NEWS | Wednesday, 15 October 2008

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POLI-STRINA, Caqnu does charity

Matthew Vella
Malta’s biggest charity spectacular, l-Istrina, has courted the benevolence of none other than the island’s most controversial construction magnate, Charles Polidano ‘ic-Caqnu’, who is this year’s organiser of the Christmas charity fest.
Polidano’s company MK Leisure has joined up with TV production company Take 2, to produce this year’s edition of l-Istrina, a former mainstay of TV company Where’s Everybody.
Although this marks the end of Joe Azzopardi’s marathon tub-thumping for good causes, the Where’s Everybody legacy does not stop here.
A former WE production assistant, Abigail Mallia is the director of Take 2, the company she formed with Carlos Debattista after the demise of Four People, producers of award-winning drama Gizelle.
She now has teamed up with the employers of her father, theatre director Salvu Mallia, who is artistic director at MK Leisure.
MK Leisure is an events company which provides outside catering for corporate events and weddings, historical re-enactments, and other themed events at the Montekristo wineries, where l-Istrina will be broadcast from this year.

The Polidano consortium was entrusted with the production of l-Istrina following a request for proposals by the Public Broadcasting Services.
For the first time ever l-Istrina will be broadcast live from Polidano’s winery, Montekristo Estates in Hal-Farrug, on Saturday, 27 December 2008.
In a statement, PBS said that while l-Istrina will be retaining its “traditional and popular format” to raise funds for the Community Chest Fund and other philanthropic organisations, “the organisers plan to infuse this yearly event with innovative ideas, placing the accent on traditional Christmas values and the true spirit of selfless solidarity.”
For Polidano, l-Istrina may as well mark his biggest ever PR exercise in giving the public a glimpse into the backyard of his business empire. As the man who famously quipped he “built Malta”, l-Istrina will not only pull the public’s heartstrings but also give Polidano a softer image after years of controversy as a construction magnate whose name is, literally, etched in Maltese stone.

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