Postgrad course in Film Studies aims to create jobs in sector

A new Master's course at the University of Malta will aim to create more jobs within the local film servicing industry, while also addressing the needs of the burgeoning indigenous film industry. 

Tourism minister Edward Zammit Lewis
Tourism minister Edward Zammit Lewis

Launched by the Faculty of Arts at the University of Malta in collaboration with the Malta Film Commission and the Ministry for Tourism, a new MA course in Film Studies aims to consolidate the film servicing industry and strengthen indigenous film production 

A new Master's course at the University of Malta will aim to create more jobs within the local film servicing industry, while also addressing the needs of the burgeoning indigenous film industry. 

Launched today at the Ministry for Tourism, the course will incorporate both theoretical and practical aspects of film, providing necessary training for those interested in working on foreign productions that come to Malta, while also providing a historical and artistic context of the evolution of film for budding filmmakers and scholars.

Tourism minister Edward Zammit Lewis, whose ministry helped the course financially, stressed that the course is necessary and timely since it addresses the need to have a fully trained workforce, to meet the demands of the film servicing industry and to sustain a healthy flow of it throughout the whole year. 

"In fact, it's important to note that compared to tourism, the film industry generates an even bigger economic return, and within a shorter time frame," Zammit Lewis said.

Zammit Lewis added that he was glad that this course saw the University "opening up" to address contemporary economical and social realities - a sentiment echoed by University of Malta Rector Juanito Camilleri. 

Malta Film Commissioner Engelbert Grech said that the course will also provide tools for local filmmakers to create quality films, commenting that while film servicing was important for our economy, "it is now time for Maltese people to tell their own stories".

He added that the course will also be done in collaboration with students from MCAST. Grech explained that a Memorandum of Understanding with MCAST will bind film companies using Malta as a servicing location to employ a percentage of MCAST students as crew members. These will then be funnelled into indigenous productions. 

Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Arts Gloria Lauri Lucente said that the course will be offered on a flexible, part-time basis, and as well as covering a standard range of study units on the history of film, offering a critical and analytical perspective on various genres and movements. 

There will also be courses of more immediate interest to Maltese participants, among them a focus on Mediterranean cinema, as well as on Malta as a film location.

For the practical side of the course, Lauri Lucente said that international tutors will be roped in, among them filmmakers and practitioners who have won awards at the Cannes Film Festival.