personalities

What a week!

Recently returned from the New York International Independent film and Video Festival, producer Michael Bonello is now gearing up for Cannes. Interview by Zillah Bugeja


Monday
I spent most of last week jacking up all the things I will need for the International TV Market in Cannes on 9 May. My docudrama The Great Siege was selected for screening at the New York International Independent film and Video Festival a couple of weeks ago. Out of the 100 selected films, only eight of them were documentaries, so having the film chosen made me feel fantastic.
The gala opening night was at Madison Square Gardens, an impressive affair.
Thanks to the constant support given me by the Malta Tourism Authority, I put up a small booth where I showed the trailers and gave out leaflets publicising Malta as well. The screening had a very good attendance.
Through the New York film festival, we received offers to distribute and sell the documentary at Cannes, Milan and Los Angeles, from where they will be sold to TV stations around the world.
So most of this week was dedicated to creating special leaflets and handouts for Cannes.

Tuesday
Very similar to Monday. Spent the day collating the information I had to send to Cannes, and in and out of the printers in Qormi. I was also to and fro the shippers in Luqa and doing the dubbing of the tapes at Picturebox.
It was a normal working day really, then the evening was spent at home watching TV. Even though I’d have spent the day watching three monitors while editing, I love to watch movies. I like to watch techniques so I get a bit critical. Yet I still manage to relax.
Dinner at home. Because my wife Kate Bonello Sullivan and I both work, we take it in turns to cook, but we might get two turns if one of is extremely busy. ºBreakfast is non-existent, and lunch is always only a snack.
This week it was my lot to do more than my usual share of cooking in the evenings. My wife had two representatives over from AIM, Actions in the Mediterranean, so she was kept busy. But all the time, Kate is also working in the background, trying to organise the administrational side of the company. Creative? I’m the crazy one!

Wednesday
In between getting ready for Cannes, I was putting together a new project, a documentary on Malta’s archaeological history. I know it’s very topical but we’d thought about it a long time before the Mnajdra debacle. The objective is to have Discovery channel show it.
The three shows I have worked on are currently available on video. They have been selling successfully on the Internet for the past two years, and we sell them locally from bookshops. So there is actually a good market for home video sales.
Doing the archaeology documentary is a problem because as a result of the Mnajdra incident, the Museums people have more on their plate. We’re waiting permission to film different sites. Seeing that Discovery are interested in it, we’ve even gone further afield, filming in Sicily and Carthage to document the connections between our civilisations.
As a result of this video, the MTA is taking a shortened version to publicise archaeology as a niche market. Everything the MTA has on video is mine. They take a number of copies in different languages and circulate them around the world.
In the evening we went out for a Chinese meal to China Palace in Bugibba. It was a bit of a celebration because my son Adam, (who’s a composer, and had written the music for the Great Siege) had just been given New Zealand citizenship. The two boys both live in Australia, so we have two dogs as substitutes!

Thursday
After a problem with the Civil Service Sports Club, my partner Richard Caruana and I decided to transfer the screening of Great Siege to Baystreet. At present, Great Siege, Visions of Malta and The George Cross are all screening there in the theatre on the fourth floor. We thought that the theatre should have one general history documentary and two specific ones.
The Great Siege project took two years to make. It is an Adam/Picturebox/MPS production, what we call a docudrama. There aren’t that many visuals around of the Great Siege, so we had to dramatise it, using 200 actors at one go. We wanted to show the story through the eyes of the Maltese. And our message is that it was fought by the Maltese aided by 500 knights – many of whom were sick, lame and lazy – not the other way round.
Everyone should see the show. It is the history of Malta made visible, so you can see rather than read it in a book. Not that I’m against reading, (reading is my opium, I can’t sleep unless I’ve read three or four pages) but the shows use all the modern technology and it leaves a far greater imprint in your memory if you watch history. And the Great Siege isn’t exactly a story which we know well.
Kate and I went out for a very good fenkata at the New Life restaurant in Bahrija.

Friday
We are being contracted to supply a video footage library to the MTA, a library of various happenings over a year. In this way, any visiting TV teams will be given the footage free of charge.
Selling videos such as ours from the relevant sites would mean a good revenue for the Museums department. At present they do all the administration and get nothing out of it because all proceeds go to the exchequer and not to the particular department.
On the subject of organisation, the problem with the film industry here is that they are only aiming for the Hollywood mega-budget films. It is better to attract 10 low budget films a year than one monster – for the simple reason that there would be local people working for the full 12 months, therefore learning all the time. With a film like Gladiator, there was eight weeks’ work, and then everyone went back to their full-time jobs. We have the talent here, from the technical side, to make the local film industry work, but they’re all in different lines of work. We need to lay the foundation by getting small, independent productions, not by targeting Hollywood.
Accepted an invitation to the French ambassador’s for a buffet dinner which was quite entertaining.
Saturday
At last found time to indulge in one of my hobbies, golf. During the year 2000 I couldn’t afford the time to play, but I hope to take it up again.
I think there should be a golf course at the Verdala. Because I love to play the game, I was the secretary of the golf course development steering committee. It’s not going to harm anybody. A lot of the points that have been made against it can be shot down. The farmers could convert to growing vines and double their earnings. It’s not going to affect the environment, one good thing is that you can’t build on a golf course.
It’s also incredibly important for the tourist industry, being a sport which attracts the high spenders over the shoulder period.
Sunday
Sunday is out stay at home day. I believe you should cruise on neutral on Sundays. Living in Mdina, where there are so many people outside your front door, makes it more attractive to stay in.
I hate driving for driving’s sake, so I’d rather stay in. I’m also a bit selfish – I’m a football fan it’s the only thing my wife and I disagree on, that I watch football on TV all the time.
My son Andrew was a professional footballer for nearly eight years. Kate and I used to religiously watch him play at Ta’ Qali, so doing nothing that’s not purely pleasure on a Sunday has been ingrained in us.