make (what I'm hoping will be) a very good movie. No one that I can see is even remotely questioning his talent, his skill, or his merit. And I, for one, see noth- ing wrong in someone like Jean Pierre Magro accepting a 500K grant, for a film that is probably going to cost 20 times that amount. Even if it does come from the public purse. (One point we often forget is that entities like The Arts Council also have a mis- sion to promote and encour- age local artistic initiatives, including movies.) But against a backdrop where there are so many other instances of seemingly unfair distribution of public money, happening so very often… this lack of transpar- ency does start to stand out a little. And besides: while it's great that talented makers like Magro do get assistance from the state to make a mov- ie… well, it would be kind of nice if the rest of us were given the same opportunity every once in a while, too. maltatoday | SUNDAY • 3 NOVEMBER 2019 Whilst Malta Film Commission and its commissioner Johann Grech have to constantly battle to get more funds allocated to the Malta Film Fund, the Arts Council enters into "business" with Jean Pierre Magro, handing over a sweet gift of €500,000. Indeed, in George Orwell's words, "Some animals are more equal than others" Interested stakeholders should contact the Agency on info-energywateragency@gov.mt or by calling us on +356 2229 2558 by the 11th of November. Further information on the project can be found on energywateragency.gov.mt or interregeurope.eu/aquares/ The Energy and Water Agency is organising a public consultation meeting under the AQUARES project. This public consultation will discuss the adaptation of water reuse regarding technologies and practices on a national and regional level. The public consultation will be held on Tuesday 12th November 2019 at the Dolmen Hotel in St. Paul's Bay, between 13:00 and 17:00. Water reuse technologies and practices. A PUBLIC CONSULTATION AQUARES is an international project which is co-f inananced by European Union funds under the Interreg Europe Programme. The objective of the AQUARES project is to improve policy tools and water management concepts by integrating wastewater reuse into national, regional and local development plans to promote the efficient use of wastewater resources. INTERREG EUROPE PROGRAMME 2014-2020 Project part-financed by the European Union European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) Co-financing rate: 85% EU Funds; 15% Na onal funds