Malta

Abstract

At the end of the nineteenth century, while Edison, Lumière and Méliès were experimenting with early film (Dixon and Foster 2008), Malta was still a British colony, only gaining independence in 1964 (Chircop 2013). At the turn of the twentieth century, Malta became indirectly involved in the film industry when British Instructional Films shot four films in Malta: Sons of the Seas (1925), The Battles of Coronel and Falkland Islands (1927), Bolibar (1928), and Tell England (1931). It was another 20 years before Malta realized its potential, however, not only as a filming location, but also as a country offering film servicing. In 1963 a shallow tank for filming was built to provide a backdrop for the natural horizon to water-set scenes. The tank still attracts a substantial number of foreign productions filming in Malta,¹ and Malta Film Facilities was set up to facilitate the growing demand.