Adrian Wootton: Last News

Naman Ramachandran The British Film Commission (BFC) and Malta Film Commission have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The MoU is aimed at enhancing the collaboration between the U.K. and Malta screen industries, as well as facilitating film and high-end TV production (HETV) between the two territories. In 2022, inward investment production spend soared to $7.72 billion in the U.K., while Malta hosted 24 film and TV projects in 2022 alone. Major film and HETV productions filmed across both countries include: Apple TV+’s “Napoleon,” Universal’s “Jurassic World: Dominion,” (Universal, 2022), Eone/Participant Media/Focus Features’ “7 Days in Entebbe,” 20th Century’s “Murder on the Orient Express” and HBO’s “Game of Thrones.”

K.J. Yossman The Labour Party’s first budget has brought mixed results for the U.K. entertainment industry.

Rafa Sales Ross Guest Contributor The Mediterrane Film Festival announced its complete program ahead of its second edition, taking place in Malta’s capital of Valetta from June 22-30. New titles selected include recent Cannes highlights in Coralie Fargeat’s Demi Moore-led body horror “The Substance” and Roberto Minvervini’s “The Damned,” which join previously announced films like Yorgos Lanthimos’s “Kinds of Kindness” and Jane Schoenbrun’s “I Saw The TV Glow.” Further program additions include Mahdi Fleifel’s Directors’ Fortnight standout “To a Land Unknown,” which Variety labeled “a confident, angry, fully-realized drama,” and Truong Minh Quy’s Un Certain Regard breakout “Viet and Nam.” An extended version of the Malta-shot “Jurassic World: Dominion” will play as part of the Malta Expanded strand, while on the retrospective end of the program, the festival will honor David Bowie with screenings of Nicolas Roeg’s “The Man Who Fell to Earth” and Lisa Azuelos’s “My Way,” plus a masterclass on the musician’s enduring legacy helmed by British Film Commissioner Adrian Wootton titled “David Bowie: Celebrating 60 Years of Genius.” Artistic Director Teresa Cavina said she is “very happy” with the selection, calling it “a chorus of strong and harmonious voices that, through extraordinary films, gives shape to a complex and varied universe, a mirror of the reality that surrounds us, often difficult to decipher, sometimes painful, but also full of hope and capacity for renewal.” Cavina also emphasised the strong female presence at this year’s festival, with 16 films — almost half of the festival’s official selection — comprised of works directed by women.

Ellise Shafer Mike Leigh, the veteran director of “Vera Drake,” “Another Year” and “Happy-Go-Lucky,” will be honored at Malta’s Mediterrane Film Festival with its Career Achievement Golden Bee Award. Leigh will also host a masterclass at the festival, the second edition of which is taking place June 22 to 30 in Malta’s capital city of Valletta.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Adrian Wootton, CEO of Film London and the British Film Commission, will preside over the jury of the Malta Film Commission’s inaugural Mediterrane Film Festival celebrating movies from the Mediterranean Basin. The fest, which will take place in Valletta, Malta’s capital, and other locations on the island between June 25-30, will showcase films from each of the MED9 nations, an alliance of nine Mediterranean and Southern European Union member states. It comprises: Croatia, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain. Besides Wotton the other jury members are “Triangle Of Sadness”actor Zlatko Burić; Cypriot filmmaker Tonia Mishiali; French actor and director Vahina Giocante; Greek producer Amanda Livanou; Italian journalist Boris Sollazzo; Maltese critic Mario Azzopardi; Portuguese journalist and programmer José Vieira Mendes; Slovenian journalist Tina Poglajen; and Spanish programmer Carlos Reviriego.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentThe British Film Commission (BFC) and the Italian Film Commissions (IFC) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding that seeks to facilitate high-end film and TV production collaboration between the two countries.The idea is to boost opportunities and incentives for big productions shot in both territories, such as Disney’s “The Little Mermaid,” which was filmed in the U.K. and Sardinia, Universal’s “No Time To Die” and the upcoming live-action “Pinocchio” directed by Robert Zemeckis for Disney+.The agreement, which was signed in Cannes, will also strengthen the rapport between the network of regional organizations and partners in both territories, with which both commissions already work so closely.

K.J. Yossman Pinewood Studios has amended its planning application for Screen Hub U.K., a 77-acre site on Pinewood’s Buckinghamshire lot that will include film production facilities, a training and skills hub, business growth hub, green campus and film-inspired international visitor attraction.According to Pinewood, they are preparing to amend the planning application to provide more studio space and make the building of the visitor attraction optional rather than guaranteed. Plans for the training and business hub, which is called Centre Stage, will remain the same.Pinewood also intend to include a related application for a backlot open-air filming space which will include workshop buildings, landscaping and parking as well as a publicly-accessible nature reserve on an area of Alderbourne Farm, which is owned by the group.

K.J. Yossman While the U.K.

EXCLUSIVE: The UK film and TV industry’s stringent Covid-19 protocols are to be relaxed in line with Boris Johnson’s Living With Covid plan, which will see an end to virtually all mandated restrictions.