Government pledges support for cinemas with free tickets for kids

In a joint conference, Parliamentary Secretary for Culture Josè Herrera and Finance Minister Edward Scicluna announced the government's Cinema Digitisation Scheme, which will aim to convert Malta's cinemas from analog to digital, as has become mandatory by international distributors.

Describing the imitative as part and parcel of the Budget 2014 drive to inject more money into culture, Scicluna said that "the country's welfare does not just depend on economic growth".

"This is why we deem it important to boost fields like arts and culture - they are important spheres which need to be cultivated."

Out of the€ 4.4 million allocated to culture in the budget, half a million will be reserved for this scheme.

Herrera deemed the change to be necessary since the change in technology called for it. "Gozo, unfortunately, no longer has a cinema because of this. Speaking personally, I would find it quite tragic if the same happened to Malta. This is why we felt the need to intervene in this, as a government."

Herrera added that apart from a drive to help cinemas convert their projection from analogue to digital, government will also be looking for ways to increase cinema attendance "which, for whatever reason, has dwindled over the past few years".

To this end, Herrera said that one thousand cinema tickets will be given to schools, as well as incentives to provide discounts for tickets for the elderly.

Herrera added that €50 will be taken from each film that arrives to Malta, and channelled to a "creative trust fund". Herrera said that this money will come from funds which would otherwise have been allocated to the now-defunct Film Classification Board.

"When all local cinemas are digitised, it will also make it easier for local film productions to be screened, as the process will be made cheaper," Herrera added.