The very first Malta International Film Festival, originally set to take place this month, has been cancelled after months of expectation that it would put the islands on the world cinematic map. The nine-day event, set to take place from 15 to 23 September, was the brainchild of French-Egyptian festival director Hisham Abdel Khalek, working under the Association pour l’Échange Culturel entre l’Europe et l’Orient (AECEO). It promised to be a prestigious event to cap off this summer’s wide array of cultural activities, with a confirmed 350 attendees including French actress Virgine Ledoyen (The Beach, 8 Women), Iranian director Samira Makhmalbaf (two-time Jury Prize winner in Cannes), Marco Müller, director of Venice Film Festival – the oldest film festival in the world – and many more. The festival was scrapped however, following disagreement over rental rates of the Mediterranean Conference Centre, the festival’s proposed venue, as well as suspicions regarding the credibility of Khalek’s initiative on the part of the Ministry for Tourism and Culture and the Malta Film Commission. “The persons proposing this event did not demonstrate the necessary level of credibility and financial self sufficiency for us to take the matter seriously or further,” Minster Francis Zammit Dimech said. “That notwithstanding, the Ministry for Tourism and Culture offered to make the Mediterranean Conference Centre available as a venue at substantially reduced rates in order to facilitate matters but the organisers were clearly out for far more and that is why they did not proceed with the event in question.” On a similar note, film commissioner Luisa Bonello claimed: “We asked the organisers to provide us information regarding financing, logistics and some form of evidence of the commitments claimed to have been made, but in spite of all our efforts no such information was forthcoming.” For the purposes of the non-profit festival, Khalek requested that the Mediterranean Conference Centre be made available free of charge to the organisers. According to Khalek, the ministry and the director of the MCC were unwilling to meet this demand, but reduced the rental price from Lm80,000 (EUR186,400) to Lm20,000 (EUR46,600). “The Ministry for Tourism and Culture described this offer as a ‘measure of support’ although we asked the venue for free and lost nine months in futile negotiations,” Khalek said. “These prices seem way above the market price, let alone acceptable levels for a non-profit cultural festival. For comparison purposes, we asked how much it would cost to rent for a commercial event a privately-managed convention centre in France. Although the cost of living is much higher there, the initial commercial offer stood at EUR60,000, without even taking sponsorship into consideration.” Khalek also complained of an “unprofessional” display of “hostility” on the part of the ministry. “The ministry started to contact at least one of our major partners behind our backs in a way that goes far beyond any acceptable background check. Seeding mistrust with our partners can hardly be seen as a measure of support and is rather unexpected. “We have unfortunately every reason to believe that it was not an isolated incident. For instance, as an Egyptian living in France, a few months ago, I personally received a phone call from the Ambassador of Egypt in Malta, who told me that, during an informal discussion, Minister Zammit Dimech claimed he had no knowledge of the festival or of any communications with me. This is naturally surprising, after months of almost daily communications with the ministry about the festival either through myself or through our Maltese partners.” treljic@mediatoday.com.mt