Filming on location in a historic city : impacts and policies with special reference to Valletta

Abstract

Malta’s historic built environment and cultural landscape have appeared in numerous feature films, television series and commercials. At time of writing (April 2018), 138 films had been shot partly or entirely in the Maltese Islands. Malta’s versatile and multi-faceted cultural landscape has been used by a great number of directors to stand in for multiple countries. The locations, the current film infrastructure, the financial infrastructure, the good climate, the English-speaking crews and the water tanks all contribute to making Malta an excellent location for films (Malta Film Commission, 2017). From 1998 to date, Malta went from not having any procedures in place to regulate film industry, to launching a National Film policy in 2016. These policies have been adapted as the need arose and on the basis of the knowledge and experience gathered throughout the years. While the risks of negative impacts on local communities as result of filming on location have been widely studied in other contexts, in Malta practically no research has been done on this aspect. In this study, Malta’s National Film Policy is compared to other countries’ experiences and policy frameworks in regulating filming in historic cities. Two cases of filming on location in Valletta are considered in detail. The UNESCO World Heritage site of Valletta is chosen as a case study to explore how filming maybe impacting local communities living in an urban context of cultural heritage value. Key stakeholders from the film industry, the regulator, as well as the local resident communities are interviewed. It is found that no notable film–induced tourism has emerged to date in these historic urban locations. Some of the reasons for this are discussed. It is argued that, although such film-induced is being promoted as an objective in the current National Film Policy, there are no measures in place to safeguard historic neighbourhoods and local resident communities against the possible risk of potential harmful side-effects that this could have. It is recommended that more research on such potential impacts is undertaken, before further attempts are made to pursue this objective of the National Film Policy.