[WATCH] Film boss lashes out at Gladiator cash rebate critics: ‘Attack on Malta’

Updated at 3:18pm with PN statement

Film commissioner Johann Grech has responded to criticism on a €42 million cash-back to Hollywood producers who benefit from state fiscal incentives for Maltese film services, by dubbing it “an attack on Malta”.

Grech, a former head of marketing for the Labour administration, published a five-minute video on his Facebook profile – having pre-announced the video earlier in the day – to address critics who latched on to a Times story on the cash-back paid out to the Ridley Scott movie Gladiator II.

Malta pays out a maximum 40% rebate in cash to film producers, a fiscal incentive hiked up by Grech up from the 25-30% rate a decade earlier.

The Opposition Nationalist Party latched on to criticism of the cash rebate, despite historically having been a PN administration that introduced the rebate.

“This is an insensitive attack on the success of the film industry,” Grech declared in his missive. “Those attacking it are attacking our country... a motivated attack to scare off foreign investment, attacking your jobs and your investment in this industry,” he said, addressing viewers directly.

Scripted very much akin to a political-style broadcast, Grech appealed to film service workers: “Your jobs are important for the country... you are the success of the film servicing industry. When I meet foreign producers, it is you, the crews, who are the principle reason that attracts productions, and I will not let anyone affect this.”

Grech said the 40% cash rebate for films was a similar incentive offered to the gaming and financial services industries, and that this state aid was also approved by the European Commission, while also being offered similarly by other European competitors in the film servicing world.

“Whoever speaks against the cash rebate, is speaking out against your job and your future,” Grech said, conjuring up the prospect of unemployment and only seasonal work in film servicing in an industry that is not buttressed by the cash rebate.

“My message is for unity amongst the Maltese... we have won only when we were united. We have reaped the fruits of the film industry, and not just those who are employed directly by the industry. We have provided stable year-round employment.”

Grech also sung the praises of the Maltese government as a “guarantee of work” – another common catchphrase in the political playbook – and that the Film Commission would keep working to attract more productions for the Maltese servicing industry.

'The public deserves transparency,' - PN

The public deserves transparency when it comes to expenditures made by individuals chosen by Robert Abela's Government, PN MP Julie Zahra said on Friday.

“As Film Commissioner paid by our money, chosen under Clayton Bartolo, Johann Grech chose to make a video in which he says a lot and says nothing,” Zahra said.

Reacting to Grech’s video, Zahra not only called for greater transparency but also challenged the film commissioner to clarify the expenditures carried out by the Malta Film Commission, "unless he has something to conceal."

Zahra mentioned that in his message, Grech failed to elucidate to the Auditor General the expenses totalling €137 million "from public funds," which the Maltese Film Commission disbursed to beneficiaries registered outside Malta.

“The Maltese people have the right to these answers and they have every right to know where and why their money was spent.”